The Prof. Süheyla Artemel Lectures: Memory in Literature and Culture, İstanbul, Türkiye, 22 Ekim 2021
Many literary figures, famous writers wrote their memories either
life stories / memories of their travels in given time periods or on specific
events on their lives or on their countries. We may accept that memories of
Saint Augustine or J.J.Rousseau’s Confessions
are early examples of this type but there are more famous examples from modern
times that most memory studies root themselves such as Marcel Proust or Goethe.[1]
To give an example, Proust wrote a famous text about the richness of memory and
its contribution to understanding everyday life. Proust’s text published in
between 1913-27 in France, A la recherche
du temps perdu, a search for a memory which is lost. In the 19th
century then on writing memories became famous and as a result accepted as a genre in literature.
The use of memories as a valuable social record and their acceptance
as a scientific source is a recent and interdisciplinary approach in social
sciences. Biographies of prominent people, statesmen, soldiers or diplomats
were widespread during 19th and 20th century. Especially
after the Great War, ordinary people, reserve officials, specialists such as
doctors, nurses, veterinaries put down their memories, personal experiences on
paper. All these were accepted as valuable sources for historians and social
scientists. After war period writing memories became popular with the growing
literacy in the western and nonwestern world.
In this paper I like to present and discuss the famous 19th
century Russian literary figure Dostoyevsky’s pamphlet regarding his first visit
to western countries in 1862, published in 1863, Winter Notes on Summer Impressions.[2] In this pamphlet he wrote out his
observations and experiences, memories on the “Western world” comparing this
with the untouched Russian existence and substance reflecting the pan-slavist
and anti-western feelings and thoughts. By doing this I like to compare his
regards on the western world with that of the memories of Rifaa Rafi el
Tahtavi, an Egyptian who visited and stayed in Paris between 1826 and 1831 with
a group of students send by Egyptian authorities to have education and learn
foreign languages to improve modernization in Egypt.[3]
In his memories (which accepted as travel writing) that Tahtavi presented to
Mehmet Ali Pasha after his return to his country, he wrote his observations on
the western world with a feeling of admiration on the contrary to that of
Dostoyevsky.
My aim is to display and discuss on the personal and subjective,
what is more the political character of memories.
[1] Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe, From my Life: Poetry and Truth (covering his memories from birth,
within The Collected Works, vol 4, Princeton University Press, 1994.) or Marcel
Proust (covering childhood memories), In Search of Lost Time, vol.1-7, KTHTK,
2021.
[2] Feodor M.Dostoyevski,
Winter
Notes on Summer Impressions, New York: Criterion Books, 1955.
(Dostoyevski, Batı, Batı Dedikleri... (Yaz İzlenimleri Üzerine Kış Notları),
Çeviren: Ergin Altay, Ankara: Bilgi Yayınevi, 1972.)
[3] Newman, Daniel L, An
Imam In Paris: Al-Tahtawi’s Visit to France (1826–1831), Londra:
Saqı Books, 2004. (Rifa’a Rafi’ Tahtavi, Paris Gözlemleri, Hazırlayan:
Cemil Çiftçi, İstanbul: Ses Yayınları, 1992.)