Abstract:
The aim of this thesis is to explore the role of Ahmed Midhat in the process of the identity formation of late nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire. It will be claimed that one of the means employed in that endeavor was "Occidentalist" discourse in which Ahmed Midhat preferred to represent the Western social order via fictional Western characters in order to give the message that Ottomans should be content with their social order at home. Discussion will be carried on taking the history of Westernization, the background of modern Turkish literature, and the life and thoughts of Ahmed Midhat into consideration. The primary sources used for this thesis mostly comprise Ahmed Midhat's novels, his savoir vivre study on European manners and also his untransliterated travelogue of 1050 pages.
