A study of Ottoman love poetry in its historical context coauthored by Assoc. Prof. Mehmet Kalpaklı (chair of the Departments of History and Turkish Literature) and Prof. Walter G. Andrews (research professor emeritus at the University of Washington) has been singled out for special recognition in Turkey. The Turkish translation of their book “The Age of Beloveds” (Sevgililer Çağı) has received the Mehmet H. Doğan Special Jury Prize for its contribution to the study of Turkish poetry.
“The Age of Beloveds” introduces early modern Ottoman culture through the examination of its love poetry, and also suggests cross-cultural parallels in the sociology of love across Europe from İstanbul to London. The authors contend that the flourishing of Ottoman power and culture during the “Turkish Renaissance” manifested itself in part as an “age of beloveds,” in which young men became the focal points for the desire and attention of powerful officeholders and artists as well as the inspiration for a literature of love. The book also provides a generous sampling of Ottoman poems and their close analysis.
The Mehmet H. Doğan Award is presented every year to encourage and draw attention to poetry criticism published in Turkish and to contribute to Turkish poetry. The selection committee for this year’s awards, which included both the Special Jury Prize and the annual Mehmet H. Doğan Award, was composed of Orhan Alkaya, Metin Celal, Gültekin Emre, Haydar Ergülen and Orhan Tekelioğlu.