Fatma Aliye’s Stories: Ottoman Marriages Beyond the Harem

Abstract

The harem image has dominated the conceptualizations of the family and the private sphere in the Ottoman empire at the turn of the century. This essay aims to review these conceptualizations and locate family life in both public and private spheres. The main source of inquiry will be the literary writings of Fatma Aliye (1862-1936) who wrote about women, marriage, education, poverty, and slavery. In these works, she outlined common dreams for Eastern and Western women, such as the love and companionship of an honest, monogamous man. These dreams envisioned Muslim women performing a variety of roles and thus transcended the given expectations from the family and from Muslim women as a monolithic category. In this light, this essay seeks to contextualize Aliye's works within the history of the family by evaluating Aliye's views particularly on marriage.