An Ottoman Cosmopolitan in the Turkish Republic of Letters: Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar

This paper aims to posit Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar as a pioneer of literary cosmopolitanism in Turkey, considering his Lectures on Literature, collection of lectures given in 1950’s at the Turkish Literature department, Istanbul University. The lectures reveal a literary cosmopolitanism that combines an understanding of literary, architectural and musical patterns that travel across borders. As such, Tanpınar’s lectures can be seen a vademecum for the comparative literature student interested in considering European and Turkish literatures together. Tanpınar’s work and enduring influence on Turkish writers such as Orhan Pamuk is further proof that only through a good knowledge of local tradition are literary cosmopolitanism and comparative literary studies possible.