Ekphrastic Expression of Western Painting and Cultural In-Betweenness in Evliyá Çelebi's Seyahatname (The Book of Travels)

Abstract

Ekphrasis, a part of the ancient Greek and Roman rhetorical practices, is, in its most basic sense, the verbal expression of a visual object. Since the description of Achilles' shield in Homer's Iliad, ekphrasis has been a literary practice used for the portrayal of visual artworks through fiction and poetry, as well as in prose written in history, art criticism and travelogues. Ekphrasis is a convenient literary tool for analysing the author's treatment of the object depicted. Ekphrastic studies enable the identification of the author's relationship with objectivity and subjectivity, and the building blocks of the said subjectivity, through literary elements. What kind of fictional language does ekphrasis, which is essentially the act of making the mute object speak, point to, in Evliya celebi's representation? This article will aim to examine the subjective factors, personal taste and cultural positioning that emerge in Evliya celebi's writing practice, mainly in his ekphrastic narration of the Western paintings that he saw in the Balkans and Vienna, which he describes in great detail in his Seyahatndme. It is of the author's opinion that, although Evliya celebi's cultural positioning imposed limitations on his aesthetic perception and ekphrastic narration, he had an admiration for the Western art; and his actual cultural position manifests itself in an in-betweenness in the East-West spiral, which also reflects his unique literary mode.