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Correspondence manuals in nineteenth-century Greater Syria: between the arzuhalci and the advent of popular letter writing

Correspondence manuals in nineteenth-century Greater Syria: between the arzuhalci and the advent... This article is based on several editions of a recently located letter writing manual by Yusuf Efendi al-Shalfun (1839-95). This booklet provides a new perspective on a period in which the practice of ‘popular’ letter-writing was expanding in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman empire. Little research has been devoted thus far to the implications of the increase in the ability to write (in contradistinction to the ability to read), in the empire’s Arab provinces in the second half of the nineteenth century. Popular correspondence, both personal and more formal, gradually developed among the Arab urban literate population, who used manuals such as the one written by al-Shalfun as guides to write in various official, social, and familial situations. Letter writing thus complemented the work of the arzuhalci s, the professional letter and petition writers in the Ottoman empire. This paper examines the impact of popular letter writing in Greater Syria in the second half of the nineteenth century as well as the public’s ability at the time to communicate through writing. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Turkish Historical Review Brill

Correspondence manuals in nineteenth-century Greater Syria: between the arzuhalci and the advent of popular letter writing

Turkish Historical Review , Volume 4 (1): 1 – Jan 1, 2013

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References (1)

Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
Subject
Articles
ISSN
1877-5454
eISSN
1877-5462
DOI
10.1163/18775462-00401001
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This article is based on several editions of a recently located letter writing manual by Yusuf Efendi al-Shalfun (1839-95). This booklet provides a new perspective on a period in which the practice of ‘popular’ letter-writing was expanding in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman empire. Little research has been devoted thus far to the implications of the increase in the ability to write (in contradistinction to the ability to read), in the empire’s Arab provinces in the second half of the nineteenth century. Popular correspondence, both personal and more formal, gradually developed among the Arab urban literate population, who used manuals such as the one written by al-Shalfun as guides to write in various official, social, and familial situations. Letter writing thus complemented the work of the arzuhalci s, the professional letter and petition writers in the Ottoman empire. This paper examines the impact of popular letter writing in Greater Syria in the second half of the nineteenth century as well as the public’s ability at the time to communicate through writing.

Journal

Turkish Historical ReviewBrill

Published: Jan 1, 2013

Keywords: Arzuhalci ; Yusuf al-Shalfun; manuals; petitions; Ottoman correspondence; scribes; letter writing; insha ’ genre; adab ; Greater Syria

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