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A TURKISH WOMAN’S EUROPEAN IMPRESSIONS
A TURKISH WOMAN’S EUROPEAN IMPRESSIONS
BY ZEYNEB HANOUM (HEROINE OF PIERRE LOTI’S NOVEL “LES DÉSENCHANTÉES”) EDITED & WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY GRACE ELLISON WITH 23 ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS & A DRAWING BY AUGUSTE RODIN PHILADELPHIA J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY LONDON: SEELEY, SERVICE & CO. LTD. 1913 A DASH FOR FREEDOM ZEYNEB’S GIRLHOOD BEWILDERING EUROPE SCULPTURE’S FORBIDDEN JOY THE ALPS AND ARTIFICIALITY FREEDOM’S DOUBTFUL ENCHANTMENT GOOD-BYE TO YOUTH—TAKING THE VEIL A MISFIT EDUCATION “SMART WOMEN” THROUG
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
In the preface of his famous novel, Les Désenchantées , M. Pierre Loti writes: “This novel is pure fiction; those who take the trouble to find real names for Zeyneb, Melek, or André will be wasting their energy, for they never existed.” These words were written to protect the two women, Zeyneb and Melek, who were mainly responsible for the information contained in that book, from the possibility of having to endure the terror of the Hamidian régime as a consequence of their indiscretion. This pr
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CHAPTER I A DASH FOR FREEDOM
CHAPTER I A DASH FOR FREEDOM
A few days after my visit to the Désenchantées at Fontainebleau, which is described in the Introduction, I received the following letter from Zeyneb: Fontainebleau , Sept. 1906. You will never know, my dear and latest friend, the pleasure your visit has given us. It was such a new experience, and all the more to be appreciated, because we were firmly convinced we had come to the end of new experiences. For almost a quarter of a century, in our dear Turkey, we longed above all for something new;
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CHAPTER II ZEYNEB’S GIRLHOOD
CHAPTER II ZEYNEB’S GIRLHOOD
Fontainebleau , Sept. 1906. When I was quite young I loved to read the history of my country told in the Arabian Nights style. The stories are so vivid and picturesque, that even to-day, I remember the impression my readings made on me. [Alas! the profession of conteur or raconteur is one which has been left behind in the march of time.] Formerly every Pasha had a conteur , who dwelt in the house, and friends were invited from all around to come and listen to his Arabian Nights stories. The tale
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CHAPTER III BEWILDERING EUROPE
CHAPTER III BEWILDERING EUROPE
What a curious thing it was I found so much difficulty in answering Zeyneb’s letters. To send anything banal to my new friend I felt certain was to run the risk of ending the correspondence. She knew I was in sympathy with her; she knew I could understand, as well as any one, how awful her life must have been, but to have told her so would have offended her. Most of the reasons for her escape, every argument that could justify her action, she had given me, except one; and it was probably that “o
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CHAPTER IV SCULPTURE’S FORBIDDEN JOY—M. RODIN AT HOME
CHAPTER IV SCULPTURE’S FORBIDDEN JOY—M. RODIN AT HOME
Zeyneb and Melek left Fontainebleau and travelled to Switzerland by short stages; their first halting-place was Paris. They stayed for a week in the gay capital, and during that time Melek and I visited some of the principal churches and monuments. “Sight-seeing” was what the Hanoums 6 then called “freedom.” To them it meant being out of the cage; tasting those pleasures which for so many years had been forbidden. Their lesson was yet to be learnt. We went one afternoon to see M. Rodin. Rising,
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CHAPTER V THE ALPS AND ARTIFICIALITY
CHAPTER V THE ALPS AND ARTIFICIALITY
Territet , Dec. 1906. I wonder if you know what life is like in a big caravanserai on the shores of Lake Leman in December. This hotel is filled from the ground to the sixth floor, and from east to west with people of all ages, who have a horror of being where they ought to be—that is to say, in their own homes—and who have come to the Swiss mountains with but one idea—that of enjoying themselves. What can be the matter with their homes, that they are all so anxious to get away? I have been more
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CHAPTER VI FREEDOM’S DOUBTFUL ENCHANTMENT
CHAPTER VI FREEDOM’S DOUBTFUL ENCHANTMENT
Territet , Dec. 1906. I am conservative in my habits, as you will find out when you know me better, although Turkish women are generally supposed to be capricious and changeable. Every day you can picture me sitting on the same terrace, in the same chair, looking at the same reposeful Lake Leman and writing to the same sympathetic friends. The sea before me is so blue and silent and calm! Does it know, I wonder, the despair which at times fills my soul! or is its blue there to remind me of our h
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CHAPTER VII GOOD-BYE TO YOUTH—TAKING THE VEIL
CHAPTER VII GOOD-BYE TO YOUTH—TAKING THE VEIL
Territet , Jan. 1907. I am thinking of a sad spring morning of long ago. I was twelve years old, but the constant terror in which I had lived had increased my tendency towards uneasiness and melancholy. The life I was forced to lead had nothing in common with my nature. Ever since I can remember, I had loved the bright light, open horizons, galloping on horses against the wind, and all my surroundings were calm and monotonous. As time went on, I put off every day the moment for wakening, because
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CHAPTER VIII A MISFIT EDUCATION
CHAPTER VIII A MISFIT EDUCATION
Territet , Jan. 1907. I began to write to you the other day of the influence which Western culture has had on the lives of Turkish women. If you only knew the disastrous consequences of that learning and the suffering for which it is responsible! From complete ignorance, we were plunged into the most advanced culture; there was no middle course, no preparatory school, and, indeed, what ought to have been accomplished in centuries we have done in three, and sometimes in two generations. When our
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CHAPTER IX “SMART WOMEN” THROUGH THE VEIL
CHAPTER IX “SMART WOMEN” THROUGH THE VEIL
In answer to my query as to whether Caux had smart enough visitors to justify an editor sending there a special correspondent, I had the following letter from Zeyneb: Caux , Jan. 1907. The articles which I have written for you on the beauties of Switzerland will possibly not appeal to the British public. For a long time last night, when I returned to my room, I tried to make you understand the intense delight I had felt in watching the good-night kiss which the lovesick moon had given to the bea
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CHAPTER X THE TRUE DEMOCRACY—THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF SNOBBERY IN TURKISH LIFE
CHAPTER X THE TRUE DEMOCRACY—THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF SNOBBERY IN TURKISH LIFE
The two fugitives left Switzerland for Nice. Melek was in perfect health, and still delighted with her Western liberty. Zeyneb, although better, began more and more to see her new life lose its glamour. But it was too late—there was no going back. I wonder which of the two suffers more—the person who expects much and is disappointed; or the person of whom much is expected and feels she has disappointed. It seemed to me so often, I could often read in Zeyneb’s eyes, “Was it worth it?” Was she lik
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CHAPTER XI A COUNTRY PICTURE
CHAPTER XI A COUNTRY PICTURE
Sometimes in the summer afternoons, in large parties, and in big springless waggons, we drove to the olive woods or the vineyards near the seashore. In spite of our veils, we just revelled in the beauty of the sky and the scenery all round. Sometimes we spent all day in the country, lunching on the grass, and playing like children, happy, though not free. Then we went for excursions—wonderful excursions to the ruins of Ephesus and Hierapolis and Parganu. Those women who had learnt Ancient Histor
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CHAPTER XII THE STAR FROM THE WEST—THE EMPRESS EUGÉNIE
CHAPTER XII THE STAR FROM THE WEST—THE EMPRESS EUGÉNIE
Nice , Feb. 1907. We have just returned from Cap Martin, where we have had the pleasure and honour of being introduced to the Empress Eugénie, the person of all persons I hoped to meet in Europe. Never will she know how much I have appreciated seeing her to-day, and all the charming past she called back to my memory. Imagine actually seeing in the flesh, the heroine of your grandmothers’ stories; the Empress whose beauty fascinated the East, the Empress whose clothes the women copied, whose lang
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CHAPTER XIII TURKISH HOSPITALITY—A REVOLUTION FOR CHILDREN
CHAPTER XIII TURKISH HOSPITALITY—A REVOLUTION FOR CHILDREN
Nice , March 1907. I can assure you, I do not exaggerate our Oriental hospitality. Go to Turkey and you will see for yourself that everywhere you will be received like a Queen. Everyone will want to be honoured by your presence in their home. The most modest household has its rooms for the mussafirs or guests. In wealthy establishments, the guest is given the choicest furniture, the daintiest golden goblets and bon-bon dishes, the best and finest linen and embroideries, a little trousseau for he
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CHAPTER XIV A STUDY IN CONTRASTS
CHAPTER XIV A STUDY IN CONTRASTS
Nice , March 1907. There are habits, my dearest friend, which cannot be lost in the West any more than they can be acquired in the East. You know what a terrible task it is for a Turkish woman to write a letter—even a Turkish woman who pretends to be Western in many ways. Can you, who belong to a race which can quietly take a decision and act upon it, understand this fault of ours, which consists of always putting off till the morrow what should be done the same day? Thanks to this laziness, we
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A WALK WITH PIERRE LOTI IN A WESTERN CEMETERY
A WALK WITH PIERRE LOTI IN A WESTERN CEMETERY
Yesterday afternoon, accompanied by M. Pierre Loti, we visited the cemetery of Birreyatou. Its likeness to Turkey attracted us at once, for all that is Eastern has a peculiar fascination for Loti. There were the same cypress trees and plants that grow in our cemeteries, and the tombs were cared for in a manner which is quite unusual in Western Europe. To go for a walk in a burial-ground I know is exclusively an Eastern form of amusement. But wait till you have seen our cemeteries and compared th
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COMÉDIE FRANÇAISE
COMÉDIE FRANÇAISE
Did I ever tell you of my visit to the Comédie Française? Alas, alas! again I have to chronicle a disappointment. I am trying to think what I pictured to myself I was going to see, and I am not at all clear about it. In my childish imagination I must have thought of something I will never see. Naturally the piece played was Œdipus Rex . Every time I am invited to the Comédie Française I see Œdipus Rex . It seems a particular favourite in Paris, I am sure I cannot tell why. The scenery was perfec
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A BULL-FIGHT
A BULL-FIGHT
Guess, my dear, where I have been this afternoon. Guess, guess! I, a Turkish woman, have been to a bull-fight! There were many English people present. They are, I am told, the habitués of the place, and they come away, like the Spaniards, almost intoxicated by the spectacle. This is an excitement which does not in the least appeal to me. Surely one must be either prehistoric or decadent to get into this unwholesome condition of the Spaniards. Is the sight of a bull which is being killed, and per
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CHAPTER XVI THE MOON OF RAMAZAN
CHAPTER XVI THE MOON OF RAMAZAN
Hendaye , August 1907. You ask me to describe the life a Turkish woman leads during Ramazan. The evenings of Ramazan are the only evenings of the year when she has the right to be out of doors; the time when she seizes every opportunity of meeting her friends and arranging interesting soirées; the time when she goes on foot or drives to the Mosques to hear the Imams explain the Word of the Prophet. Need I remind you, unlike the women of the lower and middle classes, who go out every evening, the
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CHAPTER XVII AND IS THIS REALLY FREEDOM?
CHAPTER XVII AND IS THIS REALLY FREEDOM?
London , Nov.-Dec. 1908. About a week ago, 22 whilst you were writing your first letter to me and speaking of the beautiful Eastern sun that was shining through your latticed window, what a different experience was mine in London. I was walking by myself in the West End, when suddenly, the whole city was shrouded in one of those dense fogs to which you no doubt have become accustomed. I could not see the name of the streets nor the path at the opposite side, so I wandered on for a little while,
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CHAPTER XVIII THE CLASH OF CREEDS
CHAPTER XVIII THE CLASH OF CREEDS
London , Jan. 1909. I am indeed a désenchantée . I envy you even your reasonable illusions about us. We are hopelessly what we are. I have lost all mine about you, and you seem to me as hopelessly what you are. The only difference between the spleen of London and the spleen of Constantinople is that the foundation of the Turkish character is dry cynicism, whilst the Englishman’s is inane doggedness without object. In his fatalism the Turk is a philosopher. Your Englishman calls himself a man of
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CHAPTER XIX IN THE ENEMY’S LAND
CHAPTER XIX IN THE ENEMY’S LAND
Venice , Oct. 1911. You will say perhaps I am reminded of the Bosphorus everywhere, just as Maurice Barres is reminded of Lorraine in every land he visits. Yet how would it be possible not to think of the Bosphorus in Venice, especially when for so many years I have had to do without it? Here, there is the same blue sky, the same blue carpet of sea, the same sunset, and the same wonderful sunrise—only gondolas have taken the place of caïques. All day and part of the evening I allow myself to be
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CHAPTER XX THE END OF THE DREAM
CHAPTER XX THE END OF THE DREAM
Marseilles , 5th March, 1912. It is to-morrow that I sail. In a week from to-day, I shall again be away yonder amongst those whom I have always felt so near, and who I know have not forgotten me. In just a week from to-day I shall again be one of those unrecognisible figures who cross and recross the silent streets of our town—some one who no longer belongs to the same world as you—some one who must not even think as you do—some one who will have to try and forget she led the existence of a West
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