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A STROLL THROUGH 19TH CENTURY ARMENIAN ISTANBUL
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
May 15 2014
William ARMSTRONG
'Istanbul Mahallelerinde Bir Gezinti' (A Trip through Istanbul's
Neighborhoods) by Hagop Baronyan, trans. P. Hilda Teller Babek (Can
Yayınları, 12.50TL, 136 pages)
The irreverent tone of Hagop Baronyan's tour of 19th century Istanbul
is set in the first paragraph of the first chapter, describing the
village of Ortaköy on the European shore of the Bosphorus: "If you
want to enter Ortaköy from the road alongside the pier," he writes,
"you can immediately smell six different wonderful toilet scents. For
the locals, a sensitive nose is a big problem." Baronyan was an Ottoman
Armenian born in Edirne in 1842, who moved to Istanbul in 1864. He
lived by the pen, writing satirical portraits of social life and
pieces for the theater, before dying a very 19th century death from
tuberculosis after struggling penniless on the streets of the city. He
is now widely seen as the greatest Armenian satirist of all time, but
this volume was only translated into Turkish and published last month.
Baronyan writes so vividly that the reader can see the sights and smell
the toilets of each neighborhood he visits. As a master satirist, he
floats about uncommitted, drily pointing out peculiarities and making
sweeping generalizations everywhere he goes: The Armenians of Hasköy
are disloyal; those in Rumelihisarı are heavy drinkers and indiscreet;
those in Ortaköy are vain and pretentious; the denizens of Kuzguncuk
are even-tempered and relaxed. Eyup was just as conservative as today
and Baronyan takes a dim view of the lack of rakı available there:
"Here, there is neither friendship nor youth.
But there is selfish and ignorance." Beyoglu is reliably described as
"Istanbul's Paris," though only "if Paris doesn't feel too degraded
to be associated with Beyoglu."
Some of the epigrammatic chapters read as mini-short stories, others
are imaginary, sketch-like dialogues with local fishermen. Almost
every paragraph is laced with irony, but at times literary whimsy takes
Baronyan away. In Eyup, for example, he tells us that the locals are
known for having a lot of dreams while sleeping: "They see so many
dreams that there aren't any left for the rest of us." He also uses
a couple of sentences of each chapter to address the weather of each
place. But although these conditions are surprisingly varied, it's a
general rule that "however bad the weather, it is always better than
the schools."
The two main institutions organizing Armenian neighborhoods were
the schools and the churches. The elected church administrators
were responsible for organizing funds for schools and other social
amenities, and Baronyan spends much of his time mirthfully observing
their endless disagreements. Equally important, however, are the
taverns (meyhanes), which he drolly suggests are "not as difficult
to keep alive as it is to keep open a school." His focus is on the
rich variety of social life, and he generally avoids lofty political
speculation. "Don't ask about politics," he writes about the residents
of Topkapı. "They're not interested. If the names of Gladstone,
Beaconsfield or Grandville escape your mouth, people will think it's a
French swear word and give you a slap." It's a revelation to discover
such a jocular street-level guide to 19th century Armenian Istanbul,
and I'm sure there's an audience for this kind of Sultan-less Ottoman
literature that English-language publishers have yet to clock onto.
There's a Dickensian quality to Baronyan's sketches. Of course they
are exaggerated, but it's somber to remember just how colorful and
distinct each part of the city once was, when even the toilet smells
in each neighborhood were distinct. You can still get a whiff of that
difference in parts of Istanbul today, but often the most remarkable
thing about the city's various neighborhoods are the giant new shopping
malls going up and the new highways being laid down.
May/15/2014
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/a-stroll-through-19th-century-armenian-istanbul-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=66473&NewsCatID=474
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
May 15 2014
William ARMSTRONG
'Istanbul Mahallelerinde Bir Gezinti' (A Trip through Istanbul's
Neighborhoods) by Hagop Baronyan, trans. P. Hilda Teller Babek (Can
Yayınları, 12.50TL, 136 pages)
The irreverent tone of Hagop Baronyan's tour of 19th century Istanbul
is set in the first paragraph of the first chapter, describing the
village of Ortaköy on the European shore of the Bosphorus: "If you
want to enter Ortaköy from the road alongside the pier," he writes,
"you can immediately smell six different wonderful toilet scents. For
the locals, a sensitive nose is a big problem." Baronyan was an Ottoman
Armenian born in Edirne in 1842, who moved to Istanbul in 1864. He
lived by the pen, writing satirical portraits of social life and
pieces for the theater, before dying a very 19th century death from
tuberculosis after struggling penniless on the streets of the city. He
is now widely seen as the greatest Armenian satirist of all time, but
this volume was only translated into Turkish and published last month.
Baronyan writes so vividly that the reader can see the sights and smell
the toilets of each neighborhood he visits. As a master satirist, he
floats about uncommitted, drily pointing out peculiarities and making
sweeping generalizations everywhere he goes: The Armenians of Hasköy
are disloyal; those in Rumelihisarı are heavy drinkers and indiscreet;
those in Ortaköy are vain and pretentious; the denizens of Kuzguncuk
are even-tempered and relaxed. Eyup was just as conservative as today
and Baronyan takes a dim view of the lack of rakı available there:
"Here, there is neither friendship nor youth.
But there is selfish and ignorance." Beyoglu is reliably described as
"Istanbul's Paris," though only "if Paris doesn't feel too degraded
to be associated with Beyoglu."
Some of the epigrammatic chapters read as mini-short stories, others
are imaginary, sketch-like dialogues with local fishermen. Almost
every paragraph is laced with irony, but at times literary whimsy takes
Baronyan away. In Eyup, for example, he tells us that the locals are
known for having a lot of dreams while sleeping: "They see so many
dreams that there aren't any left for the rest of us." He also uses
a couple of sentences of each chapter to address the weather of each
place. But although these conditions are surprisingly varied, it's a
general rule that "however bad the weather, it is always better than
the schools."
The two main institutions organizing Armenian neighborhoods were
the schools and the churches. The elected church administrators
were responsible for organizing funds for schools and other social
amenities, and Baronyan spends much of his time mirthfully observing
their endless disagreements. Equally important, however, are the
taverns (meyhanes), which he drolly suggests are "not as difficult
to keep alive as it is to keep open a school." His focus is on the
rich variety of social life, and he generally avoids lofty political
speculation. "Don't ask about politics," he writes about the residents
of Topkapı. "They're not interested. If the names of Gladstone,
Beaconsfield or Grandville escape your mouth, people will think it's a
French swear word and give you a slap." It's a revelation to discover
such a jocular street-level guide to 19th century Armenian Istanbul,
and I'm sure there's an audience for this kind of Sultan-less Ottoman
literature that English-language publishers have yet to clock onto.
There's a Dickensian quality to Baronyan's sketches. Of course they
are exaggerated, but it's somber to remember just how colorful and
distinct each part of the city once was, when even the toilet smells
in each neighborhood were distinct. You can still get a whiff of that
difference in parts of Istanbul today, but often the most remarkable
thing about the city's various neighborhoods are the giant new shopping
malls going up and the new highways being laid down.
May/15/2014
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/a-stroll-through-19th-century-armenian-istanbul-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=66473&NewsCatID=474
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress