The Cry of the Heart: Russian and Ottoman Literary Enlightenments

Loading...

Date

2025-02

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Repository Usage Stats

2
views
27
downloads

Citation Stats

Abstract

<jats:p> This article examines the works of Alexander Radishchev and Namık Kemal to explore how Russian and Ottoman Enlightenments conceptualized emotion as integral to political subjectivity. Moving beyond conventional interpretations of these traditions as reactionary or subordinate to Western Enlightenment ideals, the study argues that both thinkers redefined emotion as the foundation of autonomy and collective identity, challenging binaries between rationalism and sentimentality. Radishchev’s Journey from Petersburg to Moscow demonstrates how emotional introspection enables the critique of social and political systems, transforming individual awareness into communal ethical engagement. Similarly, Kemal’s writings merge Romantic individualism with Enlightenment rationality, advocating for emotional conscience as a basis for modernization and cultural reform in the Ottoman Empire. This comparative study situates Radishchev and Kemal within the broader nineteenth-century intellectual field, where tensions between reason and emotion, individuality and collectivism and internal versus external authority shaped debates about modernity. It ultimately reveals the transnational complexity of Enlightenment thought and its enduring relevance for understanding the intersections of emotional and rational paradigms in shaping modern political and cultural discourses. </jats:p>

Department

Description

Provenance

Subjects

Citation

Published Version (Please cite this version)

10.3366/ccs.2025.0545

Publication Info

Dolcerocca, Özen Nergis, and Jennifer Flaherty (2025). The Cry of the Heart: Russian and Ottoman Literary Enlightenments. Comparative Critical Studies, 22(1). pp. 7–30. 10.3366/ccs.2025.0545 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/32204.

This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.

Scholars@Duke

Flaherty

Jennifer Flaherty

Assistant Professor of the Practice in Slavic & Eurasian Studies

A scholar of Russian literature and European intellectual history, I work at the intersection of literary and political form from a comparative perspective. 


Unless otherwise indicated, scholarly articles published by Duke faculty members are made available here with a CC-BY-NC (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial) license, as enabled by the Duke Open Access Policy. If you wish to use the materials in ways not already permitted under CC-BY-NC, please consult the copyright owner. Other materials are made available here through the author’s grant of a non-exclusive license to make their work openly accessible.