Takriz Bir Tür Müdür?

Abstract

Takriz, which is defined as introductory articles written in order to praise the works and writers, found a field of production in almost every period of the Ottoman literature and formed a unique tradition with its different forms and contents. Poets or writers who wanted to find a place in literary and artistic circles asked for takriz from the people whom they considered as authority. This was a reflection of their efforts to be appreciated and to be articulated in the tradition. For those who introduce and promote the works of others, writing a takriz was an area of discourse where they tested their own artistic power and tried to consolidate the ideal conception of the literary tradition. The fact that the takriz appeared in many different genres points to the prevalence of this writing in Ottoman literature. The important representatives of Ottoman literature such as Bâkî, Nev'î, Nâbî, Şeyh Gâlib, Nedîm, Seyyid Vehbî and Koca Râgıb Pasha wrote takriz for the works of others and some of them included these takriz in their own divans. This shows that takriz was given a certain literary value. In this article, I will focus on the takriz-writing in the Ottoman literature, and I will discuss whether the taqriz can be considered as a genre. In this context, I will first focus on its representations in the biographical dictionaries, divans and mecmûas. Then, I will try to reveal the literary value and the characteristic of this tradition by discussing the formal and stylistic features of the takriz through some examples.