In the Beginning Was “A Woman”: Motivation, Agency, and the Will of Fatma Aliye

As the most prolific and eminent female writer of late nineteenth-century Ottoman Turkish literature, Fatma Aliye (born 1862) began her career in 1889 by translating a French best-selling novel (Volonté by Georges Ohnet) into Ottoman Turkish (as Meram) and publishing it under the pseudonym “Bir Kadın” (A Woman). This study assesses the significance of Aliye’s translation of Volonté and its preface “Dibace” as the expression of her main motivations to exist in the literary public by introducing herself as the initiator of female authorship. Additionally, it reevaluates Aliye’s usage of the pseudonym “Bir Kadın” by taking into account both Meram’s plot and her beginning motivations in “Dibace.” Thus, this article deals with the translation process of Meram as a representation of Aliye’s motivation, will, and courage to participate in the literary public through the agency of her own writing in a male-dominant literary atmosphere.