Gender and the Construction of Female Subjectivity in Narrative: A Feminist Narratological Reading of Muallime

Abstract

Muallime was serialized by Emine Semiye in the supplement Hanım Kızlara Mahsus in Hanımlara Mahsus Gazete between March 3, 1899 – May 2, 1901. Muallime gives messages on subjects such as women’s rights, education, and pedagogy. These messages are underlined in the main character, Bihbûde, who is presented as an ideal Ottoman woman because she has a modern understanding of education and culture while remaining loyal to her traditions. Muallime, where varied women’s narratives intersect, includes various side stories about the past and lives of other female characters in addition to Bihbûde’s story. Within this multila-yered structure of the novel, a feminist approach to narratology provides insights into which women’s discourses get constructed on narrative strategies. Examining structural elements such as the writer, narrator, reader, and narrative characters that make up the narrative, femi-nist narratologists have focused on literary texts produced by women by focusing on gender indicators. In my analysis of Muallime, I evaluate the function of gender in the structuring of the narrative by following a feminist narratological method. By subjecting the narrative to reading with a focus on the narrator and the reader’s gender, I present a framework for the construction of women’s discourse in the narrative.