Architectural heritage | Literature | Fine arts | Sports | Intellectual life
Over the centuries there have been many western writers who have and still do write about ‘the mystic east’, however as would be understandable the relatively minor foreign communities were usually ignored.
Having first hand access to plentiful writing material, Levantines / long term residents of different nationalities produced many authors such as:
| Author | Title + date/place | Details |
| Paul Rycaut (1629-1700) |
The history of three famous fraudsters (Sabbatai
Zevi) - 1669 The present state of the Greek and the Armenian churches (Aegean) - 1679 The History of the Turkish Empire 1623-77 - 1680 The history of the present state of the Ottoman empire - (1667) 1686 - London |
In addition 11 long articles. Between 1661-1667 was secretary to the British Ambassador in Istanbul. Arrived in Smyrna as a consul in 1667, returned to London 1678. Clearly a good observer and a prolific writer, he amongst any other helped reveal the nature of Turkey in the West. |
| Henry John Van Lennep | Travels in little-known parts of Asia Minor - 1870 London | Born in Smyrna 1815, educated in the USA, returned to Turkey as a missionary, founding missionary centre and seminary in Tokat, central Anatolia |
| Mrs. John Elijah Blunt | The People of Turkey – 20 years of residence among Bulgarians, Greeks, Albanians, Turks and Armenians - 1878 London | Daughter of British Consul |
| Edmondo de Amies 1846-1908 | Constantinople - 1877 (recently republished as an English translation) | Arrived in the city 1874 |
| Sir Edwin Pears 1873-1915 | Forty years in Constantinople - 1916, reprinted | Listed on the Internet as being one of the favourite books of Ataturk. His son, Henry married a Whittall, Gertrude Anna |
Further information on Sir Edwin Pears was accessed through a web site devoted to the memoirs of the British ambassador during the First World War period, Henry Morgenthau, ‘Sir Edwin was one of the best-known British residents of Constantinople. For forty years he had practised law in the Ottoman capital; he had also written much for the press during that period, and had published several books which had given him fame as an authority on Oriental history and politics. He was about eighty years old…(1915)’ .
There is a small group of books dealing exclusively with Levantines and their heritage such as those below, mostly written by Levantines.
| Author | Title | Details |
| Willy Sperco | Istanbul. Paysage litteraire Les Anciennes familles Italiennes de Turquie etc. (Istanbul, Zelic, 1937) L'écroulement d'une dictature. Choses vues en Italie durant la guerre 1940-1945 (Editions Hachette 1946) Moustapha Kemal Ataturk, créateur de la Turquie moderne, 1882-1931. (Nouvelles Editions Latines, 1958) Roxelane, épouse de Soliman le Magnifique. (NEL, 1972) |
Of Venetian stock, a Levantine resident born in 1887 Smyrna, educated abroad, returning to the city 1918, later to pursue a writer / journalist career. |
| Giovanni Scognamillo | Bir Levantenin Beyoğlu anıları [Memories of a Levantine from Pera] | A nostalgic look at this vibrant quarter by this veteran cinema buff of Italian descent |
| Celal Esad [Arseven] | Eski Galata ve binaları [old Galata and its buildings] - 1913 Istanbul | From characters to buildings with photos and maps |
| Alphonse Belin | Historie de la Latinite de Constantinople | Details of past Italian families |
| Bertrand Bareilles | Constantinople ses cites Franques et Levantines, Pera-Galata-Banlieue [The Frank and Levantine areas of Istanbul] - 1918 Paris | Concentrating on the carnivals and fun of this minority |
| Ray Turrell | Scrap Book 1809-1922 - 1987 Surrey | A nostalgic look at life around Bournobat |
| Hugh Whittall | The Whittalls of Turkey 1809-1973 | A descendant of the of the Istanbul branch of the great Whittall family |
Notes: 1- The still living G. Scognamillo, reveals on the Internet, that W. Sperco was a writer / newspaper man in the 1930/40s working for the Istanbul Levantine papers in French, ‘Beyoglu’ (owned by Gilberto Primi) and ‘Journal d’Orient'.
2- Willy Sperco appears to be most prominent Levantine writer, specialising in subjects of history, including his observations of wartime Italy where he seems to have spent some time. The books published include ‘L’ecroulement d’une dictature – choses vue en Italie Durant la guerre 1940-45 [collapse of a dictator – things seen in Italy during the war] – Paris, Librairie Hachette – 1946’, ‘Ataturk, créateur de la Turquie moderne [Ataturk, creator of modern Turkey] (1882-1938) – Paris – 1958’, ‘Turcs d’hier et d’aujourd’hui, D’Abdülhamit a nos jours [Turks of yesterday and today, from Abdülhamit to present time] – 1961’, ‘Yüzyılın başında Istanbul [Istanbul at the commencement of the century] – 1989’. For his work he was decorated with the Italian commador merit, the French legion d’honneur, and the Dutch orange-Nassau office.
3- The last book intended more for the members of the extended family, the book has long since sold out.
4- Though not a Levantine, mention must be made of the British consul for Smyrna (more probably a consular offical) John Cleland, who led the ‘Society of Dilettanti’ (founded in 1732 by wealthy young men who had undertaken the Grand Tour, the Society of Dilettanti sponsored the study of the fine arts, especially of antiquity), making important contribution to the then infant field of archaeology. Cleland was later to fall on hard times, forcing him to write the scandalous novel ‘Fanny Hill’ that was banned in most of the world till a generation ago.
John Cleland (1709-1789) was probably a son of William Cleland, a friend of Pope, the poet. He was entered at Westminster School in 1722, was afterwards a consul at Smyrna and thence went as far as Bombay, where in 1736 he was in the service of the East India Company. He soon left Bombay in a destitute condition, somewhat hurriedly, for reasons connected with a quarrel with the Members of the Council at Bombay; and for many years subsequently wandered from city to city without any defined employment, and is said to have been more than once in a debtor’s prison in England. Lord Granville, who had been at the Privy Council, procured Cleland a pension of £1oo a year, in order that he might make a worthier use of his talents, or perhaps with a view to his prospective services as a newspaper writer. After this, Cleland wrote for the theatre and the newspapers.
5- There is also a small group of writers active today who have Levantine roots, such as Andrew Mango with books such as ‘Turkey (New nations and peoples)’ (Walker - 1968), ‘Discovering Turkey’ (Hastings house - 1972) ,‘Turkey, a delicately poised ally (The Washington papers)’ (Sage - 1975), ‘Turkey: a challenge of a new role’ (Praeger -1994), ‘Ataturk: the biography of the founder of modern Turkey’ (The outlook press - 2000) which has received high praise and was followed by ‘The Turks today’ (John Murray - 2004). Mr Mango’s last published book (Nov 2005), ‘Turkey and the war on terror: For thirty years we fought alone’, has also received favourable reviews.
The other living Levantine writer of note is Alev Lytle Croutier, currently living in San Francisco, but originally from Bornova, Izmir and her fictional novels some loosely based on her childhood impressions of her birth place include: ‘Taking the Waters: Spirit, Art, Sensuality - 1992’, ‘The Palace of Tears - 2002’, ‘Harem: The World Behind the Veil - 1998’, ‘La Poupee - 2001’, ‘Seven Houses : A Novel - 2003 (has been translated to 21 languages) ’, ‘Leyla: The Black Tulip (Girls of Many Lands) - 2003 (a children’s book co-authored with Kazuhiko Sano)’. Currently working on a historical novel set in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire, ‘The Lily and the Crescent’.
