Strategic negotiations in translation: Fatma Aliye’s Meram and the repositioning of women’s voices

This article examines the ideological and cultural significance of Fatma Aliye’s translation of Georges Ohnet’s Volonté, published as Meram (1889), and its prefaces, highlighting her role as translator and social reformer in the late Ottoman Empire. Employing Toury’s preliminary norms, the study contextualises Fatma Aliye’s thematic priorities within the Tanzimat era’s interplay of Western literary influences and Ottoman moral values. Prefaces authored by Fatma Aliye, her mentor Ahmet Mithat Efendi, and contemporary editors are analysed using digital humanities (Voyant Tools) to uncover patterns of word choice, thematic emphasis, and narrative strategies. Findings reveal how Fatma Aliye strategically used translation and the novel form to advocate for women’s rights, foster cross-cultural understanding, and reshape Ottoman intellectual discourse. By focusing on concepts such as moral integrity, social reform, and women’s empowerment, her works challenged Western misconceptions about Muslim women and expanded female authorship. Ultimately, Fatma Aliye’s translation and literary activities exemplify how the Ottoman novel became a conduit for cultural negotiation, ensuring that women’s voices influenced literary and social thought during a transformative period.