Cinema From the Ottoman Empire to the Republic: A Comprehensive Reading of Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar's Novels

The primary aim of this article is to examine and evaluate the value of a prominent Turkish author's works as a source for the history of Ottoman‐Turkish cinema. Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar, who wrote popular novels, continuously from the 1890s, when cinema first entered the Ottoman‐Turkish region, through the 1930s, produced texts that incorporate everyday life and the common person into his narrative, with a strong emphasis on contemporary relevance; these texts possess the capacity for testimony and representation within the context of cinema history. As an observational writer, Gürpınar reflects on cinema, which had gradually become an integral part of daily life and modern routine, through his own prism as he depicts everyday life in his works. Gürpınar was a prolific writer who particularly excelled as a novelist. This study examines his literary body of work, consisting of 40 novels, nearly 70 stories, and four plays; the article focuses on the 27 novels, six short stories, and one play that contain content related to cinema. The study employs content analysis, a qualitative research method, and approaches Hüseyin Rahmi's fictions, which form the study's primary source, through a symptomatic reading.