Namegh Kamal and Persian Language and Literature

Namegh Kamal was a well-known 19th century Ottoman poet and intellectual. In spite of the general attention to Western literature and disapproval of learning Persian language and literature in the general cultural atmosphere of the 19th century Ottoman society, Namegh Kamal was one of the people who learnt the Persian language and benefitted from Persian literature. He reflected upon literary reforms in the Ottoman Empire, and he wrote about the relationship between the Persian and the Ottoman language and literature, the influence of Persian literature on the history of Ottoman literature, and the howness of encountering this influence in order to carry out literary reforms. Kamal’s approach to Persian language and literature is the subject of the present paper which was studied through descriptive and analytic methods, using Kamal’s works and writings as well as important literary and historical sources of his era. The study provides an answer to the question, why and how Namegh Kamal paid attention to the Persian language and literature in the reform-oriented Ottoman atmosphere.