Voice from the Ottoman Literary Periphery

Despite his role as mufti and sheykh of the ʿUşşāḳīye order in the Western Anatolian town of Nazilli, ʿAlī Ġālib Vaṣfī (d. 1850) remained a marginal figure in Ottoman literary historiography, his name preserved mainly in oral accounts and hagiographic anecdotes. This volume makes his poetic œuvre accessible for the first time, based on a unique manuscript held at Tübingen University Library. It offers a critical edition and English translation of 83 poems—mostly chronograms—alongside a comprehensive study of the manuscript, Vaṣfī’s intellectual and spiritual biography, and the literary, linguistic, and metrical features of his verse. The analysis sheds light on a local Sufi’s intellectual world, poetic traditions, and peripheral literary culture in 19th-century Western Anatolia. The volume contributes both to the recognition of neglected voices in Ottoman poetry and to the broader study of provincial manuscript cultures and Sufi literary expression. It addresses scholars of Ottoman literature, Sufism, and manuscript studies alike.