ABSTRACT
Halide Edib Adivar's life spans a critical period in the history of modem Turkey from the twilight of the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Abdulhamid II until the aftermath of the first military coup in the early 1960's. Hese eighty years brought momentous changes and upheavals to Turkish society; Adivar participated actively in those changes, influencing the course of her country's social and political evolution. Adivar read widely not only in classical Ottoman literature but also in European classics such as those of William Shakespeare and Emile Zol. Although her style has often been criticized by the literary establishment, Halide Edib Adivar remains one of the most widely read authors of her generation. In addition to twenty novels, she published short stories, essays, literary criticism, plays, memoirs, articles pressing for a wide range of social reforms, and translations from European languages into Turkish.
