ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how two seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Ottoman historians, Katib Celebi and Naima, read, interpreted and rewrote narratives of the sieges of Nagykanizsa. It demonstrates how Katib Celebi's rewritings not only situate his narrative in a more politically and religiously orthodox framework but also how they work to control the reception of the narrative as factual history. Like many Ottoman histories, Tarih-i Naima is a critical compilation of the work of his predecessors in conjunction with sections authored by Naima himself. The chapter considers the role that framing, rubrication and intertextuality play in determining the received status of a narrative. It argues that although the term fiction is generally understood as meaning, something akin to 'invented story', the decision to apply the term to a particular text is not made by audiences in terms of external referentiality but is determined by reference to specific community-defined protocols and interpretative strategies employed and understood by both the author and audience.
