Constantinople, has done more for the New literature than any other one writer; as Mehmet Emin Bey, who lives at Adalia, is their leading poet. They have others, of course, who produced fine work; among whom Yahia Kemal would probably prove the outstanding genius, had he the energy to maintain his highest gifts. The pangs of a Nation's Birth, out of Sacrifice, have found voice.
There are two women of genius in this group. To Halidé Hanoum we have already devoted a chapter, in honour of a wise and passionate personality that has impressed itself on the whole history of a generation. We in England, I hope, are shortly to have a translation of her remarkable "Nouveau Touran."
Mufidé Hanoum (Mme. Ferid Bey) also approaches, though she has not reached, the outstanding genius of Halidé Hanoum. She is a younger woman, a less experienced writer, and, maybe, she lacks the inspiration that comes from long strain and suffering.
"There are others," concluded Hussein Raghib, "whom you ought to know, though they are not equally great."
"But I've stayed too long already," I replied, "interrupting your work."
And busy men, even in the East, must not neglect the State for courtesies too prolonged.
Hussein Rayhib himself has published a very delightful "Story of Nationalism," dating from the Closing of the Turkish Parliament. "As a matter of fact," he writes, "the Turc Odjagui was the beginning of Nationalism." This was a club founded by Hamdoullah Soubhi Bey as a protest against "Union and Progress," and to place the movement on a national, as opposed to a party, basis. Halidé Hanoum and other prominent women were admitted; and its three thousand members included professional men like officers, lawyers, doctors, professors and writers; and men of all nationalities—Greeks and Armenians, Persians and Arabs. It was closed by the English, but has recently been re-assembled.
Mustapha Kemal Pasha contributed handsomely
