Very Good Turkish, Ottoman (1500-1928) A large and fine collection and archive of Cahit Uçuk, (1909-2004) including various size clippings, a caricature, her biography, news, her serialized stories published in Turkish periodicals, and newspapers with several autograph corrections by Uçuk (Serialized novels include approx. 65 p., two are complete) as well as her original autograph - manuscript letter, manuscripts titled "Televizyon için notlar" [i.e. Notes for Television] (40 paged), a compilation of Turkish nursery rhymes (17 pp.), stories, fables, and fairy tales, and her population register document (it seems he was born in Diyarbakir city contrary to what is known as Istanbul, or Thessaloniki [Salonica] according to this document), manuscript report of her interview made by Hikmet Altinkaynak (1945-), and an essay titled "Yunanlilar'a Mektup" [i.e. A letter to Greeks]; and her plan for a journey to Italy. Cahit Uçuk was a Turkish female author and story writer. Ibrahim Vehbi Üçok, whose father was the Siverek Deputy and District Governor in the last Ottoman Parliament, and her mother was Hadiye Hanim, who was originally from Thessaloniki. Cahit's first tale was published in the magazine named "Yarim Ay" [i.e. Half Moon] published by Nâzim Hikmet in 1935. Mrs. Cahit, who also wrote poetry before, turned to story and novel writing. In her works, she mostly dealt with women's rights and the place of women in society, and occasionally worked on mystical themes. She's famous for her children's books. Many female writers have adopted male noms-de-plume, or otherwise gender-ambiguous pseudonyms, for a number of reasons: to publish without prejudice in male-dominated circles; to experiment with the freedom of anonymity or to encourage male readership. Cahit Uçuk, in his memoirs about the difficulties of being a woman writer in the world of men, could not keep a secret behind the name that everyone thought belonged to a man, and Bab-i Âlî [i.e. the street in Istanbul where publishers gathered in the Ottoman Empire] soon learned that she was a very beautiful woman.
