A Little Recent History, A Little Distant Superstition

A Little Recent History, A Little Distant Superstition

“I have read all the excerpts you translated from Machiavelli. In the first ten pages, I found little that was new, but I hoped it would improve. The next ten pages were no better. The last one was entirely ordinary. I see that I have little to learn from Machiavelli; I know more about [political] trickery than he does. You no longer need to translate him.” 

These words were spoken by Muhammad Ali Pasha, the Governor of Egypt, to his translator, Artin, a Turkish Armenian. When? At a time when the Islamic world, including the Ottoman Empire, had, out of necessity or willingly, turned its gaze towards Europe and European values, including Machiavelli's *The Prince*, following military defeats; a time when he himself was sending students to Paris and London to "bring enlightenment and civilization"; in such a state of mind... 

How should we correctly understand Muhammad Ali Pasha's words?

Author: İsmail Kara

 Publisher: Dergah Publications

 ISBN: 978-625-7005-30-2

 Binding: Paperback

 Language: Turkish

 Dimensions: 13.5 x 21 cm

 Number of Pages: 350