Haci Osman Gündüz (Ozzy)

History and Culture of the Islamic Societies
PhD
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hgunduz@g.harvard.edu

My dissertation research focuses on Arabic literature of 16th-century Bilād al-Shām. My main interest is the literary milieu of Damascus during the first century of Ottoman rule (1516-1600). I am also interested in post-1258 literary history of Arabic. My secondary research interests are early modern Ottoman and Persian literatures, literary criticism and Islamic intellectual history. Before starting my PhD adventure at Harvard, I taught Arabic at Tufts University for 6 years. I have also been the Summer Language Program Instructor in Classical Arabic at Harvard Divinity School since 2018.

 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

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Peer-Reviewed Articles (ORCID 0000-0001-9471-014X):

·     “A Contrarian Muʿtazilite Theologian/Poet’s Guide to Fine Poetry: Al-Nashiʾ Al-Akbar (d. 293/906) and How to Write Inimitable Poems,” Journal of Arabic Literature 54 (2023), 297–324.

·     “Between Lamenting Vicissitudes of Life and Celebrating Ottoman Authority in the Sixteenth Century: Māmayya al-Rūmī’s (d. 985-7/1577-9) Times and Poetry,” Philological Encounters 7 (2022), 299–333. [Selected Mediterranean Seminar “Article of the Month” for May 2023.]

·     “Introduction: Critical Engagements with Ottoman Arabic Literature,” with Ghayde Gharaowi, Philological Encounters 7 (2022), 233–37.

·     “Ottoman-Era Arabic Literature: Overview of Select Secondary Scholarship,” Al-Abhath 69 (2021), 107–22.

Book Chapters:

·     “A(n) (Un)likely Arabic Source for the Nights,” in The Thousand and One Nights (provisionally titled), ed. Margaret Litvin and Sunil Sharma (Cambridge: Harvard University Press Ilex Series, forthcoming).

Conference Proceedings:

·     “Politics and Sexuality in Mohamed Choukri’s For Bread Alone and Tahar Ben Jelloun’s Leaving Tangier: Genuine Narrative versus Exoticization,” in İ. Emekli and A. Gökhan (eds.), Göç Olgusunun Modern Arap Edebiyatına Etkileri: Uluslararası Sempozyum Bildiriler Kitabı (Erzurum: Atatürk Üniversitesi Yayınları, 2021), 160–70.

Encyclopedia Entries:

·     “Noble Death in Islam” and “Nöldeke, Theodor” in Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception: Volume 21 Negative Theology – Offspring (Berlin and New York: De Gruyter, 2023), 707 and 715–17.

Book Reviews:

·     Review of In Deadly Embrace: Arabic Hunting Poems by Ibn al-Muʿtazz, edited and translated by James E. Montgomery, al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā, 32 (2024): 613-615.

·     [In Arabic] Review of Empire of Salons: Conquest and Community in Early Modern Ottoman Lands (2022) by Helen Pfeifer, al-Markaz 4 (2025): 128–133.

Translations:

·     “Solace for the Traveler & Entertainment for the Conversationalist,” ArabLit Quarterly 5:2 (Summer 2022), 70–84; translator’s note, 117.

·     “Mind Your Table Manners: A Guide to Dining in Company from 16th-Century Damascus,” ArabLit Quarterly 4:2 (Summer 2021), 36–50.