On dokuzuncu yüzyıl Türk edebiyatının yönünü Batı'ya döndüğü bir dönem olmuştur. Bu yüzyılda Türk edebiyatında İstanbul merkezli yenileşme çabaları hız kazanmıştır. Bursa'da yayımlanan Fevaid gazetesinin Sermuharriri Celal Paşazade Mehmet Rıfat Efendi, İstanbul'da meydana gelen değişimi yakından takip etmiştir. Mehmet Rıfat Efendi, Fevaid gazetesinde göreve başladıktan sonra gazetenin çehresi değişmiş ve gazete yenilikçi bir kimliğe bürünmüştür. Onun sermuharrir olmasından sonra Servet-i Fünun sanatçılarının şiir ve yazıları Fevaid'de yayımlanmaya başlamıştır. İstanbul'daki edebî gelişmeler Mehmet Rıfat'ın çalışmalarıyla Bursa'ya ulaştırılmıştır. Eserlerini İstanbul'da yayımlanan dergilere (Malumat, Maarif, Mektep) de gönderen Mehmet Rıfat, İstanbul ile Bursa arasında bir köprü vazifesi görmüştür. Çok yönlü bir yazar olarak Bursa Kültür ortamına canlılık katan Mehmet Rıfat Efendi, yenilikçi kimliğiyle ön plana çıkmaktadır. Sanatçı, yazılarıyla dönemin edebî tartışmalarına Servet-i Fünuncular lehine katılmış ve fikrini beyan etmiştir. "Dekadanlar" tartışmasını İstanbul dışında devam ettirmesi ve dönemin edebî tartışmalarına Anadolu'dan katılması Mehmet Rıfat Efendi'nin yenilikçi karakterinin bir nişanesidir. Mehmet Rıfat Efendi, Divan şiirine yönelik yaptığı eleştirilerle İstanbul'da cereyan eden eski-yeni tartışmalarına da katılmıştır. Her fırsatta yenilikçi kimliğini gösteren sanatçı, eserleriyle de bu tavrını devam ettirmiştir. Girişimci bir karaktere sahip Mehmet Rıfat Efendi, şair, hikâye yazarı, editör ve gazeteci kimliğiyle on dokuzuncu yüzyıl Bursa kültür tarihinin önemli kişilerinden birisidir. Bu çalışmada; Mehmet Rıfat Efendi'nin eserleri ve edebî kişiliği tespit edilmiş ve yenilikçi kimliği bilim dünyasının dikkatine sunulmuştur

The nineteenth century is a period of time in which Turkish literature turned his face towards west and innovation struggles peculiar to Istanbul gained momentum. Celal Paşazade Mehmet Rıfat Efendi who was the head writer of Fevaid newspaper that was published in Bursa followed the changes closely that took place in Istanbul. Mehmet Rıfat Efendi was the son of Celal Paşa who was the writer like him and a successful doctor as well. His grandfather Hayrettin Paşa served as the colonel in Ottoman army. Besides working as the first secretary in Edirne regie administration the writer stayed in Bursa for a long time. Having no and insufficient information throughout Bursa written documents and records about Mehmet Rıfat Efendi could be supportive for this idea. Murad Emri Efendi published the first literal journal named Fevaid. The first publishment was conducted in 17 November of 1887 on Thursday. This publishment was also accepted as the trigger for the civilian journalism. The newspaper gives a break just after his 3rd publishment. Fevaid republished with a different style 4 years later in 15 November of 1896. Mehmet Rıfat Efendi was assigned as the editor in chief for the Fevaid. During this period Mehmet Rıfat Efendi did a lot of changes and for the sake of his efforts, so many important and so-called writings of the period were published in newspaper. With the participation of Mehmet Rıfat Efendi in Fevaid, the newspaper changed dramatically together with his innovative identity. In the afterwards of his being the head writer, the poems and articles of Servet-i Funun authors started to be published in Fevaid. Literary improvements that occurred in Istanbul were conveyed to Bursa. Mehmet Rıfat took the role of a bridge between Bursa and Istanbul by sending his works to the magazines (Malumat, Maarif, Mektep) that were published in Istanbul. Mehmet Rıfat Efendi was not only active and social person in Bursa, he was also informed all the literal progress around him. Besides his close relations with istanbul, he was having enough information about the publishments in İzmir as well. Knowing the culture of east well, Mehmet Rıfat Efendi was also open minded performer for the west culture. Having written his poems in aruz prosody he avoided from the religious topics. In his works, external life was curial. Shown himself as the lover and supporter of new literature, he published his works accordingly besides knowing the old literature. His works also include love of homeland and love of citizen. Because of his father’s love towards military and his grandfather’s military position, he was sensitive to that kind of topics. Mehmet Rıfat Efendi also knows a good degree of French. So he knows French literature as well. He used translations in his works. He had the chance of knowing the east and west at the same time. Mehmet Rıfat Efendi enriched the culture of Bursa as a versatile author. The author participated into literary discussions on behalf of Servet-i Fünun writers and expressed his thoughts. That he continued “decadents discussion” beyond Istanbul and that he participated into literary discussions from Anatolia is an indication of his innovative character. After Tanzimat Edict showed its effect on the Westernization movements of the Ottoman Empire which resulted from movements in the period of Tanzimat literature; Divan Literature, which has an important place in Turkish Literature, was subject to great criticism. Criticizing Divan Literature by innovative poets became a tradition at the period of Turkish literature that was affected by West. It was seen that these criticisms continued during the period of Servet-i Fünûn and spreaded from Istanbul to the countryside. Celal Paşazade Mehmed Rif'at Efendi who was the head writer of Feva’id newspaper that was published in Bursa participated ‘old-new’ debate that took place in Istanbul with his Divan poetry. Ever innovative author Mehmet Rıfat Efendi maintained his attitude also in his works. Mehmet Rıfat Efendi was one of the important figures that help new poem style intelligence to extend throughout Bursa in the last period of Divan literature. Bursa, as the opening door of Istanbul to Anatolia, with the efforts of Mehmet Rıfat Efendi, had the chance of following all the innovations and processes of Turkish literature so closely. He, who was an entrepreneur, was one of the most important persons for the culture of Bursa as a journalist, writer, poet, story writer and editor in the nineteenth century. In this research, the literary personality of Mehmet Rıfat Efendi and his works were studied and his innovative identity was presented to the scientific world.