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Novels of social activism: American women writers of the interwar years
In the United States, the interwar decades of the 1920s and 1930s represented the struggle between liberation and conservatism during the "Roaring Twenties" and the turbulent Great Depression. The postwar emphasis on freedom, progress, and change was associated with the new youth, radical politics, industrial and urban growth, and immigration. Conservative reactions resulted in counteraction to modernization, working class activism, and foreign people and ideologies in light of economic crises, environmental disasters, and the changing socioeconomic and cultural structures of the United States. This dissertation explores six American women novelists who carried Progressive Era reform into the interwar years. Their social novels criticize the sociocultural and political context in order to improve modern American Woman's self-image and position, conditions of working class and farmers, and American society's awareness about global conflicts. Their drive to reform and consciousness raising narratives challenge popular and prejudiced portrayals in literature and the media. Gertrude Atherton's The Sisters-in-Law: A Novel of Our Time (1921) and Black Oxen (1923) redefine the new woman's liberation and morality through wartime services and the postwar reconstruction of society. Grace Lumpkin's To Make My Bread (1932) and Mary Heaton Vorse's Strike! (1930) convey working class families' demands for rights in the booming textile industries via the Gastonia Strike of 1929. Josephine Johnson's Now in November (1934) and Sanora Babb's Whose Names Are Unknown: A Novel (written in 1939/published in 2004) address farm families' struggle with the Great Depression, drought, and the Dust Bowl during the New Deal. In The Deepening Stream (1930), Dorothy Canfield critiques WWI and peace settlements, while warning American society against growing totalitarianism and persecution in the pre-WWII era in Seasoned Timber (1939). These novels of social activism express critical observations, the suffering of the masses, the reality behind myths and bias, and a call for change. Keywords: Interwar Era, American Social Novel, New Woman, Gastonia Strike, Great Depression, Dust Bowl, World Wars
The (re)construction of the image of "the Turk" in America, 1863-1963
This study delves into the history of transatlantic relations between the United States and Turkey by foregrounding the function of literary texts in the conduct of diplomacy. It highlights the role that individuals and civil institutions played in the course of affairs by reconstructing the image of Turkey and Turks in the United States between 1863 and 1963. It begins by tracing the history of American institutions, particularly Robert College and the Constantinople Woman's College, in the Ottoman Empire. Based on an analysis of works written by the founders and leading educators of these schools, with Cyrus Hamlin and Mary Mills Patrick occupying the most important place among them, the transformation of American institutions in the Ottoman Empire and the effects of these changes are discussed with an emphasis on their impact on Turkish-American relations. Within this framework, the autobiographical works written by the alumni of these schools, including Halide Edib Adıvar, and their contemporaries, constitute the primary sources for this study, as they represent the first cohort of Turkish writers who published works for American readers. A close reading of their works sheds light on the details of diplomatic, social, and cultural relations between Turkey and the United States in the aftermath of the First World War. As they endeavored to claim authority over representation of Turks in America, they challenged narrative hegemonies such as American Orientalism, the prevailing negative image of Turks, as well as grand narratives in the form of official histories in both countries. This dissertation concludes with a case study of the Turkish Information Office, a public diplomacy initiative that made use of both fictional and non-fictional texts to promote Turkey in America.
Manifestations of realism and trauma in Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Reservation Blues, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Being exposed to centuries of settler colonial practices has had long-term effects on Native Americans. This thesis examines how Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993), Reservation Blues (1995) and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007) depict the historical trauma caused by settler colonialism and the reservation experience through different manifestations of realism. These three works convey the reservation experience through partly autobiographical characters who live on the Spokane Reservation and focus on discussions of ethnic identity in the United States. Utilizing Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart's concepts of "historical trauma" and "historical trauma response" to offer close readings of the selected works, this study focuses on the uses of "reservation realism," magical realism, and autoethnography, respectively in each chapter, revealing Alexie's attempt to realistically reflect Native American experience despite existing racial hierarchies, prejudices, stereotypes, and selective historiography. Keywords Settler colonialism, Native Americans, reservation, historical trauma, realism, Sherman Alexie
Postmemory, survivance, and justice in Louise Erdrich's Justice Trilogy
Native Americans carry along historical traumas as a result of a turbulent history defined by relocation, cultural deracination, and racial extermination. Scholars argue that many of the contemporary challenges such as negative self-image, mental health issues, self-destructive behavior, high rates of suicide, domestic violence, and substance abuse, that trouble Native American communities today stem from these historical traumas. Louise Erdrich's Justice Trilogy, comprised of The Plague of Doves (2008), The Round House (2012), LaRose (2016), depicts the struggles of the Ojibwe that people these novels to obtain justice from the U.S. legal system for their traumatic experiences. Erdrich does not offer simple solutions to complex problems of justice and reparation in these novels. This thesis will analyze the trilogy, utilizing Marianne Hirsch's concept of postmemory which is the transmission of traumatic personal and collective memories that are spatially and temporarily distant to postmemory subjects who transmit these memories. Although postmemory has negative implications as it perpetuates traumas across generations, this study argues that it works as a catalyst for Evelina, Joe, and LaRose, the postmemory subjects of the selected novels, in achieving survivance, a term coined by Gerald Vizenor to emphasize Native American resilience and adhesion to Native American culture by continuing to cherish its practices in spite of settler colonists' erasure efforts. Juxtaposing the experiences of her multiple characters, whose lives are shaped by the negative effects of historical trauma, with those of the postmemory subjects in her novels, who are dedicated to find out about, understand, and embrace their ancestral past, Erdrich's Justice Trilogy, demonstrates the role of postmemories in reshaping characters' understanding of their identity, justice, and community.
Community building in Toni Morrison's Novels: Love, A Mercy, Home, and God Help the Child
This thesis will focus on building and maintaining communities in Toni Morrison's works published after 2000, which are Love, A Mercy, Home, and God Help the Child. African American criticism and existing as well as transformed concepts of "race" will provide the framework. In Love (2003), Christine and Heed's bonding as young girls is disrupted by Christine's grandfather, Bill Cosey, marrying Heed. Inevitably, the relationships do not survive, and all the bonds are broken. In this novel, Morrison examines unrequited love, deceit and manipulation, class, gender, race, the civil rights movement, and gender-based double standards through non-linear storytelling and numerous viewpoints. In A Mercy (2008), Morrison inspects the roots of racism, starting with slavery, while providing glimpses of the various religious practices of the time and presenting gender differences in early America that often included female victimization. The protagonist, Florens, taken away from her mother, tries to find meaningful connections but eventually fails. Home (2012) tells the story of a Korean War veteran, Frank Money, and his search for a home while bringing his relationship with his sister, Cee, back to life. In an attempt to save Cee, both siblings rediscover the true meaning of "healing communities." In God Help the Child (2015), a light-skinned African American mother refuses to nurture her dark-skinned daughter, Bride. As her relationship with her boyfriend, Booker, comes to an end, Bride is forced to relocate, and build connections with other from her own race. The experiences of the characters prove that, in order for African American communities to flourish, a heightened sense of cultural consciousness needs to be possessed by the individuals.
An affective ecocritical approach to Carl Safina's marine narratives: Song for the Blue Ocean, Voyage of the Turtle, and A Sea in Flames
Since its inception, the study of literature and the environment has focused on the key connection between nature, emotions, and narratives, particularly how environmental narratives evoke feelings about the natural world. Affective ecocriticism, within the broader field of ecocriticism, studies the impact of emotions in environmental narratives. This thesis undertakes a comprehensive examination of the intricate relationship between human emotions, marine narratives, and man's engagement with the natural world, particularly focusing on how emotions, as elicited by narratives, shape humans' understanding of the environment. Central to this exploration are Carl Safina's marine narratives Song for the Blue Ocean (1999) Voyage of the Turtle (2006), and A Sea in Flames (2011), which provide rich portrayals of the marine environment and human- nature interactions. Through Safina's lens, this thesis delves into the concept of affective ecologies, emphasizing the emotional resonance of environmental narratives and their potential to influence attitudes and behaviors toward conservation. Drawing upon affect studies within the field of ecocriticism, this thesis undertakes a detailed approach to dissect Safina's narratives, examining how emotions are intricately woven with marine narratives, shaping readers' perceptions and fostering a deeper connection to nature. Through this exploration, this thesis aims to highlight the transformative power of American environmental and affective narratives in raising awareness and catalyzing action towards environmental conservation.
Healing in nature: Ecopsychology in Richard Powers' The Overstory (2018) and Bewilderment (2021)
Richard Powers' novels, The Overstory (2018) and Bewilderment (2021), explore the psychological impacts of ecological degradation and restoration. The Overstory interweaves the lives of nine different characters brought together by their deep connection to trees and their collective efforts to combat deforestation. Bewilderment follows the journey of a father and his young son as they navigate the complexities of grief and environmental degredation, finding solace and understanding in their relationship with the natural world. Both novels emphasize the symbiotic connection between humans and nature, highlighting the restorative power of natural engagement and the detrimental effects of environmental loss. This thesis situates itself at the intersection of ecopsychology and biophilia, aiming to examine how Powers' portrayal of nature-human interactions reflects broader concerns about environmental crises and mental health. By integrating perspectives from ecopsychology, it hopes to illuminate the innate human affinity for the natural world and the psychological ramifications of its devastation. Furthermore, by analyzing the biophilic tendencies of Powers' characters and their psychological evolution within ecologically degraded landscapes, this thesis seeks to contribute to the growing discourse on the imperative for environmental stewardship and mental health awareness.
Disability and family in twenty-first century American drama
This dissertation analyzes John Belluso's Pyretown (2005), The Rules of Charity (2006), A Nervous Smile (2006), David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People (2011), Stephan Karam's The Humans (2015), Martyna Majok's Cost of Living (2018), Amy Herzog's Mary Jane (2018), and Lindsey Ferrentino's Amy and the Orphans (2019) and scrutinizes the ways contemporary American playwrights employ disability in relation to the myth of the flawless American family. The representation of disability on the American stage has always been a complicated one as disabled bodies were either used as metaphors or presented as freaks, victims, and villains. The plays examined in this dissertation, however, negotiate disability as a multifaceted experience. They portray family dynamics that changed in the twenty-first century while dissociating disability from stereotypical meanings. The playwrights dramatize the lived experience of disability, and they problematize ideologies that ostracize, pathologize, and oppress disabled individuals to initiate social, cultural, and political transformation in the United States. Since they criticize dehumanizing and exploitative social and political institutions using realism and the affective power of theater, these plays are referred to as the social problem plays of the twenty-first century. Each chapter exposes oppressive power relations and portrays the lived experience of disabled individuals without romanticizing or objectifying their bodies. Neoliberalism, class, problems in the healthcare and welfare systems, and the cult of normalcy are presented as the forces that put the family in a dysfunctional state whereas disability is depicted as a social, cultural, and political construction. Therefore, these plays are progressive and subversive with their truthful depictions of families with disabled members, showing that the problem is not disability but constructed normalcy, which forces families and individuals to conform to rigid definitions.
African American existentialism in Harlem Renaissance novels
This thesis aims to examine the emergence of African American existential thought during the Harlem Renaissance as manifested in Nella Larsen's Quicksand (1928), Wallace Thurman's The Blacker The Berry (1929), Langston Hughes's Not Without Laughter (1930), and George Schuyler's Black No More (1931). The construction of identities within the African American experience merges with existential inquiries that fundamentally question the existence of Black individuals, as racism perpetuates a struggle that prompts an existential response to nihilism. In these selected Harlem Renaissance novels, Black characters' experience takes on a proto-existentialist quality, expanding canonical existentialism with its historical and geographical associations. Adopting an existential mode of thought becomes essential in the context of Black existence. While Black people strive toward regaining their humanity in reaction to the oppressive nature of a society characterized by antiblack views, they form complex structures, systems of values, and identity constructions. By opposing oppressive systems, Black people actively pursue meaningful and "authentic" existence and assert their identities. The selected literary works in this thesis offer a variety of perspectives and personal experiences in particular contexts. Chapter 1 examines Nella Larsen's protagonist Helga Crane in Quicksand (1928), analyzing the complexities of racial constructions and the pursuit of meaning and identity. Chapter 2 studies the protagonist Emma Lou from Wallace Thurman's The Blacker The Berry (1929), who struggles with internalized racism, but ultimately finds self-acceptance and "authenticity" by embracing her Black identity and existential responsibility. Chapter 3 offers alternative responses to nihilism in Langston Hughes's Not Without Laughter (1930) by focusing on questions regarding traditional religious affiliations and affirmation of a Black identity through the use of music. Chapter 4 explores George Schuyler's Black No More (1931) with its critique of both white and Black constructions of identity. By exploring these distinct perspectives and themes, this thesis presents a deeper understanding of African American existential thought during the Harlem Renaissance and its significance in shaping literary discourse and cultural identity.
African American female subjectivity, class and colorism in the works of Jessie R. Fauset
Centered around the notions of double consciousness, passing, colorism and social class, this thesis examines Jessie R. Fauset's There Is Confusion (1924), Plum Bun: A Novel Without a Moral (1929), The Chinaberry Tree: A Novel of American Life (1931) and Comedy: American Style (1933), as works shedding light on distinctive African American women figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Theorized by W.E.B. Du Bois, double consciousness is considered as an experience of "twoness," which refers to the internal conflict of African Americans between the identities of "African" and "American." As an oppressed people, African Americans are conditioned to see themselves from the eyes of the white society. In the case of African American women, the damaged sense of self becomes even more problematic because of racial and sexual discrimination. Some of the experiences peculiar to the mixed-heritage middle class women were passing, colorism and social inequality. Harlem Renaissance provided women artists with a chance to express themselves and explore their subjectivity. Fauset has long been dismissed as being imitative of white, upper-middle class values in her works. Going against this negative reception of her fiction, this thesis studies the nuanced subjectivities of her female characters, focusing on their self-realization as fully-developed individuals, artists and activists, who are able to transcend the colorism and the upper-class emulation of the period. Much as the process is agonizing, the experiences of double consciousness and passing prove themselves as supporting elements in the formation of one's self in the end. Therefore, the use of these concepts enriches the creation of Black female subjectivity in the Harlem Renaissance. Their experiences lend color to the constitution or denial of the intersectionality of race, social status and gender convictions.
The great depression in twenty-first century Southern Gothic novels: Joe Lansdale's The Bottoms, Ron Rash's Serena, and Julia Franks' Over the Plain Houses
As a literary genre, Southern Gothic focuses on the major social, economic, racial and gender role issues of the South in the twentieth century and the horrifying acts of violent and perverted characters. Southern Gothic works written in the twenty-first century, however, present the problems of the contemporary South such as the issues of the working-class, environmental exploitation and gender-based discrimination by making use of and subverting the conventional Southern Gothic tropes, thus blending contemporary issues with the conventional characteristics of the genre. One of the most distinctive qualities of the contemporary Southern Gothic works is the way they represent poverty and the poverty-stricken Southerners. Conventional Southern Gothic works often demonize poverty and depict the poor as uneducated and dim-witted monsters, whereas many authors of contemporary Southern Gothic adapt a more genuine and sympathetic stance towards poverty and impoverished people as they themselves belong to the working-class and/or experienced financial hardships. In this thesis, three works by three Southern authors, The Bottoms (2000) by Joe Lansdale, Serena (2007) by Ron Rash, and Over the Plain Houses (2016) by Julia Franks are discussed as contemporary Southern Gothic novels and are analyzed by comparing and contrasting them with the established conventions of the genre. The common ground on which these three novels meet is returning to the timeframe of the Great Depression to underscore the issue of poverty and thus, unlike the canonical Southern Gothic works in which the Great Depression does not occupy a significant place, to reclaim the experiences and the stories of the poor Southerners who were misrepresented or not represented at all.
Kara Walker's early installations as counter-narratives to Uncle Tom's Cabin and Gone With the Wind
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1851) and Gone with the Wind (1936) still hold a prominant place in the American public memory. The first novel describes the immoral and unacceptable aspects of slavery in great length and is considered to be explicit support for the abolitionist cause in the US. Meanwhile, the second novel foregrounds a love story happening during the Civil War and Reconstruction Era in the South where people experience the loss of not only the war but also the idealized way of life in which everybody, including the slaves, was content. These novels are vastly different in terms of the ideas they want to convey, yet they were both instrumental in perpetuating negative stereotypes of African Americans. These novels are master narratives, and the readers take such texts for granted and do not feel compelled to question their authenticity. For the contemporary artist Kara Walker, creating counter-narratives is a way to deal with the repercussions of these two novels in her two early installations: The End of Uncle Tom and the Grand Allegorical Tableau of Eva in Heaven (1997) and Gone: An Historical Romance of a Civil War as It Occurred b'tween the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart (1995). In these installations, Walker masterfully links her art to the nineteenth century, a time period depicted in the novels in which slavery still existed, and presents alternative and disturbing panoramas of slavery conveniently absent in the novels. The viewers are often uncomfortable about the whole experience. They remember a point in history that is not palatable. For Walker, this is the only way in which the conventional historical narratives be challenged, and viewers feel compelled to confront the uncomfortable truths of slavery.
Posthumanism and precarity in the post-2008 crisis science fiction novels: Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl, Cory Doctorow's Walkaway, and Annalee Newitz's Autonomous
This thesis analyzes three science fiction (SF) novels Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl (2009), Cory Doctorow's Walkaway (2017), and Annalee Newitz's Autonomous (2017), through the concept of precarity as a shared vulnerability in light of posthumanism. These SF novels reflect the surging precarity in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis (2007-2008) and display how SF responds to precarity conditioned by economic structures and environmental problems with posthumanist elements. In the novels, this imaginative response to the crisis is shaped by the critical examination of the concept of vulnerability as a posthuman condition in post-disaster societies constructed as possible future worlds. As such, the works try to produce a criticism of capitalism by projecting critical dystopias with posthumanist elements which examine how to imagine the future after the collapse of capital and the global ecological systems. In the meantime, by questioning what it means to be human, each novel shows that the shared vulnerability of its characters transforms them into posthumans. This vulnerability manifests in the characters' embodied, embedded, affective and interconnected natures. Hence, this study argues that these critical dystopias not only harbor a quest for alternatives by concentrating on precarity, but they also suggest that potential utopian aspirations may emerge from a posthumanist perspective.
Slow violence in contemporary American fiction: Richard Powers`s Gain, Ann Pancake`s Strange As This Weather Has Been and John Grisham`s Gray Mountain
Rob Nixon's Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor, published in 2011, has undertaken an important mission in the Environmental Humanities; Nixon coined the term "slow violence" for the hitherto unnamed environmental disasters that escape the public eye. According to Nixon, slow violence is dispersed across time and, as such, goes unnoticed. Given that the people most exposed to slow violence are disempowered people, it becomes even harder for the environmental degradation to become visible. Even though violence is typically associated with momentary events, an event does not have to be momentary to be fatal. Although violence is associated with instant events, the consequences of slow violence can be even more fatal. Rob Nixon has inspired many scholars, and a good number of studies have been carried out addressing slow violence in the global South. The novelty of the present dissertation, however, is the application of Nixon's concept of slow violence to three contemporary American environmental novels on disempowered people who are exposed to the scourge of slow violence. In Gain (1998), the first novel under focus in this dissertation, the environmental damage wrought for more than a century by the Clare Company is evident, its long-lasting harm exemplifying what Nixon refers to as slow violence. A Nixonian analysis of Gain reveals that a product of Clare, Inc., has caused Laura Bodey's cancer—a manifestation of slow violence. The fact that many people and organizations collaborate with Laura and participate in the struggle against Clare expresses the significance of the solidarity which Nixon calls "the environmentalism of the poor." Powers's drawing attention to the toxicity in Illinois, warning people about slow violence – which would otherwise have gone unnoticed – embodies the significance of Nixon's "writer-activism." The fact that Superfund sites were established in Illinois after the publication of Gain proves the impact of such literature on environmental hazards. The second novel under focus, Strange as This Weather Has Been (2007) is significant in its embodiment of all the Nixonian concepts. Ann Pancake, as a writer and lecturer born in the region who struggles against strip-mining and the ensuing environmental hazards, exemplifies writer-activism. The fact that the characters Lace and Bant experience a revelation and become environmentalists embodies the environmentalism of the poor. The plot features numerous instances of slow violence: the degradation of Appalachia after four decades of mountaintop removal, and the illnesses and deaths caused by coal mining, such as when Corey died after falling into a pond created by the industry. The procedure of mountaintop coal mining creates toxicity in the water, soil, and the air; thus, people continually suffer from respiratory illnesses, the scarcity of potable water, and sludge rains and floods. Gray Mountain (2014), the third novel, focuses more on the legal issues related to coal mining. A lawyer by training, Grisham reveals the corruption of the legal system in Appalachia and the dishonest alliances between multinational corporations and authorities. The long-term wreckage goes unnoticed in Appalachia, rendering its slow violence invisible. However, although slow violence is relatively concealed, its consequences are fatal, black lung disease being the principal one. Further, the violence mainly hits the disempowered people in Appalachia, since multinational corporations' development target locations tend to be inhabited by disempowered people who are unable to defend themselves. It is examined that in both Strange as This Weather Has Been and Gray Mountain, slow violence appears in the form of black lung disease, accidents related to coal mining, loss of housing, unemployment, and depression. A study of the three contemporary environmental novels makes visible what went unnoticed over a long period of time, illustrates the vulnerability of ecosystems, as well as the vulnerability of human health. The dissertation proves that the concept of slow violence has become one of the defining factors of a collective awareness of the suffering that emerges out of prolonged environmental catastrophes.
From the slave ship to the spaceship: The afrofuturistic imagination in Sun Ra, Ishmael Reed and Octavia E. Butler
Centering on Sun Ra's foundational role in the philosophy behind Afrofuturism, this thesis analyzes Sun Ra's Space Is the Place (1974), the movie adaptation of his album Space Is the Place (1973), together with Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo (1972) and Octavia E. Butler's Kindred (1979), as literary examples of Afrofuturism. Introduced in the early 1990s by the cultural critic Mark Dery, Afrofuturism can be traced back to at least half a century earlier. It is African American artists' response to the Atomic Age and the Space Age, incorporating historical elements, such as African roots, slave trade routes, Harlem Renaissance and Swing, with the Space Age technology that they were excluded from. Driven also by the civil rights struggles, from its nonviolent phase to its radicalization, African American artists projected themselves to the future as initiators of change, innovators of musical, artistic and literary modes. They were no longer "invisible" and passive victims, but active and creative agents in history. Sun Ra was among the first African American artists to adopt the conceptual possibilities of the Space Age. He embraced the idea of space and used it as a metaphor with which to claim a totally different world order. On the literary side, Ishmael Reed offered his vision of a better world "swinging" with "Jes Grew," and Octavia E. Butler explored the complex structure of time with a female protagonist who was coerced into time travel to secure her presence in the present. This thesis aims at identifying and analyzing the Afrofuturistic imagination as seen in these texts, and suggests that Afrofuturism is in tune with contemporary popular culture as well as protest movements.
Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's concept of minor literature in Ariel Dorfman's Heading South Looking North: A Bilingual Journey, Julia Alvarez's Something to Declare: Essays and Reinaldo Arenas's Before Night Falls
This study aims to examine Ariel Dorfman's Heading South Looking North: A Bilingual Journey (1998), Julia Alvarez's Something to Declare: Essays (1998) and Reinaldo Arenas's Before Night Falls (1993) within the framework of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's concept of minor literature. This concept is defined through three characteristics: deterritorialization of language, the political element, and the collective value. In their life narratives, the writers tell their experiences of oppression, fear and eventually forced exile from Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Chile, respectively. As their journeys of exile are shaped by the political turmoil during the Cold War and since the Caribbean and Latin America became the very regions that the Soviet Union and the United States used to establish superiority, their exile in North America causes an identity crisis. Through their life writings, Dorfman, Alvarez, and Arenas narrate their experiences in the Cold War era by using language as a critical weapon. In Heading South Looking North, which he summarizes as "dealing with life, language and death," Ariel Dorfman makes shifts from his native language, Spanish to English as his ideological perspective changes through time. In her collection of essays, Alvarez defines her family's exile to the United States as "landing in English." In the process of assimilation, she reunifies her identity with the power she finds in writing. In Before Night Falls, Arenas uses writing as a protest against the regime that sends him into exile and as an act of liberation both in the United States and Cuba, where he is restrained as a gay writer. All of these works contain criticism of U.S. foreign policies that were backed by the right-wing governments in their countries during the Cold War. Their narrating "I"s also become the voice of people who have suffered under the same military dictatorships. Hence, via their writings, Dorfman, Alvarez and Arenas come to terms with their identities.
An Analysis of Cyclicality in the Novels In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien, S. by Jeffrey Jacob Abrams and Doug Dorst, and Only Revolutions by Mark Z. Danielewski
Postmodern fiction brings forward those qualities that stray from a direct and clear representation of the world. The qualities that are associated with postmodern fiction such as metafiction, fragmentation, anti-authoritarianism, fusion of high and low culture, irony, intertextuality, experimentation, pastiche and pluralism create stories that are fragmented, self-reflexive, unreliable, challenging, and explorable. Such narratives create reading experiences that require more participation in the process of making meaning compared to linear narratives. Calling this quality that encourages the reader to re-read the story in a narrative "cyclicality," this thesis argues that In the Lake of the Woods (1994) by Tim O'Brien, S. (2013) by Jeffrey Jacob Abrams and Doug Dorst, and Only Revolutions (2006) by Mark Danielewski are postmodern texts which offer varying degrees of cyclicality. In analyzing the cyclicality in the novels mentioned, this study uses the framework outlined in Gerard Genette's Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method (1983), in which Genette studies those aspects of a narrative that make it obscure. The first category he points out is the "tense" of narration and the problematization of time in relation to the text. The second is "mood" which focuses on the perspectives that narrators assume in relaying the story. The third category is the "voice" of narration and its relative position to the events in narrative, its narrative levels, metafictional qualities and the narrating person. The final category is the narrative text and the novel's material reality. By focusing on these four categories, this thesis aims to analyze how these novels create narratives that present cyclical reading experiences.
The conflict in the Middle East and the concept of exile as reflected in places and names: On War, Revolution, and Returning, The Beekeeper, and Look: Poems
The theme of exile has been present in literature from its very beginning. Today, the notions of global migration and refugees are more urgent and relevant than they have ever been. As of the end of 2021, more than 80 million people have been forced to leave their countries for various political, economic, and social reasons including war, famine, and human rights violations. The Middle East is one of the regions where a considerable number of people are forced to exile. Although exile is undoubtedly a chaotic and a challenging experience that renders individuals homeless, forlorn, and alien, from the point of view of Edward Said, it can also offer numerous benefits. This thesis, by making use of Said's approach to exile, examines exile as an enriching experience reflected in American Elliot Ackerman's Places and Names: On War, Revolution, and Returning (2019), Iraqi American Dunya Mikhail's The Beekeeper (2018), and Iranian American Solmaz Sharif's Look: Poems (2016). Although these authors have different homelands and backgrounds, their exile experiences in the United States bring them together. Scrutinizing these works by focusing respectively on veteran identity, memory, and language, the concept of exile can be analyzed through a multi-faceted approach. In the case of Ackerman, when experienced by a soldier during a war in which the concepts of friend and foe are vital, the exile experience provides the veteran with novel perspectives, offering the ability to compare constructively and see the shared points between seemingly conflicting notions. In Dunya Mikhail's work, the exile experience proves to be a beneficial experience that enables her to transcend both physical and temporal borders when analyzed through a memory-centred approach. Finally, an analysis of Solmaz Sharif's poetry with a focus on language presents how daily language is exposed to violence by US political and military institutions. Deconstructing the military language and US military policies has only been possible with her newly gained perspectives as a result of her exile experience.
"Where's the All-American cowboy?": The demythologization of American masculinity in Cormac McCarthy's Western novels
This dissertation analyzes Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West (1985), All the Pretty Horses (1992), The Crossing (1994), and Cities of the Plain (1998), and scrutinizes his portraits of cowboy masculinity. In these Westerns, McCarthy engages with the implicit realities of the American West, a legacy that is still exalted and eulogized by American men. He exposes the deep crisis at the heart of frontier myths, and uses the failing cowboy figure as a critique of mainstream American culture that still positions white men in relation to cowboy masculinity. His cowboys are threatened by industrialization and exploitive schemes that cut them off from freedom and the individualism they need to survive. However, above all, they are paralyzed by the conflict between the masculine space of the frontier and the feminine responsibilities of civilization. McCarthy's western novels address this ordeal, unraveling the struggles of a certain class of American men—mostly white, middle-class, Christian and heterosexual—to exemplify the trappings of increasingly anachronistic masculine signifiers, and to explore the degree to which their perception of manhood has legitimized and, at the same time, confined them, while dehumanizing and objectifying others. By drawing on insights from Masculinity Studies, this dissertation examines how McCarthy's western novels explore male subjectivity, and destabilize and demythologize American masculinity. McCarthy stresses that American men, who are already caught between their own values and their homosocial performances, have to abandon their toxic, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, anti-environmentalist, and violent ideas of cowboy masculinity, and embrace a more inclusive one. The key to survival in this vexed post-West world turns out not to be adherence to the old regional myths and conventions—no matter how attractive that might seem—but instead, a turn towards healthier masculinities. Keywords: Cormac McCarthy, Masculinity Studies, Western, Post-Western, Cowboy, Toxic Masculinity, Ecomasculinity
A study of magical realism in Steven Millhauser's, Aimee Bender's, Kelly Link's, and Kevin Brockmeier's short stories
This dissertation analyzes Steven Millhauser's, Aimee Bender's, Kelly Link's, and Kevin Brockmeier's short stories in the light of magical realism. The short stories use magical realist and postmodern elements to create alternative depictions of the characters' troubles, pains, and resistances. Although magical realism, by definition, has been affiliated with non-Western and postcolonial literature, various fiction writers utilize the genre because its adaptable narrative structure elucidates the invisible, inexplicable, and ambiguous aspects and ordeals of modern day life. The above-mentioned writers do not come from colonized or developing geographies and their adaptation of magical realism mirror lives in the Western society. Their stories incorporate magical, fantastic, science fictional, and postmodern elements to build a reconstructive narrative. Although poststructuralist ideas are traceable and signal deadlocks of language, identity, reality in these stories, the magical realist mode transforms genre fiction and postmodern elements to provide defamiliarized settings in which the relationship between truth and representation is reconfigured. These blended magical realist forms exceed the limitations of genre fiction and confined writing methods, which have been deployed by academic institutions and creative writing programs. The adaptation of magical realist narratives do not only transform conventional postmodernist writing methods and genre fictions, which have already been worn out, but also reformulate oral traditions of storytelling, fairy tales, and fables. Blending magical, science fictional, surrealist, and absurd elements help the writers to reconfigure conventional literary labels and explore alternative representations.
Haunted and haunting heroines: Alienation, madness, and the uncanny in Shirley Jackson's female gothic
Known for her short story collection The Lottery and Other Stories (1948), the American author Shirley Jackson (1916–1965) has been an inspiration for subsequent Gothic-fantastic and horror fiction writers. This dissertation analyzes Shirley Jackson's novels— Hangsaman (1951), The Bird's Nest (1954), The Sundial (1958), The Haunting of Hill House (1959), and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)— in light of the genre of the "Female Gothic," a term coined by Ellen Moers in Literary Women (1976) to refer to literary works written by women in the Gothic mode since the eighteenth century. Incorporating fear and horror into the stories of alienated female characters in uncanny Gothic settings, "Female Gothic" has articulated women's struggles to move outside the constrictive domestic sphere and beyond traditional, normative gender roles. Shirley Jackson's fiction blurs the boundaries between the self and Gothic space, and between the real and the fantastic, thereby shedding light on how the corruption of human society, bigotry, moral degradation, the patriarchal order, and the remnants of the nineteenth century cult of true womanhood in the mid-twentieth century America trigger the female protagonists' identity fragmentation, madness (mental turmoil/distress), and departure from "reality." The Gothic-fantastic elements in Shirley Jackson's novels, the uncanny motifs of Gothic doubles, fragmented/split identities, and Gothic mansions reflect personal traumas, and can either bring about self-infliction/destruction, or enable the resistance and subversion of social limitations and undesirable outside realities. Thus, Jackson's haunted, Gothic sanctuaries have a paradoxical quality as they appear both as symbols of domestic confinement and imprisonment, and as a sort of fantastic refuge in which female characters, as haunted and haunting heroines, can disrupt patriarchy from within and establish a new order based on sisterhood. Key Words: Gothic, Female Gothic, Shirley Jackson, Uncanny, Split Identity, Alienation, Madness, Gothic Setting, Haunted House
The chinese American and Japanese American experience in graphic novels and visual narratives
The place of the Chinese and Japanese immigrants in America has always been in flux, ever-changing and always in competition with one another. When one group was sidelined, the other was favored. This thesis argues that to cope with their unjust treatment in the United States, Chinese and Japanese Americans have turned to the genre of the graphic novel to express personal and group histories, retell events from their perspective, correct the injustices of the past, and work through their collective trauma. This thesis is divided into two chapters, one for each immigrant group. The chapter on Chinese Americans focuses on Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese (2006), David H. T. Wong's Escape to Gold Mountain: A Graphic History of the Chinese in North America (2012), and The Stanford University Graphic Novel Project's American Heathen (2015). The chapter on Japanese Americans focuses on Henry Yoshikata Kiyama's The Four Immigrants Manga: A Japanese Experience in San Francisco, 1904–1924 (1931), Miné Okubo's Citizen 13660 (1946), and Laura Atkins' and Stan Yogi's Fred Korematsu Speaks Up (Fighting for Justice) (2017). As can be observed through the analysis of the works in this thesis, graphic novels are effective tools to discuss controversial subjects such as race, ethnicity and gender. The genre itself is continuously evolving, indicating that it will adapt to deal with serious issues in the future.
American radical environmental fiction: Deep Ecology and Eco-Defense in Edward Abbey's The Monkey Wrench Gang, Paul Chadwick's Concrete: Think like a Mountain, and T.C. Boyle's A Friend of the Earth
The fictional works of American authors Edward Abbey, Paul Chadwick, and T.C. Boyle present a reaction principally to the depletion of the wilderness, destruction of the land, and other environmental ills. Edward Abbey's The Monkey Wrench Gang, Paul Chadwick's Concrete: Think like a Mountain, and T.C. Boyle's A Friend of the Earth reflect the significance of the protection of the natural world through the writers' radical environmentalist characters who possess an ecocentric worldview which leads to an ecological self. They are in a process of increasing their Self-realization and are ready to defend the natural world in self-defense which evolves into eco-defense because any harm on nature means harm to their greater Self. Their concept of community encompasses all the living and nonliving entities on earth. The radical environmentalist movement, with its deep ecological ideas which they adhere to and act from accordingly, came into being as a result of disillusionment with the inability of mainstream environmentalism to offer long-lasting solutions to current environmental problems. The authors studied in this thesis all believe in some form of radical environmentalism, and created radical environmentalist characters who resort to actions that go beyond mainstream anthropocentric environmentalism. Monkeywrenching, a form of action used by radical environmentalists, targets only inanimate machines and tools which harm nature. This thesis attempts to explore the worldviews and activities of radical environmentalist characters created by Abbey, Chadwick, and Boyle in their attempt to create a better world. The characters they have created focus on the diversity and richness of different forms of interconnected life, and they seek to increase self-realization for all in their pursuit to reach an ultimate Self-realization which aims at the well-being and health of the planet as a counter to the characters of the megamachine, or current anthropocentrist system.
Female coded artificial beings in selected American science fiction films, 1960s-2000s
This thesis is an analysis of depictions of "female coded" (being assigned gender traits even in the absence of a biological sex) artificial beings in Norman Taurog's Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965), Duncan Gibbins' Eve of Destruction (1991), Bryan Forbes' The Stepford Wives (1975), Frank Oz's The Stepford Wives (2004), Alex Garland's Ex Machina (2014) and Spike Jonze's Her (2013) and what they represent within the scope of science fiction. This thesis will focus on the concept of the artificial being as a metaphor for the human condition, bodily autonomy, and human progress. It will analyze how the depictions of male-coded artificial beings function as universal commentary about humankind in general while female coded artificial beings represent manifestations of specific ideas about women. Through these examples, this study will argue that the portrayal of female coded artificial beings is a product of the male gaze and the idealized place of women in society according to patriarchal standards. The visual portrayals, which include female signifiers and sexualized visual representations, further promote the concept of "the perfect woman" as understood from the point of view of the male gaze and the gendered objectification of female body in the metaphorical and physical senses. It will further argue that such presentation of artificial characters go against the purpose of transgressing the limitations of the human condition and that this approach hinders their potential to exist outside the boundaries of human structures and standards.
Echoes of the harlem renaissance: Urban Landscape and Jazz Music in Toni Morrison's Jazz, Walter Dean Myers's Harlem Summer and Persia Walker's Black Orchid Blues
The Great Migration of the 1910s in the US resulted in a concentration of African American population in the North, which gave way to a considerable demographical change that took place especially in Harlem, New York. The migrants who fled from the South due to severe racial discrimination and economic problems saw the new urban environment as a cultural mecca for African American literature and arts, and the artistic and literary movement that defined this attitude was called the Harlem Renaissance or the New Negro movement. Distinctively African American forms of art in music and literature emerged as the new forms of self-expression for the discriminated and segregated community, which suffered in the hands of the Southern landowners before the migration. To reemphasize the inspirational legacy of African American modernity in the 1920s together with the conflicts and problems, this thesis aims to analyze Toni Morrison's Jazz (1992), Walter Dean Myers's Harlem Summer (2007) and Persia Walker's Black Orchid Blues (2011) in regards to music and urbanization. Chapter I of this study will focus on the structure of language and plot personified as jazz music and the cityscape in Toni Morrison's Jazz. Chapter II will analyze jazz music and the city as reflected on the historical consciousness of the characters in Myers's Harlem Summer. Chapter III will focus on jazz music and urban landscape as a state of mind that reflects the human condition of the Harlem Renaissance period in Persia Walker's Black Orchid Blues. All three novels, however different they may be in their methods and means of presentation of jazz music and its landscape, share a common ground in their representation of jazz music and landscape as formative powers in the making of the cultural atmosphere of the era. Although the Harlem Renaissance seemingly disappeared in the Great Depression era starting from 1929s, it continued to live in the imaginations of new generation of novelists as an inspirational subject revisited in the 1990s and the 2000s.
Self and power in the presidential life writing of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush
This thesis analyzes of three US Presidents' understandings of self and power as reflected in their life writing. The scope of this thesis is limited to the period between the years 1989-2009, during which George H. W. Bush (1989-1993), Bill Clinton (1993-2001), and George W. Bush (2001-2009) served respectively. Now defined as the post-Cold War era, during these presidents' administrations, "hostility against communism" gave way to the "War on Terror." Acknowledging that current American politics and foreign policies were shaped during these two decades, this thesis examines the notion of power in relation to the subject position of the president. In their autobiographical works, All the Best: My Life in Letters and Other Writings (2013), My Life (2004), and Decision Points (2010) George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush attempt to reassert their power, which ended with their presidency and was diminished by media images and criticisms. In doing so, they revere the ideology of values such as individualism, democracy, freedom, and religious morality, which are identified with national and international American policies. Chapter I offers a close reading of these three works as presidential life writing and analyzes the self in relation to a nationalist American identity. Chapter II further studies the core nature of presidents' power in relation to America as a superpower. The power invested in presidents is often used in a way that exposes efforts of maintaining a public image (or self) and agreeing with preconceived practices; public opinion and American values are instrumental in making decisions regarding interactions with Middle Eastern countries, and presidential actions often show compliance with former presidential actions. Thus, such power requires justification. These presidents' exercise of power in their authorship reflects an attempt to influence historical perceptions, and contend and rationalize their former power.
Idiosyncratic memory: Self construction in Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel
Memory is a social structure, lying at the root of culture that connects individual lives through language, history, literature and innumerable cultural texts, narratives, historical documents, and museums, monuments and even historical sites. It is language-based; being ever-evolving mental faculty, memory is continuous construction and reconstruction of mind and self. The social movement in constructionist psychology treats it as a narrative or as a story telling activity— a sort of fictionalization of perceptual experiences. Remembering is accordingly sensed as an act of creating/recreating memory by narrating it through a channel of language, which's meaning and construction vary from person to person, and according to circumstances of now self, environment or audiences whom it is told. For this thesis, a framework synthesizing various but interrelated concepts mostly from memory literature and several humanities on memory like philosophy, psychology and history provides critical perspective and theoretical background in the analysis of American author Thomas Wolfe's first autobiographical work Look Homeward, Angel: A Story of the Buried Life (2006). The thesis also surveys contemporary and classic memory literature including American authors Pagan Kennedy (Confessions of a Memory Eater, 2013) and Vladimir Nabokov (Speak, Memory, 1989) and British authors Tom McCarthy (Remainder, 2005) and Kazuo Ishiguro (The Buried Giant, 2015) and Check author Milan Kundera (The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, 1982). Each of those stories idiosyncratically tells memory through literary themes of remembrance, amnesia, identity search or existential crisis. In a sense, the thesis addresses how and in what ways literature may reflect philosophy, psychology and history that tackle memory scientifically. Likewise, studying the ways Wolfe modified and narrated his actual experiences in his literary work is linked with an understanding of the writer's world, which is as well related to social, cultural, historical political and also literary contexts in the production and the reproduction of Look Homeward Angel, and their examination in the scope of this study; however, "autobiography is itself a major source of concern because of its very instability in terms of the postulated opposites between self and world, literature and history, facts and fiction, subject and objects (Marcus 7). Self-other or subject-object dichotomies, which underlie the persistent dialectic in the criticism of autobiography as both literary and historical narrative, are revisited, criticized and developed in the analysis of the self representation in Look Homeward, Angel.
Yirminci yüzyıl savaş karşıtı edebiyatta eko-eleştirel sesler
Bu doktora tezi, yirminci yüzyıl anaakım Amerikan edebiyatında savaş karşıtı eserlerin eko- eleştirel bağlamda incelenmesini kapsamaktadır. Bu eserlerde belirgin olarak öne çıkan insan merkezcilik deşifre edilerek savaş karşıtı edebiyatın savaşı ve savaş karşıtlığını nasıl tanımladığı araştırılmıştır. Böylece bu eserlerin insan dışındaki canlılara ve doğaya yaklaşımı irdelenerek türcülüğün nüveleri ortaya çıkarılmaya çalışılmıştır. Seçilen eserlerin incelenmesinde eko-eleştirel kuramların yanında militarist kuramlar da kullanılmıştır. Tüm kuramsal art alan öncelikle Amerikan tarihinde savaşların detaylı olarak incelenmesine olanak sağlamış ayrıca Amerikan edebiyatı geleneğinde savaşların yerinin altını çizmesi açısından da etkin olmuştur. Tüm bu tarihsel sürecin detaylı tartışılması ise yirminci yüzyıl Amerikan edebiyatının üzerine inşa edildiği ideolojik temeli anlatması bakımından önemlidir. Bu noktada araştırma nitel veri kapsamında derinlemesine eser incelemesi yoluyla yapılmıştır. Anaakım Amerikan edebiyatından seçilen örnekler savaş karşıtı edebiyatın savaşın anlamı ve yıkıcılığını insanı merkeze alarak tanımlayıp anlattığını göstermektedir. Üç roman, iki hikâye ve altı şiirden oluşan bu eserler; Mark Twain'in "Savaş Duası" ("War Prayer") (1916) isimli hikâyesi, Angela Morgan'ın "Anaların Savaş Feryadı" ("Battle Cry of the Mothers") (1915) isimli şiiri, Charles W. Wood'un "Büyülü Pompa Kralı" ("King of the Magical Pump") (1914) isimli şiiri, Ernest Hemingway'in "Şeref Merası" ("Champs d'Honneur") (1923), Zamanımızda (In Our Time) (1924) ve Silahlara Veda (A Farewell to Arms) (1929) isimli eserleri, Louis Simpson'ın "Carentan O Carentan" (1949) isimli şiiri, Randall Jarrall'ın en ünlü savaş şiirlerinden birisi olan "Alt Taret Nişancısının Ölümü" ("The Death of Ball Turret Gunner") (1945), Robert Lowell'ın "Lekesiz Doğum Bayramının Arifesinde, 1942" ("On the Eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 1942") (1943) isimli şiiri, Joseph Heller'in Madde 22 (Catch 22) (1961) isimli romanı ve Tim O'Brien'ın Taşıdıkları Şeyler (The Things They Carried) (1990) isimli romanıdır. Anahtar Kelimeler: eko-eleştiri, savaş karşıtı edebiyat, post-hümanizm, Amerikan edebiyatı, Amerikan tarihi
Being the other: multiculturalism, diaspora and search of identity in Diana Abu-Jaber's novels
In relation to the inevitable result of Colonialism, as in the case of other ethnic groups, immigrants with Arab roots have also been expected to be assimilated into the mainstream, Anglo-American society, disregarding their rooted culture and social values. Diana Abu-Jaber, as a Jordanian American novelist and professor at Portland State University, accentuates upon the themes of multiculturalism, diaspora and search of identity in her novels whilst elaborating the psyche of in-between identities. Protagonists in Abu-Jaber's novels struggle to reinvent their own selves whilst trying to preserve their both Arab and American identities. Abu-Jaber puts forward the claim that exiles must reinvent their selves by embracing the duality of Arab American identity without being disloyal to either. Within this context, the thesis study aims to explore the dilemma between the old and the new identity as the inevitable result of multicultural structure and diaspora, in Abu-Jaber's two significant novels, Arabian Jazz (1993) and Crescent (2003). Another concern is to introduce Diana Abu-Jaber to Turkish readers as an influential novelist of the Postcolonial and Arab American literature. In this context, this thesis evaluates the identity problem in Abu-Jaber's two novels, within the frame of the Postcolonial theory. Regarding the results of Colonialism, an analysis is intended to be carried out about the Western perception of the East, and the complexity of identity in Mahjar literature, including how exiles could digest the "hyphen" and reconstruct the concept of "home" by centering upon Edward W. Said's critical theory, Orientalism, and alluding to the ideas of other significant pillars of the Postcolonial theory.
Edgar Allan Poe's application of single effect theory on his selected tales
The aim of this thesis is to examine Edgar Allan Poe's theory of a short story, which is referred as "unity of effect" or "single effect". The application of his theory as he laid bare in his published essays is discussed in three selected tales, namely "The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Black Cat", and "The Pit and the Pendulum" intertwining the themes of death, fear and darkness. The short survey of literary career on Edgar Allan Poe is presented. Moreover, his associations with Gothic literature and affiliation with the Romantic movement is explored so as to present what led him to create his theory of a tale. This study aims to present Poe's use of themes, tone, incident and Gothic features in context of his short stories and to draw a conclusion on how he mastered these elements and consequently how they overlap with his theories.
Amerikan proletarya edebiyatında kesişen ayrımcılıkların temsilleri
Bu çalışma The Disinherited, The Jews Without Money, The Girl adlı Amerikan proletarya edebiyatından seçilmiş romanlardaki karakterlerin yaşadıkları ırk, sınıf, toplumsal cinsiyet ayrımcılıkları ve bu ayrımcılıklarla olan mücadelelerini konu alır. Tezde incelenmek üzere beyaz işçi erkek, beyaz işçi kadın ve Yahudi işçi erkek olmak üzere üç farklı Amerikan işçi karakter ele alınmıştır. Roman karakterleri aracılığıyla Amerikan toplumundaki sınıfsal eşitsizlik, ırkçılık ve cinsiyetçilik gibi kavramlar kesişen ayrımcılıklar kuramı bağlamında değerlendirilmiştir. Romanlar, Amerikan toplumundaki her bireyin kendi kimliğine özgü ayrımcılıklar deneyimlediği, her bir ayrımcılığın diğerleriyle ilişki içinde olup bir diğerini yapılandırdığı çoklu baskıcı sistemler bağlamında tartışılacaktır. Bu incelemeyi yapabilmek için ilk bölümde, Amerikan toplumundaki ırk, sınıf ve toplumsal cinsiyet ayrımcılıklarını ele alan iki karşıt sosyolojik kuram açıklanacaktır. Daha sonraki bölümde, romanların tarihsel arka planını kapsayan 1930'lar Amerika'sının politik, ekonomik ve toplumsal koşulları ele alınacaktır. Üçüncü bölümde ise, Amerikan proletarya edebiyatının temaları, üslubu, kategorileri gibi konulara değinilecek ve akıma yönelik eleştirilere yer verilecektir. Son bölümde ise, bahsedilen kuramlara göre analiz edilen romanlara yer verilmiştir. Tezde, çalışılan romanlar ışığında homojen bir Amerikan işçi sınıfından bahsedilemeyeceği kanıtlanmaya çalışılacaktır. Bunu yaparken, sınıf kimliğinin ırk ve toplumsal cinsiyet kimlikleriyle iç içe olduğu ve sınıf bilincinin diğer kimliklerden bağımsız düşünülemeyeceği gözler önüne serilecektir. Tezin bir diğer amacı da, güç ilişkilerinin basitçe sınıfsal eşitsizlikle değerlendirilemeyeceğini ve toplumda çoklu baskıcı sistemlerin var olduğunu seçilen Amerikan proletarya edebiyatı romanları aracılığıyla sunmaktır.
Representation of African American identity in the works of Langston Hughes
ABSTRACT 1920s, defined as Harlem Renaissance constituted an era that the blacks in the United States expressed themselves via creating unique and original works in literature and art. During this period, also known as the jazz age (or the jazz era), the black people, who came to the north during the First World War by internal migration, formed an intense population in the Harlem region of New York. African Americans have been able to express their identities through literature, art and music within the structure of wealth and consumption society in post-war America. In parallel with this, this period, which is defined as the Harlem Renaissance, has taken an important place in American Literature and has been a reference for the African American literature to have an identity in the institutional sense. Langston Hughes, one of the most distinguished representatives of this period, and his works have been selected as the primary research subject of this thesis. One of the most important reasons for including Langston Hughes in this study is that, besides being one of the first African Americans to represent American modernism, his literary identity and writings include wide range of works, not only confined with poetry or short stories, but also extended to novel and drama. This thesis aims to analyze the works of Hughes by focusing on the concept of language, identity and representation and reflect the African Americans in American society within the context of literature-culture connection. However, it would be useful to emphasize that Hughes' political identity is not only in literature or art, but is prevalent in the modern era of America as well. Key Words: African American Literature, Langston Hughes, Harlem Renaissance, Jazz Age, American Literature
A Foucauldian approach to second-wave American feminist utopian/dystopian fiction
The present study is an attempt to explore the power relations between men and women. Inequality in sharing power between sexes has become one of the prominent topics throughout history. Unbalanced power distribution between sexes has driven women to revolt against the system in different periods. French philosopher, theorist, and historian Michel Foucault examines power relations in his 1975 work Discipline and Punish: The Birth of Prison and in the first volume of 1976 book The History of Sexuality. In his works, Foucault claims that authorities aim to have competent and docile bodies by keeping the subjects under control and surveillance. Foucault's theory suggests that with the help of institutions such as homes, schools, hospitals, and prisons, power structures target individuals' bodies in order to reconstruct them in accordance with society's norms and by applying certain disciplinary techniques. Apart from being restrictive for individuals, Foucault further argues that power also has an emancipative feature in that power is not possessed, but it is exercised with different strategies. Therefore, with the help of resistances, power can become productive for individuals who are oppressed. Accordingly, in this thesis, Joanna Russ's The Female Man (1975) and Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time (1976) are examined through utilizing Michel Foucault's theory of power as well as considering the utopian and dystopian context. The Female Man and Woman on the Edge of Time comply with Foucault's theory of power. Both novels depict how women are restricted under authoritative powers and prove that women can manage to alter power relations and emancipate themselves from oppression by revolting against the system.
Ernest Hemingway, Kurt Vonnegut ve Tim O'Brien'ın savaş romanlarında travma ve yabancılaşma
The subject of this dissertation involves American war novels which have a distinctive and significant place in American literature. When considered as a literary genre, war novels appear as texts that convey the war experiences of both soldiers and civilians, and discuss the effects of war on individuals and society in various aspects. Looking at the recent history of American literature; especially in the transition from romanticism to realism and modernism to postmodernism; the literature revolving around American Civil War, the First World War, the Second World War and Vietnam War has great significance. Moreover, the difficulty and even the impossibility of the narrative of the traumatized individual's experience has been reflected in war novels, and the authors have used different styles and developed their own authentic literary formulas to overcome this obstacle. War experience and trauma bring along social and self alienation. Individuals have been isolated from their own self and/or society and this has led them to question many philosophical, existential and social issues of life. In this context, the American war novels including Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, set in the First World War; Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, set in the Second World War; and Tim O'Brien's Going After Cacciato, set in the Vietnam War have been breakthrough works among their contemporaries. In the light of the classic philological and literary approach, the concepts of trauma and alienation are the key scopes to analyze the novels mentioned above. In this sense, the paradigm of trauma and alienation form the theoretical basis of this dissertation. These three American war novels, written in different literary styles and set in different battles, reveal the individual experiences upon the social context in the scope of their shared foundations of trauma and alienation.
Modern Amerikan edebiyatında ev temasının analizi
Küresel topluluklarda gözlemlenen olgulardan biri birçok kişinin gün geçtikçe yuva kavramına kendini daha yakın hissetmesi ve yuva temasına daha da içten bir bağlılık göstermesidir. Edebiyatta birçok eserde bu duygunun aslında kaybedilen bir şey üzerine kurulu olduğu ve aslında kaybolan bu şeyin yuva kavramıyla beraber birçok şeyi temsil ettiği söylenebilir. Tez içerisinde incelenecek eserler yuva kavramına farklı açılardan yaklaşmış olup bu tezin amacı da yuva temasının eserlerde nasıl işlendiği ve nasıl bir yuva kavramı ortaya atıldığı üzerine olacaktır. Tez yuva kavramı ile diaspora kavramının edebiyatta nasıl işlendiğini gösterecektir. Aynı zamanda kimlikle ilişki içinde olan kavramlardır. Kimliğin durağan bir olgu olmadığı ve sürekli değişip geliştiği de incelenecek olan teoriler ile savunulacaktır. Yine bu bağlamda farklı etnik diaspora teorileri açıklanacak ve eserlerle bağlantıları kurulacaktır. Kimlik ve diaspora konularının yuva temasını nasıl etkilediği ve şekillendirdiği açıklanacaktır. Bunu yaparken ZZ Packer'ın Drinking Coffee Elsewhere; Rebecca Goldstein'ın, Mazel ve Diana Abu Jaber'in The Language of Baklava adlı eserleri incelenecektir.
Marilynne Robinson'un romanlarında mekan temsilleri
Bu tezin amacı, günümüz Amerikan kadın edebiyatındaki kadın karakterlerin iç ve dış mekânlardaki farklı temsillerin nasıl onlara toplumsal cinsiyet rollerini yüklediğini ve bu rolleri aşarken ne gibi yollar izlediklerini göstermektir. Tezde incelenen Marilynne Robinson'un Gölün Evi (1980) ve Lila (2014) adlı romanları kadınların ev içi ve ev dışı temsillerinin farkını ortaya koyduğu için incelenmiştir. Bu romanların incelenmesinde, iki farklı kuramdan yararlanılmıştır. Bunlardan ilki mekân kuramlarıdır. Mekân ve yer kavramlarının birbirinden farklı olduğunu ve bunların toplumsal cinsiyet rolleri ile doğru orantılı olarak oluşturulduğu saptanmıştır. Birçok kuramcının da belirttiği gibi, mekân esnek, açık, bulanık ve sınırları belirli olmayan; yer ise sınırlarla çevrelenmiş, kapalı, korunaklıdır. Dolayısıyla, mekân özgürlüğü, sınırları belli olmadığı için tehlikeyi ve köksüzlüğü; yer ise hem kısıtlanmışlığı hem de güvenliği çağrıştırır. Çoğunlukla erkekler mekân ile kadınlar ise yer ile birlikte tanımlanır. Erkek dış hayat ve küresellikle, kadın özel hayat ve yerellikle temsil edilir. Diğer bir kuram olan feminizm kuramlarının gösterdiği üzere, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri'nde bu durum 1960-1980lerde İkinci Dalga Feminizm'in yaygınlaşmasıyla birlikte kadınların İkinci Dünya Savaşı sonrası iş gücünde yer alması, cinsiyet rollerinin ve aile kavramının değişmesiyle farklılığa uğramıştır. Özellikle Üçüncü Dalga Feminizm ile kadına atfedilen dişil tanımlar daha radikal ve politik bir söylemle eleştirilmiştir. Artık kadınlar sadece biricik mekânları olan "ev" ile ilişkilendirilmeyecek, aksine bu yerelliği ve durağanlığı yıkarak harekete geçmişlerdir. Amerikalı kadın yazar Marilynne Robinson romanlarında mekân ve yer ilişkisini kadın karakterler üzerinde yansıtmaya çalışmıştır. Robinson, her iki romanında da feminist dalga etkisi altında kadın olma kavramını yeniden tanımlamıştır. Kadın karakterlerini farklı mekânlarda temsil ederek, onların sınırları aşma isteğini yansıtmıştır. Robinson'ın kadınları geleneksel kodlara boyun eğmemiştir ve aksine toplumsal normlara başkaldırmıştır. Bu tezde, Marilynne Robinson'ın 1980 sonrasında yazılmış olan iki romanı Gölün Evi ve Lila'da yer alan kadın karakterler bu iki kurama dayanarak incelenmiştir. Romanlardaki kadın başkarakterler, değişime ve ilerlemeye açıktır. Ne sosyal ne de dini açıdan kendilerine yaşadıkları toplumda yer bulamamaktadırlar. Ev gibi kısıtlı bir mekâna sıkışmaktansa, daha özgür ve sınırsız olan yerleri arzulamışlardır. Kahramanlarımızın, bu ataerkil düzenle nasıl başa çıkacağı ve yeri geldiğinde Amerika Birleşik Devletleri'nin Batı'sında nasıl sınırları aştığını gösterilmiştir.
Bir toplumsal hareket olarak Wall Street işgali ve medyadaki temsili
20 yüzyılın ikinci yarısından itibaren Batıdaki sanayi toplumunun bilgi toplumuna dönüşmesi beraberinde iletişim süreçlerinde değişim ve dönüşümü meydana getirmiş; dijitalleşen dünya içinde bilginin üretilmesi, paylaşılması ve depolanması noktasında yepyeni paradigmalar ortaya çıkmıştır. Son dönem içerisinde Facebook ve Twitter gibi sosyal medya uygulamalarının gelişmesi ve toplumun önemli bir kesimi tarafından kullanılmaya başlaması ile de iletişim sistemleri alışılagelmiş anlamından uzaklaşmıştır. Dijital medyanın hızlı gelişimi ülke ve toplum genelindeki unsurların tamamının daha görünür ve daha kolay erişilebilir hale gelmesini sağlamıştır. Bu durum, çok daha şeffaf bir yapının ortaya çıktığı, bilgi alışverişinin çok daha etkili bir şekilde sağlandığı bir döneme geçiş yapıldığı yönünde değerlendirilmektedir. Tüm bu gelişmelerin etkisiyle, bugünün teknoloji dünyasında, bilgiye ulaşımın kolaylığı nedeniyle bilgi üretiminin artışı, teknolojik ilerlemeler ve dijital dünya sayesinde sosyal medyanın etkinliği, gücü ve yeri önem kazanmıştır. Son dönem toplumsal hareketlerin sosyal medya aracılığıyla yayılması bu gücün artan bir hızla tartışılmaya başlamasına neden olmuştur. 2011 yılının sonlarına doğru Amerika'da başlayan ve kısa sürede tüm dünyayı etkisi altına alan protesto hareketleri de sosyal medyadan gücünü kullanarak dünyanın pek çok yerinde ve birden fazla ülkede politik ve sosyal değişikliklere yol açmıştır. Bu çalışma genelinde toplumsal hareketlerden yola çıkarak, Wall Street İşgali olarak bilinen sosyal olayı hem toplumsal bağlamındaki nedenleri ve gelişimini, hem de sosyal medya üzerinde oluşturulan temsiller üzerinden çözümlemelerini ortaya koymayı amaçlamaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Amerikan Toplum Tarihi, Wall Street İşgali, Toplumsal Hareket, Protesto Gösterileri, Medya ve Sosyal Medya Temsilleri.
Representations of Arab-American identities in the works of Diana Abu Jaber
This thesis has aimed to illustrate the transnational identity beings/becomings of Arab American protagonists in the American mainstream culture, whose mental and/or physical journeys to the homeland and host land in terms of Bakhtin's heteroglot, Deleuze & Guattari's rhizomatic and Edward Said's Orientalist consciousness revealing the discourse of misplacement/displacement in three selected novels of Diana Abu-Jaber. The first chapter elaborates on the Arab American literary scene identity formation by addressing the development of Arab American literature and emergent literary genres through anthologies and selected publishing. Secondly, defining the theories of transnationalism, diaspora, Bakhtin's heteroglot consciousness, Deleuze and Guattari's theory of rhizome and Edward Said's Orientalism was aimed to examine the infrastructure of the transnational being and becoming and the consciousness of dual belonging, its reflection in the discourse and sensibility of the Arab, American and Arab-American to provide the reader with a better understanding of the Arab American characters of the novels and of our era. Thirdly, these theories are applied to scrutinize the identity crisis of the protagonists in Diana Abu-Jaber's books of Arabian Jazz, Crescent and The Language of Baklava. This study argues that the protagonists in the three novels eventually learn how to negotiate their two selves, one American and the other Arab, through dialogic relationships, heteroglot consciousness of their hybridity and awareness of their rhizomatic existences.
Trans/posthumanist themes in American science fiction novels
Our world goes through a constant change due to technological and scientific progress. Whether such transition bears pleasant possibilities or constitutes a step toward an undesirable future is a question which occupies many thinkers' minds. The transhuman, in the transhumanist context, is defined as human evolving into the posthuman via technological and scientific innovations expanding his/her physical and mental capabilities. Posthuman, on the other hand, is the final phase of this transition, an entity that reaches "beyond human" in every sense by relating to his environment in a more perceptive and receptive way. Transhumanists, on the optimistic side, see technology as a tool which will help humans transcend their biological limits. On the other side, as an important field to discuss about the interaction of technology, science and humans, science fiction reflects dystopian perspectives on the co-evolution of the human and the machine. The best examples to such pessimistic perspective is portrayed in "cyberpunk," a sub-genre of science fiction which is mostly concerned with a dystopian near future in terms of technological advancements, exploring realms of the unknown through unpleasant interactions between man and technology. I focus on two novels in my study: Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? which discusses the dichotomies between human/android and organic/artificial, and William Gibson's Neuromancer in which the author raises questions about material/virtual reality, mind/body, organic/artificial through different interaction patterns between humans and artificial or semi-artificial entities. My aim is to read science fiction through two colliding perspectives: pessimistic and optimistic. To do that, in this thesis, taking the transhumanist and posthumanist discourses as a basis, I aspire to analyze the apocalyptic perspective in science fiction, focusing on cyberpunk narratives and contrasting these dystopian portrayals to the optimistic stance offered by transhumanist thinkers.
Words are no good: Unconscious and language in the major novels of William Faulkner
This thesis is mainly concerned with the relationship between language and the layers of the human psyche and the ways in which psychoanalysis deciphers what is hidden in the unconscious of the characters of William Faulkner who is among the most significant literary figures of American modernism. In the first part,the concept of the unconscious mind will be discussed in the light of the theories of the most influential psyschoanalysists like Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and Jacques Lacan. In the later part, the focus will be on their contribution to the development of literary modernism, Lacan's reading of Freud through Saussure and Levi- Straus and the key concepts he introduced to psychoanalysis. Julia Kristeva's interpretation of Lacan's work on the unconscious and language will also be considered. In the final part, Faulkner's use of modernist literary techniques and his contributions to the narration of what is repressed in the unconscious will be studied. From a psychoanalytical point of view, the relation between the unconscious mind, repressed desires and traumas and how they reveal themselves during the development of the characters in his major novels will be analyzed.
A psychoanalytic analysis of Arthur Miller's Death of a salesman and Tennessee williams' a Streetcar Named Desire
In this thesis, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire are analyzed via Freudian psychoanalytic theories. In the first chapter of this study, firstly the relation between literature and psychoanalysis is explained regarding the human psychology as a subject matter for both fields. Later, the key Freudian psychoanalytic theories are explicated in order to provide the ground for the analysis of the protagonist in the selected plays. The second chapter of this study focuses upon the psychoanalytic examination of the protagonist in Death of a Salesman in the context of American dream by working through his psychosexual development, his contradictory personality, his relationship with other characters, his physical and mental struggle as an oppressed common man in the capitalistic American society and his consultation to defense mechanisms and suicide as solution to his problems. In the third chapter, the female protagonist of A Streetcar Named Desire is studied through exploring the motives behind her behaviors and gradual mental deterioration by investigating her inter-personal relations, obsessions, past experiences and environmental elements that contribute her striving as an abject and ostracized woman in the patriarchal society. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to examine the relationship of individuals with society that starts up within the family through the internalization of the cultural ideals via introjections and to explore the role of the identity formation process, the subconscious and external factors in the personality development, behavior pattern, decision making process and inter-personal relations of an individual. It also intends to anatomize the possible results of traumatic past experiences, of a defect in the process of the instillation of cultural ideals, and the resolutions consulted by both society and individuals.
Women's empowerment in Leni Zumas's Red Clocks and Christina Dalcher's Vox
The 21st century is marked by the boom of feminist dystopian writing because of the social, cultural, and political movements which paved the way for feminist writers' exploring the concerns for women's rights. Feminist dystopian writing, which portrays a society where women are suppressed, stresses the importance of ongoing efforts to achieve equality and solidarity in society. By focusing on women's reproductive rights and autonomy, these narratives delve into mothers' devalued roles and ongoing struggles in patriarchal society. Leni Zumas's Red Clocks (2018) and Christina Dalcher's Vox (2018) deal with women's restricted role in society and the loss of control over their bodies. Both authors present a world where women's worth is reduced to their ability to bear children. Women characters in both novels are subjected to oppression such as forced pregnancies and reproductive surveillance. Both novels explore socially constructed roles of mothers, the patriarchal oppression women suffer from, women's resilience and empowerment against marginalization within a dystopian context. Zumas's Red Clocks is a networked and fragmented narrative where the plot revolves around five different women living in a small Oregon town and with the outlaw of abortion and fertilization by the Personhood Amendment. Since women have no options, they try to flee the country or follow illegal and lethal abortion procedures in secret. Dalcher's Vox, in the same way, focuses on women's restricted roles in a religious, totalitarian regime. Women are confined within the realm of their houses, and they lose most of their rights in a very short time such as working, travelling, and reading books except Bible. Women are also fitted, with bracelets that prevent them from speaking more than 100 words a day. However, contrary to the essentialist ideology that imprisons women within gender roles, women in both novels find an alternative way of experiencing their motherhood and employ their maternal roles as an act of resistance against the male-dominated society. In addition, both novels show that through solidarity and unity between women and men, the power to challenge the patriarchal order may be attained. Keywords: Motherhood, Matricentric Feminism, Feminist Dystopian Writing, Resistance
Beyond irony: The cult of sophistication in contemporary American literature
The purpose of this study is to read creative nonfiction and fiction of Nicholson Baker, William T. Vollmann, Jonathan Franzen, David Foster Wallace within the context of topics surrounding recent literary criticism about new directions after postmodernism and offer a new outlook on contemporary literature. The basic premise of this study is that when considered in light of the newly emerging schools of the so-called ethical turn and the oft-mentioned end of postmodernism and the re-birth of realism, the selected works demonstrate another vista for contemporary literature that tends towards re-establishing literature?s ethical inquiry into the human element before all else. The analysis of the creative nonfiction and fiction of these four contemporary American writers present new theories of reading for contemporary literary scholarship. The selected works are all, in their own particular ways, symptomatic of a recent aspiration for ethical treatment of certain social and cultural issues and a commitment to the human. In charting the manifestations of these symptoms as evidences of a new movement in contemporary literature, this study bears witness to the common anxiety of these writers who move toward the truthful representation of the human, of reality. The selected works of creative nonfiction and fiction account for contemporary American literature?s various conflicts and dilemmas as well as searches for revitalization.
Representation of transcultural memory in "His Hundred Years" and "Farewell to Salonica"
Sephardic Jews are a community of Jews who initially settled in the Iberian Peninsula through forced migration but later sought refuge in the Ottoman Republic in the early 15th century to escape the Catholic Christian persecution in Spain. After the 1492 Alhambra Decree, tens of thousands of Jews were expelled from Spain. During the reign of Sultan Bayezid II, thousands of Sephardic Jews were accepted and settled in Ottoman territories. Following their invitation to the Ottoman Empire, the Sephardim were particularly settled in areas like Salonica, Izmir, Istanbul, and the Thrace region. Together with other Jewish groups living in the Ottoman Empire, Sephardic Jews enjoyed a tolerant, affluent, and productive life in the Islamic world for centuries. However, the political, social, and economic changes brought about by the Balkan Wars and World War I accelerated the migration of Sephardic Jews to Western countries, especially America. My thesis aims to explain the migration of Sephardic Jews to America in the early 20th century from the perspective of transcultural memory studies, focusing on the characters in Shalach Manot's "His Hundred Years" and Leon Sciaky's "Farewell to Salonica," as well as the memories of Sephardic Jews who lived in the Ottoman Empire for approximately five centuries. It explores the multicultural environment Sephardic Jews experienced. Transcultural memory studies shed light on the dynamic, evolving, and interconnected nature of the memory. It emphasizes the fluidity of memory, illustrating how memories interact across diverse cultural landscapes, contributing to the formation of societal narratives and identities without being confined to a single cultural or national border. In recent years, there has been increasing academic interest in memory studies due to growing attention to interculturalism, identity, and ethnic-religious studies. This study aims to elucidate the relationship between the multicultural structure of Sephardic Jews in the Ottoman Empire and their migration to the United States in the early 20th century through the lens of transcultural memory studies.
From Postmodernism to Post-Postmodernism: Rewriting history in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and George Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo
Although rewriting history has been recognized as a literary sub-genre, it has evolved into a prominent literary technique with the rise of postmodern era. With this approach, older texts or accepted historical facts have been revisited and rewritten through the deconstruction of grand narratives. Through this process, authors endeavor to challenge readers with entirely different perspectives. In light of this, this study aims to analyze Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) and George Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo (2017) as they present a new perspective on the United States' involvement in the World War II and the American Civil War. Both novels employ a postmodern narrative technique of rewriting history. As demonstrated in the postmodern novel Slaughterhouse-Five and also observed in post-postmodern novel Lincoln in the Bardo, the postmodern narrative technique of rewriting history remains influential in contemporary literary works. In this context, Kurt Vonnegut rewrites the history of the Second World War in his novel, using metafictional and science-fictional elements. In post-postmodern era, George Saunders, often regarded as modern-day Vonnegut, through the creation of a fantastical realm, employs metaffective elements to rewrite the American Civil War. Published within different literary periods, postmodernism and post-postmodernism, both novels challenge the grand narrative, critique these historical epochs and underscore the value of empathy, kindness and humanity. While both literary works share a thematic focus on these values, the evolution of the narrative technique from postmodernism to post-postmodernism is apparent as Slaughterhouse-Five adopts an ironical and detached tone, whereas Lincoln in the Bardo uses a constructive and sentimental tone.
Trauma and mourning in Don Delillo's The Body Artist and Zero K
In his oeuvre, DeLillo's numerous works deal with trauma, art, technology, consumer culture, and capitalism. Thanks to DeLillo's ironic tone and fragmented techniques, DeLillo is regarded as one of the greatest postmodern writers. DeLillo, in The Body Artist (2001) and Zero K (2016), presents art and its relation to trauma and several ways of healing it from different perspectives. This thesis argues that in The Body Artist and Zero K, Don DeLillo presents trauma as an experience of ontological liminality between forms of process that are suspended until a transformation of subjectivity takes place by mainly subverting the conventional meanings of the notions of body, identity, time and art. In The Body Artist, Lauren, the body artist of the title, puts her traumatic experience into stage art after the suicide of her husband, Rey. Therefore, even though trauma is inexpressible, she uses her art as a response to or a coping mechanism for her traumatic experience. While expressing her traumatic experience, Lauren alters her body and identity multiple times throughout the novel. However, in Zero K, art is demonstrated through the Convergence setting and the cryogenic bodies created there. The protagonists in Zero K perceive art in multiple different ways. Artis Martineau, who is suffering from lethal illnesses, embraces transhumanist ideals and believes that preserving bodies is kind of a body art that is supposed to live immortally. By contrast, Jeffrey, the narrator, feels outcast due to the art represented in the Convergence which does not fit in his apprehension of art. Besides, he is unable to understand his father's (Ross Lockhart's) quest of joining Artis to be cryopreserved. The novel unveils that the narrator Jeffrey was traumatized by the loss of his mother, Madeliene, and the abandonment of his father, Ross, when he was a child. For Freudian trauma theory, Jeffrey's disorientation in the Convergence mainly points out his unhealed traumatic experiences. The novel also indicates trauma on a collective basis through Artis and the others in Convergence who attempt to skip death as an ultimate trauma. As a consequence, death stands as a counterforce for art in both novels. The protagonists of both novels attempt to use art as a tool for therapeutic healing or a solution to their traumas by employing distinct approaches.
Racial identity through a trauma based approach in Passing (1929) by Nella Larsen and the Vanishing Half (2020) by Brit Bennett
This thesis analyzes the theme racial discrimination in Nella Larsen's Passing (1929) and Brit Bennett's The Vanishing Half (2020) through the lens of trauma theory. The aim of this study is to shed light on the significant effects of racial trauma on the psychological makeup of individuals and the dynamics of communities within these literary works by closely examining the lived experiences and psychological dynamics of characters negotiating racial identity and social expectations. Utilizing multidisciplinary frameworks from the disciplines of psychology and literary criticism, a qualitative textual analysis methodology to investigate the complex ways in which racial trauma is manifested throughout the experiences of the main characters is provided. The intricacies of racial classification, intergenerational trauma, identity formation, and racial passing are among the main subjects that are examined. The theoretical framework of racial trauma offers a critical perspective to study the characters' psychological struggles, interpersonal relationships, and societal boundaries. Thus, the ongoing consequences of systematic racism on individual consciousness by examining the ways that historical legacies of racial oppression resonate through the narratives are clarified. Additionally, in this study, how Larsen and Bennett illustrate the complex aspects of racial trauma using literary devices including narrative structure, characterization, and symbolism is analyzed. To this end, this study demonstrates the many yet related ways in which these writers address the legacy of racial injustice through close readings and comparative analysis. To sum up, fresh perspectives on the intricacies of racial identity construction to the larger discourse about race, trauma, and literature are added in this study. Through the application of a racial trauma theoretical framework to these literary texts, this study aims to shed light on the agency and resilience of individuals navigating these dangerous environments while also contributing to a deeper understanding of the deep and frequently unseen wounds caused by systemic racism.
Reclaiming authenticity and sincerity in the digital age: Patricia Lockwood's No One Is Talking About This (2021) and Jennifer Egan's The Candy House (2022)
In the digital age, starting with the millennium, authenticity and sincerity have become increasingly elusive concepts as technology reshapes the way individuals connect, communicate, and perceive themselves. The social media, hyperconnectivity, and memory-sharing technologies have introduced new complexities into human relationships, often blurring the boundaries between the real and the artificial. This thesis examines how these issues are reflected in contemporary literature, specifically through Patricia Lockwood's No One Is Talking About This (2021) and Jennifer Egan's The Candy House (2022). Both novels explore the impact of technology on human identity and relationships, criticizing the erosion of genuine connection while navigating the frameworks of postmodernism and post-postmodernism. While both novels employ postmodern techniques to reflect the fractured nature of contemporary life, they also transition toward post-postmodern themes of reconstruction and reconnection. No One Is Talking About This adopts a more optimistic stance, emphasizing the possibility of reclaiming authenticity and sincerity through disengagement from technology. On the other hand, The Candy House portrays a more complex relationship with technology, acknowledging both its dangers and its potential for fostering self-discovery and connection. The research concludes that these novels illustrate the severe impact of technology on authenticity and sincerity, while also offering pathways for their recovery. In a world where hyperconnectivity often leads to isolation, pretense, and superficial relationships, literature remains a critical tool for examining what it means to be human. As technology continues to evolve, these narratives emphasize the enduring importance of authenticity and sincerity in preserving meaningful human experiences.
Insanity's crescendo: Mental illness and its effect on literary production with(out) treatment in John Porcellino's The Hospital Suite (2014) and Rachel Lindsay's RX: A Graphic Memoir (2018)
In this thesis, the representation of mental disability, stigma, and patient autonomy in John Porcellino's The Hospital Suite (2014) and Rachel Lindsay's RX: A Graphic Memoir (2018) are explored through the frameworks of disability studies and medical humanities. In this thesis, it is argued that both memoirs challenge the stigmatization of mental illness by foregrounding the experiences of psychiatric patients, drawing on the distinction between the medical and social models of disability. While Porcellino's narrative portrays obsession triggered by physical illness, Lindsay criticizes societal and familial pressures that normalize forced treatment, especially considering past pathologization of feminine emotion and gender-based standards. The ethical debates surrounding autonomy in mental health care, particularly the right to refuse treatment or hospitalization, are studied in detail. By analyzing how Porcellino and Lindsay navigate these issues, the significance of patient-centered approaches that take individual experiences and preferences into account is underscored. As both works illustrate how artistic expression can serve as a tool for personal healing, the healing power of art is also emphasized. In this study, how stigma functions within the biomedical model and how the biopsychosocial model, which combines biological, psychological, and social factors, provides a more comprehensive understanding of mental health are considered. Ultimately, the broader impact of integrating humanities into the conversation about mental health, particularly in regard to creativity, patient care, and the portrayal of disabilities is emphasized in this study.
Postmemory and the search for identity in contemporary native American novels
This study will analyze Native American traditions, culture and the reconstruction of identity in the novels of four Native American authors ,which include autobiographical elements: Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony (1986), Louis Owens' The Sharpest Sight (1991), Linda Hogan's Power (1999), and Diane Glancy's Pushing the Bear: After the Trail of Tears (2009). The concepts of warriors, totem animals, the lost land and the traditions of the Native Americans will be discussed. The aim is to analyze the selected novels by using Marianne Hirsch's concept of postmemory in order to show how the next generations bridge the gap between themselves and their culture, history, land, and ancestors which are inseparable for Native Americans. In the light of Hirsch's approach, the reconstruction of Native American identity and creating new memories will be demonstrated.