British novel
74 theses under this subject heading
J. M. Coetzee's Foe as rewriting of Robinson Crusoe: The problems of Canon and narratorial voice
This study analyses Nobel Prize-winning South African writer John Maxwell Coetzee's postcolonial period novel Foe (1986) as a rewriting of Robinson Crusoe from two focus points. Firstly, it shows how Foe attempts to gain canon status by using Robinson Crusoe's status of being a member of the Western Canon. And it also shows that Foe as a postcolonial period novel seeks canon status in order to give the right to presence to people who were formerly ignored existence and silenced in colonialist novels. Secondly, it shows that there are multiple narratorial voices in the novel and the reason why they are present in the novel.
Gender and sexuality building identity in Jeffrey Eugenides's Middlesex
The current study presents the thematic characteristics and history of the Bildungsroman and its origins in the German literature and its flourishing in the English literature. The terms of gender and sexuality are also defined in the study. The aim of the present thesis is to analyze the postmodernist author Jeffrey EUGENIDES's Middlesex which deals with the "new" American identities of the second and third generation Greek immigrants who live in the US, and to present it through the protagonist of the novel, Calliope/Cal's point of view. The present study displays how the events and actions in the novel make it possible to be regarded as a Bildungsroman in terms of gender and sexual identity formation of Calliope/Cal. Identity formation, ethnicity and generation gap as well as the interaction between generations are presented by the novelist benefiting from myths and mythical heroes. The study reflects how the expectations of the family and society impact identity formation as well as the 5-alpha reductase disease, which results in the intersex condition of Calliope/Cal. In a world, which becomes more and more global each day, the protagonist of the novel is an intersex person, a minority in terms of gender and sexuality but also a Greek-American, a minority in terms of ethnicity. The history of the country and the globalization of the world are reflected through the protagonist. Cal/Calliope is born twice. When he is born the second time, he begins to grasp the world better. The novel, Middlesex, can be regarded as a Bildungsroman when it is analyzed in terms of gender and sexuality and the novel, in general, presents the postmodernist thematic concerns of immigration, generation gaps, inclusion of myths and mythical heroes into the contemporary life and identity formation. Key Words: the Bildungsroman, gender and sexuality, Eugenides, Middlesex, intersex
The Byronic hero as reimagined in E.L. James' novel Fifty Shades of Grey
The aim of this research is the investigation of the concept of the Byronic hero and the discovery of the Neo-Byronic hero in Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. This paper focuses on representing and showing the characteristics of the Byronic hero from a new perspective of the Neo-Byronic hero, relying on the hypostases that have been conceived from the period Byron created his heroes and maintains to be shaped in history by literary critics until today. Byronic hero prototype is established by Lord Byron in his major works but the literature of posterity continues to be fascinated by this heroic typology, delivering its various hypostases. The most impressive and unexpected reworking of the Byronic hero is to be found in the contemporary trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey. The purpose of this study is to develop the connections between the Byronic hero and E.L. James's hypostasis Christian Grey. The questions that are central to this discourse of the Byronic hero will refer to the ways this character is represented, how much Byronic hero's persona is preserved in fascinating Christian Grey and to investigate in which ways the new Byronic hero departs from its original prototype. Other literary examples of Byronic heroes from the 19th century onwards are highlighted, as well as, present some antecedents of the Byronic hero in contemporary popular culture. Key Words: the Byronic hero, hypostasis, the Neo-Byronic hero, Fifty Shades of Grey
Representation and evolution of the monster and monstrosity in the late Victorian and Early Edwardian gothic novel
In their origin, monsters are signs of difference and a warning. As the embodiment of difference, monster stands as the signifier of the other, demarcating those whom societal norms deem dangerous or deviant. Providing a contrast by which the human can define itself, the monster is an essential figure in the dialectic relationship of the self and other, acting as a mirror to humanity. Warning against a myriad of dangers, it is the manifestation of historically and culturally conditioned fears. Accordingly, monsters embody a variety of fears threatening self-identity and society, corresponding to the changes in different periods and their consequences in time. In this light, the late Victorian and early Edwardian Gothic fictions are significant in their abundance of monsters. Looking at four manifestations of the monster at the end of the nineteenth century, this study aims to evaluate the Victorian monster and the ways it changes in tandem with the historical background, which created the impetus in the evolution of monstrosity. Reading the monster as a cultural category, this dissertation traces the changing forms of monstrous representation in Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), Florence Marryat's The Blood of the Vampire (1897), and Walter de la Mare's The Return (1910). Arguing that over the course of the nineteenth century, Gothic monsters shifted from tangible, external forms of monstrosity to an invasive, inherent danger capable of transforming both the individual and social body, this study concludes with a monster that evolves into a complete loss of selfhood. In this sense, this dissertation aims to unfold how the ideals and fears of a society are mirrored in the representations of otherness, and their evolution through the changing forms of monsters, in relation to the socio-cultural, political and literary circumstances.
The theme of alienation in two dystopian novels: Brave new world and Fahrenheit 451
Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 are both about how the influence of technology affected mankind. Brave New World depicts a future where people are produced scientifically. Fahrenheit 451 is about a future where firemen start fires instead of extinguishing them, in order to burn books. Huxley?s and Bradbury?s novels are above all about the theme of alienation and people that are affected by it. The aim of this paper is to analyse the theme of alienation in Aldous Huxley?s Brave New World and Ray Bradbury?s Fahrenheit 451 from sociological and psychological viewpoints and to present evidence that support the paper?s purpose. The paper is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to the concepts of alienation, dystopia and mass culture, and the Postwar Literary World. The second chapter explains the theme of alienation in Brave New World; dealing with the features of alienation in Huxley?s ideal society and discusses how alienation manifests in three characters in Brave New World; finally focuses on the issue of isolation and being outcasts from society which the theme of alienation also can be linked to. The third chapter presents the theme of alienation in Fahrenheit 451; deals with the features of alienation in Bradbury?s ideal society and discusses how alienation manifests in three characters in Fahrenheit 451; finally focuses on the issue of isolation and being outcasts from society which the theme of alienation also can be linked to. The fourth chapter focuses on similarities and differences between features of alienation in both novels. The fifth chapter is a summary of this thesis, including the conclusions drawn from the study. Key Words: Dystopia, Alienation, Technology, Isolation, Outcast.
A comparison regarding the educational system through Dickens and Kingsley Amis
In 'Hard Times' by Charles Dickens, the Gradgrind family and their sorrowful experiences are narrated. Towards the end of the novel, the readers realize that a rational education system as a guideline to reach the ideal of 'Merry England' actually misguides the family members and turns their lives to grief. In this study, various views and examples of 'Hard Times' are provided in order to demonstrate the proposal that education solely cannot always bring people to happiness. 'Lucky Jim', an English Campus Novel written by Kingsley Amis, can present a comparison to the teaching approaches in 'Hard Times'. In the novel, the academics' cruel rivalry can be seen as influential in their moral corruption. In this academic circle, Jim Dixon, an inexperienced history lecturer, presents a free willed, relaxed character as quite contrary to the academic principles of the 'Post War England'. In this thesis, unlike disregarding of such individuality by the contemporary academics, it is stressed that Dixon can overcome the difficulties in his new working place thanks to his distinguishing characteristics, and his sincerity facilitates him in the quest for happiness. As a result of this thesis; it will be predicted that paying attention to such lively people's personalities as Dixon has can be resulted in directly or indirectly a happiness in everyone's life and as an outcome of an analysis; the reader will also be presented what sorts of education method can be effective to have a pleasant life. Keywords: Mechanization, Science, Strictness, Disregard, Alienation, Happiness, Wonder, Self-Realization, Fancy, Imagination.
An analysis of foe and the white castle novels within postmodern context
Techniques such as intertextuality, metafiction, parody, and pastiche, frequently used in postmodern literature, are creating wide studying areas for readers, writers, and critics. Especially with the metafiction and intertextuality techniques, postmodern authors keep the reader alive by adding dynamism and difference to their works. In this context, Orhan Pamuk's The White Castle novel and J. M. Coetzee's Foe novel contain many postmodern elements. Orhan Pamuk presents examples of metafiction, such as making a novel character write a preface to another novel or changing narrators in his novel The White Castle. In addition, Pamuk, who deals with a historical subject in the novel, exemplifies the intertextuality technique by combining reality and fiction, using historical places, old sources, and characters. On the other hand, Coetzee in his novel Foe rewrites Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe by mocking it, and he chooses the protagonist of the novel as a woman on the contrary of the writing philosophy of the period, and adds Cruso as an old and passive character of the novel. The relationship between Susan, the narrator of the novel, and Foe (known as a writer in the novel), who will write the story of Cruso, constitutes an important example for the metafiction technique. At the same time, it has been a work worth examining in the context of intertextuality by referring to many works. In this study, it is aimed to analyse the two novels mentioned in the context of postmodern elements; metafiction and intertextuality.
Impact of pollution in The Sheep Look Up, Stand on Zanzibar, The Jagged Orbit by John Brunner
John Brunner's futuristic ecological thrillers explain the forms of pollution and the inevitable impact on the planet and humans in the near future. Brunner's terrifying and depressing novels represent an environmental, global and political disaster in an unspecified near future. These novels offer a dramatic and prophetic look at the potential consequences of the escalating destruction of the earth. Air pollution is so bad, and it spreads widely. Everyone seems to suffer from many diseases because of pollution. We can't breathe clean air, drink fresh water, eat healthy food or even swim. Furthermore, no one can endure it without a filter mask. All nature components are polluted. A major reason for pollution is modern technology and abuse. Another reason for pollution is overpopulation, which causes depletion of nature resources and pollution and we (as humans) are a part. Because of racism and inequity, wars break out in many places of the world, where people use many kinds of weapons such as missiles and nuclear bombs to kill and to destroy each other and nature resources as well as. So pollution of: air, water, food, soil spreads everywhere. Therefore, this study criticizes man's greed, ignorance and racism and overpopulation as well. And also it discusses the forms of pollution and its impact in the three novels combined.
Tilting at the Windmills of the Eighteenth Century: Representations of British Quixotism in Joseph Andrews, The Female Quixote and The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes, widely regarded as the first example of modern novel, has always been a rich source of both formal and contextual impact for the world's cultures and literatures. Despite its late arrival to Britain in the seventeenth century, quixotism can be defined as a method that utilizes the influence of Don Quixote and Cervantes in character formation, style, satiric tone and adventures of works. With the advent of the novel genre, the influence transforms into a topos in the eighteenth century literary works of the age through its prevalent use with diverse ends. In the quixotic novels of the period, writers give voice to their own British quixotes and their problems that they have derived from Spanish knight. Within the context of the period, these characters attempt to live their lives according to their quixotic principles, but they fail to conform to the social and cultural codes of the time, thus like their predecessor, they find themselves in a constant struggle with those codes. In this dissertation, Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding, The Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox, and The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne are three of the novels whose quixotic characters and contextual elements can be studied to discern how the British authors developed and appropriated the concept with regard to their distinct aims. Moreover, another common point of these novels is their criticism of the codes of the age by utilizing quixotic characters who attack the century's entrenched norms of literature, gender, propriety and reason. To this end, this dissertation proposes to argue the development and appropriation of British quixotism in the selected novels and it aims to shed light on the social and cultural criticism of the age presented in the novels through the method borrowed from Cervantes.
Posthuman subjectivities in early British fantasy fiction: Jonathan Swift and Lewis Carroll
Fantasy literature breaches the great divide between dualities, making marginalised and disempowered nonhuman beings much more audible, visible, and intelligible. In fantasy, the human gets stripped of its so-called superiority and is guided to attain a more-than-human subjectivity at the end of the fantastic journey. In parallel with the character of fantasy fiction, posthumanist theories interrogate the notion of the human as the zenith of the universe, the reliance on and parameters of rationality, and the agential capabilities of subjects other than the human. Criticising the liberal humanist notion of anthropocentric subjectivity as continuously structured in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this study combines the discourses of canonical fantasy fictions and contemporary posthumanist theories. In this context, this dissertation aims to investigate the notions of the human, subjectivity, and agency in three British fantasy fictions on the bases of posthumanist theories: Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726) and Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871). About the coalescing characters of posthumanism and fantasy fiction, the first chapter proposes the adoption of fantasy narratives as an effective medium to convey the cautionary message by posthumanist philosophies. In line with this, discussing the Enlightenment philosophers' discourses on the human nature and subjectivity, the second chapter positions Jonathan Swift as a proto-posthumanist satirist and analyses his Gulliver's Travels as the first and best example of satirical fantasy fiction in the eighteenth century. The third chapter evaluates the possibilities of new traits of human subjectivity in the nineteenth century as well as Lewis Carroll's posthumanist ideas, and scrutinises his Alice series as unique examples of fantasy narratives that concentrate on the formation of the heroine's posthuman subjectivity. While the dissertation commences investigating the cautionary and satirical aspect of fantasy fiction to blur the boundaries between the human and nonhuman realms, it resolves to give an insightful and illustrative account of the posthumanist tendencies inherent in the genre as well as its pioneering examples.
Constructing the textual psyche: The employment of cyberspace and psycho-spatial chronotopes in Jeanette Winterson's The PowerBook and Steven Hall's The Raw Shark Texts
The novel's narrative chronotope and the text's relationship with its author and the reader are crucial elements for analysing how writing and reading processes correspond to the actualisation process of a work. While literary criticism offers various approaches to the subject, with the advent of cyberspace, the influence of cyberculture can be observed in contemporary novels which can be said to necessitate a more specific approach. Especially postmodern novels such as Jeanette Winterson's The PowerBook (2000) and Steven Hall's The Raw Shark Texts (2007) utilise cyberspace as a significant component of their narrative chronotopes to enhance the reading experience on a psychological level by means of employing an approach that renders the text dynamically interactive and participatory towards its reader. Their narrative employs a psychospatial/temporal chronotope that aims to transcend the process of reading by presenting a textual psyche that emulates an authoritative persona towards the reader. The reader is thus treated as if they are an element in the narrative, as well as a (co/re)writer in the actualisation of the work. This thesis aims to offer a definition for the psychospatial/temporal chronotope in order to analyse the construction of the textual psyche in Winterson's and Hall's postmodern novels The PowerBook and The Raw Shark Texts. The first chapter explores the textual psyche in The PowerBook by analysing its psychospatial chronotope along with the influences of cyberculture for the progression of its narrative. The second chapter examines The Raw Shark Texts for its textual psyche through its psychospatial chronotope's analysis and how the novel benefits from linguistic and semiotic fields by presenting a convergence of text with cyberspace. The mentioned postmodern novels with their multi-layered chronotopes hence present a textual psyche that renders the reader an element that is subject to its textuality and is responsible in its actualisation while simultaneously signifying the traceable importance of its author.
(De)monstrating the other: Monstrosity as performance in middle English romances
This study argues that in the selected fourteenth and fifteenth-century Middle English romances, namely, Guy of Warwick (c. 1330), Richard Coer de Lyon (c. 1330), Sir Gowther (late 15th c.) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (c. 1400), Sir Gawain and the Carl of Carlisle (c. 1400), The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle (c. 1500), the knights and their adversaries are not distinct from each other and the two are in fluid states of becoming monstrous or chivalrous at the moment of their encounters. In this study, monster is defined as a person who is the source of underserved harm to people around, the society and its institutions in general. The two sides' consequential performances during their interactions are analysed to determine their proclivity to either side. It is claimed that analysing monstrosity through the performative framework that relies on harm provides a fluid understanding of monstrosity that is compatible with the romances' larger concerns of segregation, violence, introspective criticism of knights. This study investigates romances that are set inside and outside England's geographical borders; borders in East during the crusading campaign; the Scottish and Welsh borders in the North. The instantaneous performances of the knights and their adversaries are analysed to demonstrate this emergent fluidity at the borders.
Metamorphic perceptions of reality from modernism to postmodernism in Samuel Beckett's novels
This dissertation focuses on Samuel Beckett's novels to reveal how the concept of reality is metamorphosed through subjective perceptions. The influences of both modernism and postmodernism are traced to better investigate how the concept of reality is experienced and expressed in Beckett's novels. Studying Beckett's controversial literary style from the perspective of subjective perceptions reveals how his novels transcend and expand the limits of the novel genre. Furthermore, Beckett's novels challenge and reconceptualise the manner in which reality is perceived in twentieth century English literature owing to Beckett's unique understanding of the concepts of time, space, action, existence and identity. The scope of the study covers Beckett's novels from the first to the last in order to better situate Beckett's stance as an author. Therefore, the study is divided into four chapters, the first of which introduces the origins, the dialectic and dialogic stance of the novel genre while tracing how the concept of reality is perceived through modernism and postmodernism. The second chapter is on how experimental techniques aid Beckett in creating alternative perceptions of time, space and action in his novels Dream of Fair to Middling Women, Mercier and Camier and How It Is, respectively. The third chapter explores Murphy and Watt in relation to existential phenomenology while the last chapter focalizes how the characters in the novels Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable manifest the process of identity formation in a metamorphic manner.
Satire and Humour in Terry Pratchett's novels
This study attempts to evaluate Terry Pratchett's four novels The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites and Small Gods in the light of satire and humour. It comprises of six chapters. Chapter I sets up the background of fantasy literature and in two parts, mythology and the reflections of mythology on culture and literature are analyzed. Chapter II overviews the description and historical development of fantasy literature, satire and humour and attempts to introduce Terry Pratchett as a contemporary fantasy novelist in England, in three parts. In the third chapter, the first Discworld novel The Colour of Magic is evaluated in the light of satire and humour; especially the subversion of stereotypes and clichés in literature are examined. The fourth chapter deals with the second Discworld novel, The Light Fantastic, and the function of satire and humour of Terry Pratchett is examined. The fifth chapter comprises of the evaluation of the third Discworld novel Equal Rites from a feminist point of view. Terry Pratchett focuses on the women characters and criticizes the institutions and societies from a feminist point of view by a humourous way. Small Gods in the sixth chapter is totally different from the first three novels. In this novel the time period and the belief system on Discworld are examined. The function of satirical atmosphere is evaluated on belief systems. All of these four novels are the reflections of Terry Pratchett's satirical and at the same time humorous attitude. The absurdities and the faults of societies are masterfully reflected on the fantastic world, Discworld, of Terry Pratchett. Every different novel deals with a different issue in societies and they make the reader realize the negative sides of the individual and the society, one more time. Key Words: Terry Pratchett, fantasy literature, mythology, satire, humour, feminism.
Dionysian dynamics of the Victorian fiction; Mad women characters
Officially started with Queen Victoria's accession to the throne in 1837, the Victorian Era was a long-running and sensational time period which had a great impact on the nineteenth century literature. The Era was realistically portrayed in the novels of Dickens, Collins, Thackeray, Brontë sisters, Gaskell, Eliot, Hardy. Apart from the primary subjects such as class-consciousness, industrialism, the so-called progress that shook the social dynamics, all of which were narrated in the realist novels of the time, another key aspect is surely the mad women characters. Bertha Antoinetta Mason of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (1847) attributed a special dimension to the notion of madness with her tragic end. The Woman in White (1859) of Wilkie Collins animated an impressive character within; Anne Catherick. Her wandering in pure white represents that the male-oriented order has transformed the woman into a living ghost and the isolation of woman initially from the society and gradually from herself could only be explained by Dionysian triggers. Another unique character is Miss Havisham who succeeded to fire the highly realistic world of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations (1861). Her Dionysian nature makes her old yellowed bridal dress even more tragic. The key word of all aforementioned works is surely woman, and the reason of her being on the margin of madness is undoubtedly the society. This study has been structured on the theories of Freud, Lacan and Nietzsche so as to discover the voice of woman echoing from the thick walls of Victorian-style cages.
A Kristevan reading of George Eliot's early novels
Bu çalışma, Eliot'ın erken dönem romanlarından Kıyıdaki Değirmen (The Mill on the Floss) ve Silas Marner romanlarında, Victorya toplum yapısı ve gelenekleri çerçevesinde cinsiyet ve benlik oluşumunu, Kristeva'nın kuram ve terimleri ışığında değerlendirmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Birinci bölüm, feminist eleştiri kuramı ve Kristevacı eleştiri ile kuramsal çerçeveyi oluşturmaktadır. Bu bölüm, erken feminist eleştiri, modern feminist eleştiri ve Kristeva'nın kuram ve terimleri olmak üzere üç bölüme ayrılmıştır. İkinci bölüm, Viktorya döneminin tarihsel arka planını ve Eliot'ı bu dönemdeki bir kadın yazar olarak ele almaktadır. Ayrıca, Eliot'ın erken dönem romanlarından Kıyıdaki Değirmen (The Mill on the Floss) ve Silas Marner, Kristevacı eleştiri ışığında incelenmektedir. Kıyıdaki Değirmen, romanın baş karakterlerinden biri olan Maggie'nin ailevi ilişkilerini, cinsiyet ikilemlerini, benlik karmaşası ve sosyal baskıyı ortaya koyduğundan, cinsiyet ve benlik oluşumu bağlamında tartışılmaktadır. Bu yüzden, roman sembolik, semiyotik, benlik kuramı, melankoli ve isyan kavramları çerçevesinde incelenmektedir. Silas Marner ise Silas'ın din ikilemini, benlik karmaşasını ve toplum baskısını etkili bir biçimde yansıtır. Bu roman, Silas'ın birey olarak toplumdaki yerini ve kendi hayalleri, hisleri ve dürtüleri arasındaki çelişkileri ve zıtlıkları ortaya koyduğundan, yabancılaşma, semiyotik, sembolik ve öznellik teorisi çerçevesinde incelenmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: George Eliot, Julia Kristeva, semiyotik, sembolik, melankoli, isyan
Plurality, subjectivity, and relativity in John Fowles's novels: A study on postmodernism
In the first chapter of this study, the concept "postmodernism," its definition, scope, and different interpretations, are the main focus. Particularly through the ideas of certain prominent critics having written on the subject, on the one hand the theory is tried to be conceptualized; on the other hand its contributions to the changing perceptions of reality, authority, self, and fiction in contemporary culture are discussed. The second chapter and the third chapter are all about how those postmodernist perceptions of reality, authority, self, and fiction reflect themselves in the novels of John Fowles. Therefore, for the former chapter, The French Lieutenant's Woman is analyzed mainly as the best example of postmodernist metafiction showing the concerns of the author particularly in terms of form/narration. Likewise, the latter chapter takes The Magus as its subject and intends to see similar concerns of the author, but this time mostly with regards to representation of reality. In the conclusion part of this study which starts with the "birth" of postmodernism, there is an interrogation on the "death" of postmodernism in company with some arguments of "post-postmodernism." The aim of this study is to discuss how John Fowles by means of postmodernist philosophical ideas and narrative strategies challenges any claim of single/absolute reality and authority, both inside and outside fiction, how he instead produces realities and authorities as plural, subjective, and relative as possible.
Postcolonial discourse in Andrea Levy's novels
Within the context of postcolonial discourse analysis, the purpose of this thesis is not only to reveal the effects of postcolonial conditions on Caribbean and British societies in Andrea Levy's novels but also to investigate the terminology associated with these various processes. Throughout her life, Levy has produced works about the post-colonial processes, the transformations in the identities and cultures of the indigenous Caribbean people and the effects on their social life. In her novels, Levy depicts the migration of Caribbean people to Britain, whose lives have been changed and oppressed due to colonialism. As the number of migrants increase, Caribbeans have been subjected to cultural issues, identity crises, prejudices, discrimination, and racism within British society. The hybrid characters who vacillate between cultures in limbo reflect the postcolonial representations and colonialist perception in the novels. Very few critics have addressed to this aspect of Levy's works, which blends tragedies that are not included in the official history of colonialism, research and compilations of his family origins, with auto-fiction technique. It is aimed to contribute to the literature by analysing all of Levy's novels, which can be accepted as an annotation on official history, in a single study under the title of postcolonial discourse analysis. Discourse analysis of the novels has been made through Homi. K. Bhabha's theories and concepts such as identity, third space, hybridity, mimicry, displacement, unhomeliness, and otherization.
Unveiling the fabulative art: Exploring english metaphysical detective fiction in Robert Irwin's the Arabian Nightmare and Lawrence Norfolk's Lemprière's Dictionary
In this dissertation, the role of fabulation, and more specifically the manifestation and influence of fabulation in metaphysical detective fiction, is intended to be explored and discussed meticulously within the selected novels of Robert Irwin's The Arabian Nightmare (1983), and Lawrence Norfolk's Lemprière's Dictionary (1991). Robert Irwin and Lawrence Norfolk, with their innovative writing style and various themes that touch upon the reality of life and existence, take a special place in postmodern English literature. Irwin and Norfolk's works not only "explore the possibilities of fiction, the kind of fiction that challenges the tradition that governs it" (Federman, 1975: 7) but also make great contributions to fabulation and metaphysical detective fiction with their mythical, magical, metafictional, and historical subjects. Their novels deconstruct and subvert what is assumed to be real and meaningful, drawing the characters and readers towards ontological inquiries, and, through the use of symbolic and allegorical language, they manifest an atmosphere of eerie and uncanny nihilism. Chapter One presents a detailed elucidation of fabulation theory and metaphysical detective fiction. The discussion is further developed by emphasizing the analogies between fabulation and metaphysical detective fiction. A thematic analysis is carried out in the second and third chapters, and the question of how one perceives and constructs reality within the books is attempted to be answered. Structural analysis has been conducted in the following subchapters of the second and third chapters to demonstrate Irwin and Norfolk's artistic abilities as fabulators. In light of these analyses, this dissertation suggests that Irwin and Norfolk, with their innovative and complex narration techniques, not only destabilize what is assumed to be real and meaningful to renovate our understanding of the world but also endeavour to make philosophical claims about the nature of existence and being. Key Words: Fabulation, Metaphysical Detective Fiction, Robert Irwin, Lawrence Norfolk, The Arabian Nightmare, Lemprière's Dictionary.
The nineteenth-century politics of autoethnography and nationalism in the novels of Morier and Morgan
This study explores the representations of nationhood and national identity in the context of British and Ottoman Empires in two nineteenth century English novels, the English writer James Justinian Morier's Ayesha, the Maid of Kars (1834) and the Anglo-Irish writer Lady Morgan's Woman, or Ida of Athens (1809). Drawing from the theories of nationalism, colonialism, and orientalism as well as the literary theory of Frederic Jameson, this thesis aims to examine the political unconscious of these two novels emerging from their comparative attitude towards the nationhood of the British and Ottoman Empires. Being respectively related to the genres of travel writing and national tale, Morier and Morgan's novels are identified as examples of nineteenth-century British autoethnographic literature. Accordingly, the representing of a colonized and Orientalized Other emerges as a vital means for arriving at an English autoethnography in both novels. Differentiating between their depictions of civic and ethnic nationalism in British and Ottoman contexts, I argue that the novels' assignation of civic nationhood to the British Empire and ethnic nationhood to the Ottoman Empire bespeak their orientalist and colonialist political unconscious. Ultimately, I also find that the close study of nationality in both novels also forces the concept of national identity to emerge as a social construct as in the understanding of modernist nationalism, dependent on appropriation and performativity.
İngiliz edebiyatında sömürgecilik ve kölelik: Aphra Behn'in Oroonoko veya Soylu Köle romanı örneği
Bir metnin sosyolojik açıdan okunması diğer okuma biçimleriyle kıyaslandığında daha avantajlı gözükmektedir. Yazar, eser, okur ve ilk üç bileşeni kapsayan toplum öğesi sosyolojik okuma sürecinde önemli faktörlerdir. Sosyal teorilere dayalı diğer okuma biçimleri bazı sınırlılıklara sahipken sosyolojik okuma, araştırmacılara daha geniş bir perspektif sunar.Bu çalışmada, Aphra Behn'in ?Oroonoko veya Soylu Köle? romanını, sosyolojik imgelemin bütüncül perspektifiyle okunması amaçlanmıştır. Behn'in eseri, sömürge edebiyatının birçok arketipini bünyesinde barındıran bir metin olarak, bir süreliğine İngiliz Edebiyatı'nda soylu vahşinin ilk sunumu; sömürgecilik karşıtı, kölelerin serbest bırakılması ve azat edilmesini destekleyen ilk roman olarak okunmuştur. Zamanla eleştirel bir okur grubu ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu grup, metine dair sahip olunan bu tür algıların ve rutin okumaların sarsılmasına ve gizemli noktaların açığa çıkarılmasına çalışmıştır. Bu çalışma da rutin okumaları sarsarak; bütüncül kavrayışını Edebiyat Sosyolojisinden alan kendi perspektifiyle benzer bir ideale hizmet eder.Bu çalışma kapsamında toplum ve edebiyat ilişkisine dair bazı konular ve kavramlar tartışılmıştır. Tarihsel arka plan dâhilinde ?kölelik, sömürgecilik, şarkiyatçılık, ırkçılık? gibi bazı kavramlar tanımlanmaya ve anlaşılmaya çalışılmıştır. ?Sömürgeciliğin ve Köleliğin Meşruiyeti? kölelik ve sömürgeciliğe dair muğlak bir meselenin açıklığa kavuşturulması açısından tüm bu konular içerisinde en önemli olanıdır. Shakespeare'den Defoe'ya sömürge edebiyatının ortaya çıkışı da tartışılmıştır. Behn'in sosyal statüsü, ideolojisi, eğitimi, arkadaş çevresi, ailesi, mesleği, medeni durumu ve hayatındaki değişimler de analiz edilmeye çalışılmıştır. Sosyolojik biyografisinin yanı sıra metindeki retoriği de çözümlenmeye çalışılmıştır. Son bölümde Behn'in eseri, kölelik ve sömürgecilik yönünden incelenmiştir. Sömürgecinin ve sömürülenin portreleri çizilmeye çalışılmıştır.Bu çalışma sonucunda, Behn'in metninin kölelerin azat edilmesinden yana olmadığı ve sömürgecilik karşıtı olmadığı sonucuna varılmıştır. Metin, karakterlerin köleleriyle olan ilişkileri açısından okunduğunda Behn'in söyleminde iki tür sömürgecilik modeli çözümlemek mümkün gözükmektedir. Birisi, Behn tarafından desteklenmekte diğeri ise eleştirilmektedir. Behn, şiddetle yönetilen ve işkenceye uğrayan kölelere sempati duyarken bir yandan da bünyesinde şiddet ve işkence olmayan yeni bir kölelik ve sömürgecilik paradigması kurmaya çalışmaktadır. Behn, okurlarına kölelerine asla eziyet etmeyen onları şiddet olmaksızın yöneten bazı karakterler ve aynı zamanda kölelerine tam tersi yönde muamelede bulunan bazı karakterler tanıtmaktadır. Bu mevzudaki temel sorun şudur: Gerçek hayatta şiddet olmaksızın var olan böyle bir sömürgecilik modelini görmek mümkün müdür? Sömürgecilik tarihine baktığımızda böylesi bir sömürgeciliğin daha önce var olmadığını görebiliriz. Öyleyse Behn, sömürgecilik ve köleliğe dair ütopik bir teori kurmaktadır. Böylece retoriğiyle yanılsamalar üretmekte ve plantasyon sahiplerinden oluşan yönetici sınıfı desteklemektedir. Fakat Behn, bunu yaparken (sömürgecilik ve köleliğe duyulan) nefretin yönünü zenginler sınıfının mensuplarından aşağı sınıf üyelerine çevirmek için bazı karakterleri nesneleri olarak kullanmaktadır.Behn'in barbar karakterlerinin de üst sınıfa ait olmaları gerçeğine rağmen, tutumları ve ahlaki değerleri Behn tarafından aşağı sınıfla ilişkilendirilmektedir. Bu çelişkide Behn'in görevi nedir? O, ürettiği yanılsamalar sayesinde, kendini beyaz sömürgeci ve sömürülen siyah nesne arasındaki barış elçisi olarak takdim eder. Behn'in metninde şiddetten ve işkenceden arındırılmış yeni bir sömürgecilik modeli sunulmaktadır. Böyle olsa bile, bütün köleler Behn'in gözünde aynı değere sahip değildir. Oroonoko, Behn için soyluluğu ve Avrupalılaştırılmış olduğu için değerlidir. Bununla birlikte romanın sonunda irrasyonel bir köleye dönüşecek ve eşinin canına kıyacaktır. Hikâyenin sonlarına doğru Behn'in soylu vahşiye dair fikirleri de değişecektir. İlk bakışta kölelere sempati duymasına rağmen, eserinin retoriğinde şarkiyatçı, ırkçı ve sömürgeci tutumlarını okumak mümkündür.
"The story of the wreck": Hauntologic, parodic and chronotopic perspectives in contemporary women's revisionist mythmaking
The present thesis explores the revisionist mythmaking tradition and its methodology of revisiting, decoding and deconstructing mythical and traditional stories in order to incarnate the original myths, discover their full potential, and pick the bones of any kind of ideological underpinnings out of them. It supports a threefold investigation toward the revisionist mythmaking tradition consisting of hauntologic, parodic and the chronotopic perspectives. In the first chapter, I discuss the theoretical framework of this thesis, which aims to explain revisionist mythmaking through different authors, poets and literary critics. The second chapter bases its discussion upon Christa Wolf's 1998 book Medea, a modern retelling of Euripides's tragedy with the same title and brings together Derrida's concept of hauntology and the haunting qualities of the precursor myths. In the third chapter, analyzing Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad as one of the most-widely known rewritings of the myth of Odysseus, I aim to discover the way parody and parodic forms function in contemporary rewritings through (de)mythologizing the mythical tales. The fourth and the final chapter focuses on a rewriting that supports an authentic textual strategy of revision by Ursula K. Le Guin – Lavinia, recounting Vergil's unfinished Latin epic poem, The Aeneid through the voice of his last wife, Lavinia, with the theoretical framework of Bakhtin's chronotope. Key words: mythology, revisionist mythmaking, deconstruction, contemporary fiction, women authors, parody, hauntology, chronotope, rewriting, intertextuality
The closed society and its lowdown: The role of deception in the maintenance of individual survival in Orwell's 1984 and Atwood's the handmaid's tale
Philosophical arguments on morality have long "excommunicated" a realist and reasonable approach that, unsurprisingly we come across almost every day, both in our social milieu and in our own lives. When people feel that truthful statements or sincere behaviour will somehow risk or harm their personal well-being, they resort to deception. Then, instead of searching and endeavouring to comprehend the reasons behind it, why do we still condemn those who are forced to apply it? This thesis, having in the background this precursory question, attempts to account for the causes of this necessary and at times obligatory form of demeanour, which, in closed societies, is a most beneficial device for the survival of the individual and the preservation of personal space. It examines Orwell's 1984 and Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale as two totalitarian dystopias, and the societies they depict, according to Popper's "open society" theory, while connecting the factors behind the phenomenon of deception to Kuran's concept of "preference falsification". Although these two narratives deal with different types of oppression, they indicate the same result: the inevitability of deception under force. As 1984 reveals the nightmare of a totalitarian regime caused by the IngSoc Party, the Gileadean Republic in The Handmaid's Tale threatens primarily women with its fundamentalist attitude. However, while utilizing a variety of deceptive conduct, the characters in the former novel observe the survivalist and individualist tendencies in a more balanced way, the characters in the latter avail themselves of deception primarily for life-and-death issues. Key words: deception, closed society, totalitarian, survival, individualist
The one you seek for, to your death: Representation of femme fatale in Lady Audley's Secret and the Crimson Petal and the White
The present thesis inquires the changing representations of the Femme Fatale archetype in a Victorian novel and a neo-Victorian counterpart. It adopts a comparative framework in discussing female stock characters in Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret and Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White in order to argue for a shift in perspective from one century to another and the relevance (if any) of the author's gender to character depiction. The study examines the defining features of the archetype in the light of Steve Simkin or Rebecca Stott's recent analysis of femme fatale archetype, Sigmund Freud's life and death drives Eros & Thanatos, and Julia Kristeva's concept of the abject. Separate chapters on Lady Audley and Sugar analyse the representation of the femme fatale stock characters from various feminist approaches. Considering two key questions —does the femme fatale must die/punished at the end, and can a femme fatale be a real-life figure?— the study concludes the femme fatale archetype changes through the Victorian period to modern period, some of the features of the archetype being transformed or be lost in the process. Though in the novels the representation of the two characters resembles each other, a clear shift in the attitudes of the authors towards the archetype can be observed in this research.