Jean Baudrillard's Concept of Museumification as revealed in Julian Barnes' Flaubert's Parrot and Orhan Pamuk's Museum of Innocence

This study investigates the concept of 'Museumification' by Jean Baudrillard in terms of postmodernism. Museumification is a term which was theorized by Baudrillard to emphasize a belief or a habit that could not be practised any more. The purpose of this study is to analyse an English novel Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes and a Turkish Novel Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk in terms of Jean Baudrillard's concept of 'museumification' which is mentioned in his own book Simulacra and Simulation. Published in 1984 the third book of the novelist Julian Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot is about being in search of his favourite French writer Gustave Flaubert and the parrot which is taken place in Flaubert's works and his life. Barnes tells the story from a fictional character's George Braithwaite's omniscient point of view with first person narration. Published in 2008 the twelfth book of the novelist Orhan Pamuk, Museum of Innocence is about the love among the characters Kemal Basmacı and Füsun Keskin from the fictional character's Kemal's omniscient point of view with first person narration. Kemal's obsession of collecting his lover Füsun's objects and Pamuk's collecting the objects that represents the time of Istanbul and society. Pamuk's collecting objects which represent the time of İstanbul and Kemal's real objects, which are belong to Füsun, are exhibited in the museum. So the novel becomes a museum. These arguments are analysed both according to Baudrillard's concept of 'museumification' and other sources about the concept of 'museumification'. Keywords: Jean Baudrillard, Museumification, Postmodernism, Julian Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot, Orhan Pamuk, Museum of Innocence