Oğuz Atay'ın Tutunamayanlar ve James Joyce'un Ulysses romanlarında mesiyanizm, alegori ve tarih

This dissertation explores the allegorical re-presentation of messianic instances present in Oğuz Atay's The Disconnected and James Joyce's Ulysses that epitomize the stasis of historical moments in apocalyptic terms, which mark the loss of the Romantic sentiment that emphasised the essential cohesion of the individual and society. To that end, the present study aims to establish a concrete methodology that draws from the evolving concept of the messianic in modern times with specific reference to Walter Benjamin's late works on historical materialism and his early studies on the concept of allegory in the German Baroque drama. Instead of trying merely to validate Benjamin's theses in their individual rights, this study attempts also to draw attention to that which has hitherto been ignored, namely the constant conversation between the concepts of allegory, history, messianism and representation in the philosopher's thought. First by establishing the complex web of connections within the allegorical representation of a messianic instant that questions history as such and one's place in it, the present study defines allegory as a perception and attitude instead of an outmoded literary technique and illustrates the ways this attitude and perception offer new insights into the interpretation of the two masterpieces in question. By scrutinizing the rewriting of the Biblical Jesus of Nazareth, turning specifically to the Eucharist in Ulysses and the Second Coming in The Disconnected, this dissertation also examines the points of convergences and divergences between the corpora and traditions of the two authors.