AN “OCCULT” HISTORY OF TUDOR ENGLAND: HILARY MANTEL’S WOLF HALL 77-96

Abstract

Hilary Mantel’s sensational Wolf Hall is remarkable for the different perspective it has brought to the writing of historical fiction. Mantel seems to be both affected and not affected by the contemporary trends in the perceptions of history and historical novel writing. Sceptical of the attempts in postmodernist historical fiction to question and/or problematize the historical reality, Mantel wants to make the history she narrates in her novel seem as real as possible. With Mantel’s peculiar narrative style, the reader has the privilege of having the sense of living in the periods the novel describes. The novel’s ironical and even satirical stance, light mood and good combination of humour with tragedy serve to strengthen the objectivity in an essentially subjective form of writing. Wolf Hall remains a very successful example among many in its attempt to unlock the mystery of one of the most glorious and most controversial eras of British history

Keywords

• history, historical fiction, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

AN “OCCULT” HISTORY OF TUDOR ENGLAND: HILARY MANTEL’S WOLF HALL 77-96

Abstract

Hilary Mantel’ın sansasyonel romanı Wolf Hall tarihsel roman türüne kazandırdığı farklı yaklaşımla dikkat çeken bir eserdir. Yazar Mantel romanında tarih ve tarihsel roman yazımıyla ilgili çağdaş algılayışlardan hem etkilenmiş hem de etkilenmemiş bir görüntü çizmektedir. Postmodern tarihsel romanın tarihsel gerçekliği sorgulama ve sorunsallaştırma girişimlerine kuşkuyla yaklaşan Mantel, romanındaki tarih anlatısının gerçeğe olabildiğince yaklaşması için çaba sarf etmiştir. Böylelikle okur anlatılan dönemde gerçekten yaşamış gibi hissetme imtiyazına kavuşmuştur. Romanın ironik ve satirik üslubu ve mizahı trajik olanla ustaca birleştirmesi özde öznel olan bir türü nesnelliğe yaklaştırmıştır. Roman İngiliz tarihinin en görkemli ama aynı zamanda en tartışmalı devirlerinden biri olan Tudor döneminin gizemini çözme noktasında başarılı bir girişim olarak dikkat çekmektedir.

Keywords

• Tarih, tarihsel roman, Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

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