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

Year 2015, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 77 - 96, 11.05.2015

Kubilay Geçikli

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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