Henry James’in Önsöz Yazma Geleneği Üzerine

Year 2020, Volume: 14 Issue: 1, 80 - 95, 25.06.2020

Nodhar Hammami Ben Fradj

Abstract

Bu çalışmanın amacı, yalnızca kendi anlatısına değil, genel olarak kurmaca metin okuma konusunda ipuçları sunan Henry James’in önsözlerinin eleştirel bir bütün olarak özelliklerini sergilemektir. James’in önsöz yazma geleneğinin yazın eleştirisi için yer açtığı ve bu sayede yazarın okuyucuya yeni kurgu teorilerine dair “ders” verdiği metin dışı alanlar oluşturduğu gösterilmektedir. Romancının önsözlerini böyle sıra dışı kullanması geleneksel okuma biçimlerini değiştirme amacı gütmektedir. Modern okuyucunun yenilikçi anlatı yollarının farkına varmasını ve metni yorumlama süreci içerisinde metinle farklı bir ilişkiye girmesini istemektedir. James, bilinç akışı ve manzara yöntemleri gibi yenilikçi teknikleri kullanması ile ünlenmiştir. Eserlerinin önsözünde okuyucuyu eserde geçen karakterlere odaklanmasını ve hikayelerini şekillendiren yapıyı dikkatle okumasını ister. Böylece, sanat ve sanatçı, sanat ve yaşam arasındaki ilişkiye dair düşünsel bir aktarım da elde edilmiş olur. 

Keywords

Henry James, preface, prefatory discourse, nineteenth-century narrative, innovation

Henry James’s Prefatory Discourse as a Site for Innovation, Construction, and Instruction

Abstract

This study attempts to show the distinct features of Henry James’s prefaces as a body of criticism that provides the receiver with new cues to read not only his narratives but also fiction in general. It aims to demonstrate how his prefatory discourse becomes a site for literary criticism and an extra-textual space that allows the author to communicate his “lessons” on new fiction theories rather than an illustrative pre-text that discloses the author’s objectives. Through an unconventional use of prefaces, James endeavors to change the reading habits of the past by making the modern reader aware of his rebellious style and innovative theories of fiction and acquainting him/her with a different treatment of the literary text in the critical act. James is known to have adopted new techniques, like stream of consciousness and the scenic method, in his novels and instructs the reader in his prefaces to focus on the character and pay heed to the governing intelligence in the narrative, thereby providing a philosophical account of the relationship between art and the artist, and art and life.

Keywords

Henry James, preface, prefatory discourse, nineteenth-century narrative, innovation

References

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