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Peter Ackroyd's Chatterton: History as Taxidermy

Year 2009, Volume: 12 Issue: 2, 19 - 30, 01.04.2009

Abstract

The new historicist understanding of approaching the factual as fictional may stem from the awareness
that every historian tends to give to real events the form of a story while emplotting their narratives. In this
respect history has affinity with taxidermy which, as an image, serves well for understanding how a historian
works. For the historian stuffs the events that happened in the past by the archival research, second hand
information, other texts and other points of view, and represents them in a way much similar to a taxidermist.
He exhibits the past with new stuff, and it works, because the dead cannot speak. Peter Ackroyd examines
history in Chatterton as taxidermy, as an art of stuffing, and mounting the skins of dead animals for exhibition
in a lifelike state, and skillfully applies his historical knowledge in creating a fictional version of Thomas
Chatterton’s life. This paper is an attempt to analyse how history can be perceived as taxidermy, and discuss
how Ackroyd’s Chatterton attaches an artistic and aesthetic dimension to it.

References

  • Ackroyd, Peter. Chatterton. New York: Grove Press,1987
  • Baudrillard, Jean. “The Precession of Simulacra” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. (eds.) Vincent B. Leitch et al. USA : WW Norton Company, 2001.
  • Eliot, T.S. “Philip Massinger” The Selected Prose of T.S. Eliot. (ed) Frank Kermode. USA: Harcourt Inc., 1975.
  • Federman, Raymond. Critifiction: Postmodern Essays. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993.
  • Finney, Brian. “Postmodernist Play and Chatterton”. Twentieth Century Literature, Vol.38, No:2 (Summer 1992), pp.240-261. http://www.jstor.org/stable/441621 19.01.2009
  • Hutcheon, Linda. A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction. New York: Routledge, 1988.
  • Jenkins, Keith. “On the Necessary Conditions of Possibility for a Radical History” Culture And Power: The Plots of History in Performance.pp.41-55 (eds) R.V. Miyares& C.R. Gonzales. UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008.
  • Ricoeur. Paul. Time and Narrative. Vol. 1 Trans. Kathleen McLauglin & David Pellauer. USA: University of Chicago Press, 1990.
  • White, Hayden. The Content of the Form. USA: The John Hopkins University Press, 1987.
  • White, Hayden. Figural Realism USA: The John Hopkins University Press, 1999.

Peter Ackroyd’s Chatterton: History as Taxidermy

Year 2009, Volume: 12 Issue: 2, 19 - 30, 01.04.2009

Abstract

Gerçekliğe kurmaca olarak yaklaşan yeni tarihselci anlayış tüm tarihçilerin kitap yazarken geçmişi hikâye anlatısı formuna sokup ona bir olay örgüsü verme gayreti içine girdikleri saptamasından doğar. Bu bağlamda tarihçiliğin taksidermi (hayvan postunu doldurarak onu canlı gibi teşhir etme sanatı) ile bir benzerliği vardır. Taksidermi tarihçinin geçmişe nasıl şekil verdiğini anlamak için güçlü bir imgedir. Zira tarihçi geçmişte olan olayların içini arşiv çalışmalarıyla, ikinci el bilgilerle, diğer metin ve bakış açılarından öğrendikleriyle doldurur ve onları bir taksidermist gibi bize sunar. Bunu yapmak da kolaydır, çünkü ölüler konuşamaz. Peter Ackroyd Chatterton adlı romanında tarihe taksidermi olarak yaklaşır ve romantik dönem şairlerinden Thomas Chatterton’un hayatının bize kurgusal bir alternatifini sunar. Bu çalışma Ackroyd’un Chatterton adlı eserini tarih, kurgu ve taksidermi kavramları bakımından analiz etmeyi amaçlamaktadır.

References

  • Ackroyd, Peter. Chatterton. New York: Grove Press,1987
  • Baudrillard, Jean. “The Precession of Simulacra” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. (eds.) Vincent B. Leitch et al. USA : WW Norton Company, 2001.
  • Eliot, T.S. “Philip Massinger” The Selected Prose of T.S. Eliot. (ed) Frank Kermode. USA: Harcourt Inc., 1975.
  • Federman, Raymond. Critifiction: Postmodern Essays. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993.
  • Finney, Brian. “Postmodernist Play and Chatterton”. Twentieth Century Literature, Vol.38, No:2 (Summer 1992), pp.240-261. http://www.jstor.org/stable/441621 19.01.2009
  • Hutcheon, Linda. A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction. New York: Routledge, 1988.
  • Jenkins, Keith. “On the Necessary Conditions of Possibility for a Radical History” Culture And Power: The Plots of History in Performance.pp.41-55 (eds) R.V. Miyares& C.R. Gonzales. UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008.
  • Ricoeur. Paul. Time and Narrative. Vol. 1 Trans. Kathleen McLauglin & David Pellauer. USA: University of Chicago Press, 1990.
  • White, Hayden. The Content of the Form. USA: The John Hopkins University Press, 1987.
  • White, Hayden. Figural Realism USA: The John Hopkins University Press, 1999.
There are 10 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Engineering
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Zekiye Antakyalıoğlu This is me

Publication Date April 1, 2009
Published in Issue Year 2009 Volume: 12 Issue: 2

Cite

APA Antakyalıoğlu, Z. (2009). Peter Ackroyd’s Chatterton: History as Taxidermy. Cankaya University Journal of Science and Engineering, 12(2), 19-30.
AMA Antakyalıoğlu Z. Peter Ackroyd’s Chatterton: History as Taxidermy. CUJSE. April 2009;12(2):19-30.
Chicago Antakyalıoğlu, Zekiye. “Peter Ackroyd’s Chatterton: History As Taxidermy”. Cankaya University Journal of Science and Engineering 12, no. 2 (April 2009): 19-30.
EndNote Antakyalıoğlu Z (April 1, 2009) Peter Ackroyd’s Chatterton: History as Taxidermy. Cankaya University Journal of Science and Engineering 12 2 19–30.
IEEE Z. Antakyalıoğlu, “Peter Ackroyd’s Chatterton: History as Taxidermy”, CUJSE, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 19–30, 2009.
ISNAD Antakyalıoğlu, Zekiye. “Peter Ackroyd’s Chatterton: History As Taxidermy”. Cankaya University Journal of Science and Engineering 12/2 (April 2009), 19-30.
JAMA Antakyalıoğlu Z. Peter Ackroyd’s Chatterton: History as Taxidermy. CUJSE. 2009;12:19–30.
MLA Antakyalıoğlu, Zekiye. “Peter Ackroyd’s Chatterton: History As Taxidermy”. Cankaya University Journal of Science and Engineering, vol. 12, no. 2, 2009, pp. 19-30.
Vancouver Antakyalıoğlu Z. Peter Ackroyd’s Chatterton: History as Taxidermy. CUJSE. 2009;12(2):19-30.