Representations of Intellectuals in Changing Places: A Tale of Two Campuses (1975): An Existentialist View

Year 2021, Volume: 19 Issue: 3, 220 - 233, 24.09.2021

İbrahim Katip Aylin Atilla

https://doi.org/10.18026/cbayarsos.958427

Abstract

This study analyzes the characters of David Lodge’s novel, Changing Places: A Tale of Two Campuses in the light of the philosophy of Existentialism. As Sartre has argued, the existence of a person comes before his essence. A person interprets this existence through external factors. Stripped of these factors, his/her existence constitutes his essence. Yet, the way of dealing with the external factors like social roles constitute his/her real essence. Hence, when stuck between these two essences, a person is likely to experience existential crisis. The characters who reflect these crises mostly appear in the novels written after 1950. With this study, the existential crises of the protagonists, their quests for identity and purpose as intellectuals are analyzed, and the novel, which was generally analyzed in terms of its parodical elements formerly, is reread with a different view. This analysis also sheds light on the situation of today’s academic world.

Keywords

The Campus Novel, Existentialism, Intellectuality, David Lodge

Changing Places: A Tale of Two Campuses (1975) Romanında Entelektüellerin Temsilleri: Varoluşçu Bir Bakış

Abstract

Bu çalışmada Varoluşçu felsefenin ilkeleri kullanılarak David Lodge’ın Changing Places: A Tale of Two Campuses eseri üzerinde metin ve karakter analizi yapılmıştır. Fransız filozof Jean Paul Sartre’ın belirttiği üzere bir insanın varoluşu onun özünden önce gelir. İnsan bu varoluşunu, toplumdaki yerini ve işlevini dış etmenler üzerinden anlamlandırır. Sartre’a göre, bu etmenler olmaksızın bireyin varoluşu onun özünü oluşturur. Toplumsal roller, edinimler ve yerleşik davranış kalıpları gibi dışa bağlı etkenlere karşı bireyin tepkisi ve izlediği yol ise birey için gerçek özü oluşturur. Bu bağlamda, bireyin öz ve gerçek öz arasında sıkışması varoluşsal krizlere yol açabilir. Özellikle 1950 sonrası yazılan romanlarda, bireyin varoluşsal bunalımlarını farklı şekillerde yansıtan karakterlere sıkça rastlanmaktadır. Bu çalışma ile baş karakterlerin varoluşsal bunalımları, birer entelektüel olarak kimlik, anlam ve amaç arayışları incelenmekte ve daha önceleri genelde parodi unsurları üzerinden incelenen bu eser farklı bir pencereden okunmaktadır. Kurgusal düzlemde yapılan bu inceleme günümüz akademik dünyasının mevcut durumuna da ışık tutmaktadır.

Keywords

Kampüs romanı, Varoluşçuluk, Entelektüellik, David Lodge

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