Hybridity and Colonial Desire in Ahdaf Soueif’s In the Eye of the Sun

Abstract

Ahdaf Soueif is a contemporary Egyptian-British novelist and cultural theorist and In the Eye of the Sun, her first novel published in 1992, tells the emotional, sexual and academic journey of Asya, an Arab Muslim student, and later professor, of English Literature in England and Egypt. In this novel, Soueif emphasises post-colonial reconsiderations and accordingly demonstrates her conscious attempt with extensive references to the colonial and imperial history of Egypt. The present study in particular looks at desire and hybridity in the novel with Robert J. C. Young’s Colonial Desire: Hybridity in Theory, Culture and Race and offers an interpretation of the post-colonial Other’s interpellation by the culture of the coloniser and of desire which is problematized by reading about desire in imperial culture. In investigating these points, it is stated that the problematic and hegemonic centrality of English Literature for the Arab female characters makes post-colonial texts haunted and post-colonial discussions around adultery, alterity and sexual imperialism shape the content of the novel. By describing and considering these issues, this study attempts to offer a post-colonial reading of the novel.

Keywords

• Ahdaf Soueif,Robert Young,Post-Colonial Theory,Colonial Desire,Hybridity,Alterity,Sexual Imperialism,Interpellation

Ahdaf Soueif’in In the Eye of the Sun Adlı Yapıtında Melezlik ve Sömürgeci Arzu

Abstract

Çağdaş Mısırlı-İngiliz roman yazarı ve kültür kuramcısı Ahdaf Soueif, 1992 yılında basılan ilk romanı In the Eye of the Sun’da Müslüman Arap bir İngiliz Edebiyatı öğrencisi, ardından profesörü olan Asya’nın, Mısır ve İngiltere’deki duygusal, cinsel ve akademik yolculuğunu anlatır. Bu romanda Soueif, sömürgecilik sonrası yeniden incelemelerine değinir ve bu bilinçli çabasını Mısır’ın imparatorluk ve sömürge tarihine verdiği birçok atıfla gösterir. Bu çalışma, özellikle arzu ve melezlik kavramlarını Robert J. C. Young’ın Colonial Desire: Hybridity in Theory, Culture and Race adlı yapıtı üzerinden inceler ve sömürgecilik sonrası Öteki’nin sömürgecinin kültürüne çağırılmasını ve sömürgecinin kültüründe arzu üzerine okumalar yapıldığı için sorunsallaşan arzuyu inceleyecektir. Bu noktalara değinirken, İngiliz Edebiyatı’nın Arap kadın karakterler üzerindeki sorunlu ve baskın merkeziyetinin sömürgecilik sonrası metinleri lanetli yaptığı ve eşini aldatma, ötekilik ve cinsel yayılımcılık kavramlarının romanın içeriğini şekillendirdiği vurgulanır. Çalışma, bu konuları inceler ve açıklarken romanı sömürge sonrası söylem ışığında okur.

Keywords

• Ahdaf Soueif,Robert Young,Sömürgecilik Sonrası Eleştirel Söylem,Sömürgeci Arzu,Melezlik,Ötekilik,Cinsel Yayılımcılık,Çağırma

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