THE UNCANNY HOMES AND HOMELESSNESS IN KAFKA’S “A COUNTRY DOCTOR”

Year 2019, Volume: 6 Issue: 2, 363 - 379, 22.10.2019

Evren Akaltun Ahmet Süner

Abstract

This article focuses on the topos “house” which acts as a metaphor for “being” in
Kafka’s short story “A Country Doctor.” We handle the notion of the house both
literally (spatially) and metaphorically (as one’s being), demonstrating the ways in
which the story constructs the house on the contentious relationship between
individual privacy and public revelation. While the patient’s house is a playground
for societal pressures that demand public exposure, the doctor's house is controlled
by sexual forces that demand secrecy, preventing him from taking full ownership of
the house or his own being. Both houses are representations of the doctor’s
homelessness. There is indeed no house in Kafka’s claustrophobic literary world
where one can fully feel at home, i.e. in peace with his own private being and in
comfort with others. 

Keywords

Kafka, “A Country Doctor, ” homelessness, uncanny, public, private

KAFKA’NIN “BİR KÖY DOKTORU” HİKÂYESİNDE TEKİNSİZ EVLER VE EVSİZLİK

Abstract

Bu makale, Kafka’nın “Bir Köy Doktoru” hikâyesinde metaforik olarak “varlık”
anlamına da gelen “ev” teması üzerinde durmaktadır. Ev kavramını hem asıl
itibariyle (uzamsal olarak), hem de metaforik olarak (var olma hali) olarak ele
alarak, hikâyenin bu kavramı kişisel gizlilik ve kamusal ifşa arasındaki çekişmeli
ilişki üzerinden nasıl kurduğunu gösteriyoruz. Hastanın evi toplumsal baskıların
arka bahçesi olarak temsil edilirken, doktorun evi kendi varlığına ve evine sahip
olmayı engelleyen cinsel dürtüler tarafından yönetilmektedir. Bu her iki ev de doktorun “evsizliğinin” bir temsilidir. Dolayısıyla, Kafka’nın klostrofobik edebi
dünyasında doktorun ya da herhangi başka birinin kendi şahsiyetinin mahreminde ya
da başkalarıyla huzur içinde evinde hissedebileceği bir ev gerçekte
bulunmamaktadır. 

Keywords

Kafka, “Bir Köy Doktoru”, Evsizlik, Tekinsizlik, Kamusallık, Mahremiyet

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