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İNSAN-MERKEZCİLİĞE MEYDAN OKUMA: SAKI'NİN “SREDNI VASHTAR” ADLI ÖYKÜSÜNDE ANİMİZM KULLANIMI

Year 2018, Volume: 58 Issue: 1, 270 - 282, 01.01.2018

Abstract

Çok eski zamanlara dayanan yakın ilişkilerine rağmen, insanmerkezci yaklaşımın bir sonucu olarak insanlar her zaman hayvanları ötekileştirmiş ve kendi menfaatleri uğruna kullanmıştır. İnsan anlamına gelen Yunanca kelime anthropos’tan türetilmiş olan insanmerkezcilik anthropocentrism , insan dışındaki varlıkların eyleyici özelliklerini inkâr ederek evrenin merkezinde gördüğü insanı ayrıcalıklı kılmaktadır. Fakat insanmerkezciliğin aksine, animist bir inanış ruhun ve eyleyiciliğin sadece insanlarda değil, hayvanlarda ve diğer varlıklarda da olduğunu kabul ederek bu varlıkların da içsel değerlerini takdir eder. Eserlerini genellikle Saki mahlası ile yazan Edward dönemi öykü yazarı Hector Hugh Munro 1870-1916 , kendi zamanının insanmerkezci ideolojisine rağmen, bir çok eserinde bu yaklaşımı sorgulayarak hayvanlara yapılan zulme karşı hassasiyetini göstermektedir. Çocuk başkarakter Conradin’in hayvan tanrısına yüklediği bir takım animistik özellikler sayesinde hayvan ve insan arasındaki sınırları iyice belirsizleştirerek bu iki kavramı sorunsallaştırdığı “Sredni Vashtar” adlı öyküsünde Saki’nin animizm kullanarak insanmerkezciliğe meydan okuduğu görülmektedir. Bu bağlamda, bu çalışmanın amacı animistik bir görüşle yazdığı “Sredni Vashtar” öyküsünde Saki’nin kendi toplumunun gelenekleri ve baskın normlarının dışına çıkarak insanmerkezciliğe meydan okuyuşunu incelemektir.

References

  • “Animism.” Oxford English Dictionary. Ed. A.H. Murray et al. Vol 1. Oxford: Clarendon, 1978.
  • Aristotle. Politics. Trans. H. Rackham. 4th ed. London: William Heinemann LTD, 1959.
  • Byrne, Sandie. “Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) (1870-1914).” The Facts on File Companion to the British Short Story. Ed. Andrew Maunder. New York: Infobase, 2007. 365-367.
  • ---. “The Short Stories of Hector Hugh Munro (“Saki”).” A Companion to the British and Irish Short Story. Eds. Cherly Alexander Malcolm and David Malcolm. Oxford: Wiley- Blackwell, 2008. 157-164.
  • ---. The Unbearable Saki: The Work of H.H. Munro. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007.
  • Carey, John. “Introduction.” Saki. Short Stories and the Unbearable Bassington. Oxford and New York: Oxford UP, 1994. vii-xxiv.
  • Cavalieri, Paola. The Animal Question: Why Nonhuman Animals Deserve Human Rights. Trans. Catherine Woollard. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001.
  • Cottingham, John. A Descartes Dictionary. Oxford: Blackwell, 1993.
  • Descartes, René. Discourse on Method and Meditations. Trans. Elizabeth S. Haldane and G.R.T. Ross. Mineola and New York: Dover, 2003.
  • ---. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes. Trans. John Cottingham et al. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1991.
  • Drake, Robert. “Saki: Some Problems and a Bibliography.” English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920 5.1 (1962): 6-26. Project Muse. Web. 19 Oct. 2012.
  • Fudge, Erica. Animal. London: Reaktion, 2002.
  • Gibson, Brian. “Beastly Humans: Ambivalence, Dependent Dissidence, and Metamorphosis in the Fiction of Saki.” Diss. The U of Alberta, 2006. Proquest. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.
  • Harvey, Graham. Animism: Respecting the the Living World. London: Hurst and Company, 2005.
  • Mattar, Sinéad Garrigan. “Yeats, Fairies, and the New Animism.” New Literary History 43.1 (Winter 2012): 137-157. Project Muse. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
  • Munro, H[ector] H[ugh]. The Penguin Complete Saki. London: Penguin, 1976.
  • The New English Bible with the Apocrypha. Oxford: Oxford and Cambridge UP, 1970.
  • Philo, Chris and Chris Wilbert. “Animal Spaces, Beastly Places: An Introduction.” Animal Spaces, Beastly Places: New Geographies of Human-Animal Relations. London and New York: Routledge, 2000. 1-35.
  • Sharpe, Tom. “Introduction.” H.H. Munro. The Best of Saki. 4th ed. London: Pan, 1976. 7-14.
  • Spears, George James. “The Satiric Art of H.H. Munro (‘Saki’).” Diss. The U of Ottowa, 1953. Proquest. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.
  • “Toast.” Oxford English Dictionary. Ed. A.H. Murray et al. 11 Vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1978.
  • Tylor, Edward B. Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom. Vol 1. London: Routledge/ Thoemmes,1994.
  • Waugh, Auberon. “Introduction.” Saki (H.H. Munro). The Chronicles of Clovis. New York: Penguin, 1986. vii-xii.
  • White, Lynn. “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis.” The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Eds. Cheryll Glotfelthy and Harold Fromm. Athens and London: The U of Georgia P, 1996. 3-14.

CHALLENGING ANTHROPOCENTRISM: SAKI'S USE OF ANIMISM IN HIS “SREDNI VASHTAR

Year 2018, Volume: 58 Issue: 1, 270 - 282, 01.01.2018

Abstract

Despite their close relationships since the earliest times, human beings have always marginalised and exploited animals due to the anthropocentric mind-set. Derived from the Greek word anthropos, which stands for human, anthropocentrism privileges human beings as the centre of the universe by marginalising all other life forms. Since such an approach justifies itself by privileging human beings due to their agentic capabilities, and by denying the agency of more-than-humans, anthropocentrism legitimises the ruthless use of natural resources and animal species as a means to human needs. Contrary to anthropocentrism, however, an animistic belief acknowledges soul and agency not only in human beings but also in more-than-humans; and therefore, appreciates their intrinsic values. Despite the dominant anthropocentric ideology of his time, the Edwardian short story writer Hector Hugh Munro 1870-1916 , who writes his work with the penname Saki, evinces his sensitivities to the exploitation of animals in most of his short stories by challenging the anthropocentric viewpoint. Saki’s direct challenge to anthropocentrism manifests itself with his use of animism in his “Sredni Vashtar,” where the author problematises the notions of human and animal by blurring the boundaries between them through the child protagonist Conradin’s formulation of an animistic religion with an animal god. Accordingly, the main objective of this article is to discuss how Saki challenge anthropocentrism, and tends to step outside of the traditions and dominant norms of his society by incorporating an animistic view into his “Sredni Vashtar.”

References

  • “Animism.” Oxford English Dictionary. Ed. A.H. Murray et al. Vol 1. Oxford: Clarendon, 1978.
  • Aristotle. Politics. Trans. H. Rackham. 4th ed. London: William Heinemann LTD, 1959.
  • Byrne, Sandie. “Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) (1870-1914).” The Facts on File Companion to the British Short Story. Ed. Andrew Maunder. New York: Infobase, 2007. 365-367.
  • ---. “The Short Stories of Hector Hugh Munro (“Saki”).” A Companion to the British and Irish Short Story. Eds. Cherly Alexander Malcolm and David Malcolm. Oxford: Wiley- Blackwell, 2008. 157-164.
  • ---. The Unbearable Saki: The Work of H.H. Munro. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007.
  • Carey, John. “Introduction.” Saki. Short Stories and the Unbearable Bassington. Oxford and New York: Oxford UP, 1994. vii-xxiv.
  • Cavalieri, Paola. The Animal Question: Why Nonhuman Animals Deserve Human Rights. Trans. Catherine Woollard. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001.
  • Cottingham, John. A Descartes Dictionary. Oxford: Blackwell, 1993.
  • Descartes, René. Discourse on Method and Meditations. Trans. Elizabeth S. Haldane and G.R.T. Ross. Mineola and New York: Dover, 2003.
  • ---. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes. Trans. John Cottingham et al. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1991.
  • Drake, Robert. “Saki: Some Problems and a Bibliography.” English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920 5.1 (1962): 6-26. Project Muse. Web. 19 Oct. 2012.
  • Fudge, Erica. Animal. London: Reaktion, 2002.
  • Gibson, Brian. “Beastly Humans: Ambivalence, Dependent Dissidence, and Metamorphosis in the Fiction of Saki.” Diss. The U of Alberta, 2006. Proquest. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.
  • Harvey, Graham. Animism: Respecting the the Living World. London: Hurst and Company, 2005.
  • Mattar, Sinéad Garrigan. “Yeats, Fairies, and the New Animism.” New Literary History 43.1 (Winter 2012): 137-157. Project Muse. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
  • Munro, H[ector] H[ugh]. The Penguin Complete Saki. London: Penguin, 1976.
  • The New English Bible with the Apocrypha. Oxford: Oxford and Cambridge UP, 1970.
  • Philo, Chris and Chris Wilbert. “Animal Spaces, Beastly Places: An Introduction.” Animal Spaces, Beastly Places: New Geographies of Human-Animal Relations. London and New York: Routledge, 2000. 1-35.
  • Sharpe, Tom. “Introduction.” H.H. Munro. The Best of Saki. 4th ed. London: Pan, 1976. 7-14.
  • Spears, George James. “The Satiric Art of H.H. Munro (‘Saki’).” Diss. The U of Ottowa, 1953. Proquest. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.
  • “Toast.” Oxford English Dictionary. Ed. A.H. Murray et al. 11 Vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1978.
  • Tylor, Edward B. Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom. Vol 1. London: Routledge/ Thoemmes,1994.
  • Waugh, Auberon. “Introduction.” Saki (H.H. Munro). The Chronicles of Clovis. New York: Penguin, 1986. vii-xii.
  • White, Lynn. “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis.” The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Eds. Cheryll Glotfelthy and Harold Fromm. Athens and London: The U of Georgia P, 1996. 3-14.
There are 24 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

Adem Balcı

Publication Date January 1, 2018
Published in Issue Year 2018 Volume: 58 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Balcı, A. (2018). CHALLENGING ANTHROPOCENTRISM: SAKI’S USE OF ANIMISM IN HIS “SREDNI VASHTAR. Ankara Üniversitesi Dil Ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Dergisi, 58(1), 270-282.

Ankara University Journal of the Faculty of Languages and History-Geography

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