THE UTERINE NIGHT AND THE KRISTEVAN BLACK SUN OF MELANCHOLY IN KEATS’ ENDYMION

Year 2022, Volume: 62 Issue: 1, 86 - 114, 25.06.2022

Gökhan Albayrak

https://doi.org/10.33171/10.33171/10.33171/dtcfjournal.2022.62.1.4

Abstract

This paper attempts to discuss how the Kristevan melancholy permeates John Keats’s poetic romance Endymion. The melancholic Endymion withdraws from the symbolic and retreats into the realm of the unnameable Thing where self and other are undifferentiated. Endymion revolves around a melancholic hero. Endymion is a melancholic character who is immersed in a symbiosis with the maternal Thing; as a result, he retreats into the asymbolic realm from the symbolic domain of linguistic signifiers. This discussion of melancholy in Endymion coheres around “the old womb of night” (Keats 1818/1986, IV. 372) which points to the desire to relapse into the primordial Thing of the maternal realm. This desire for the uterine night is also reflected in Endymion’s urge to withdraw into the maternal “Cave of Quietude” (IV. 548) where the speechless infant merges with the maternal Thing. Further, the yearning for the nocturnal womb and the maternal cave is also seen in the image of Endymion who is “cooped up in the [pre-linguistic] den / Of helpless discontent” (I. 928-9). This Keatsian realm is characterised by “unseen light in darkness” (III. 986) which resonates with the Kristevan black sun of melancholy. In this uterine night, Endymion also appears as a Kristevan Narcissus, a melancholy being without an external object. This nocturnal womb provides Narcissan Endymion with a psychic interiority where a specular Narcissus/Endymion turns into a speculating one; the contemplative melancholic is endowed with a space for reflection.

Keywords

Keats, Endymion, Kristeva, Melancholy, Uterine Night, Black Sun

KEATS'İN ENDYMION ADLI ŞİİRİNDE KADİM GECE VE MELANKOLİNİN KARA GÜNEŞİ

Abstract

Bu çalışma Kristeva’nın yorumladığı haliyle melankoli kavramının John Keats’in Enydmion adlı şiirsel romansına nasıl nüfuz ettiğine eğilmektedir. Melankolik Endymion simgesel alandan uzaklaşır ve adlandırılamaz olana doğru çekilir. Keats’in bu şiirsel romansı melankolik bir kahraman etrafında örülür. Endymion Kristeva’nın tabiriyle annesel Şeyle simbiyotik bir ilişkiye gömülmüş bir karakter olarak ortaya çıkar. Bu gömülmenin sonucu olarak da romans kahramanı, dilbilimsel göstergelerin imlemediği, simgeselleştirmeye direnen asembolik bir alana çekilir. Bu alan gecenin eski rahmi diye tarif edilir bu şiirsel romansta. Bu leyli rahim, simgesel tarih öncesine konumlandırılan, adlandırılamaz annesel Şeye işaret eder. Bu geceye ait rahim mecazı, melankolik karakterin sükûnet mağarasına çekilme arzusunda da ortaya çıkar. Bu sessizlik mağarası, dilsiz çocuğun annesel Şeyle birbirine karıştığı söz öncesi bir alanı betimler; huzuru çağrıştırdığı gibi, karakterin çaresizlikle ve huzursuzlukla tanımladığı ve içine sıkışıp kaldığı bir deliği imler. Bu dil öncesi mağara karanlıkta görünmeyen ışıktır melankolik Endymion için. Karanlıkta görünmeyen ışık mecazı, melankolinin nuru siyahını, Kristeva’nın deyişiyle kara güneşi anımsatır. Rahmin parıldayan gecesinde Endymion sadece kendi ayna imgesiyle bakışan bir Narkissos değildir. Aynı zamanda, bu doğurgan, üretken ve esirgeyen kadim gecenin ezeli rahminde düşen değil düşünen, sadece gören değil görüş de bildiren birisidir. Bu geceye ait rahim ona psişik bir içsellik sağlar ve içgörü bahşeder.

Keywords

Keats, Endymion, Kristeva, Melankoli, Kadim Gece, Kara Güneş

References

• Bari, S. K. (2012). Keats and philosophy: a life of sensations. New York: Routledge.
• Beer, J. (2003). Romantic consciousness: Blake to Mary Shelley. Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Faflak, J. (2008). Romantic psychoanalysis: the burden of the mystery. Albany: State University of New York Press.
• Freud, S. (2001). Beyond the pleasure principle, group psychology and other works. the standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud. Vol. XVIII. Trans. from the German under the General Editorship of James Strachey. London: Vintage.
• Geuss, R. (2006). Introduction. In R. Geuss and R. Speirs (Eds.), The birth of tragedy and other writings. Trans. Ronald Speirs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Graves, R. (1960). The Greek myths (Vol. 1.). Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin.
• Keats, J. (1986). Endymion. In J. Barnard (Ed.), John Keats: the complete poems (pp. 106-216). Harmondsworth: Penguin. (Original work published in 1818).
• Keats, J. (2002). Selected letters of John Keats. Ed. Grant F. Scott. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
• Keltner, S. K. (2011). Kristeva: thresholds. Cambridge, UK; Malden, MA: Polity Press.
• Kristeva, J. (1980). Desire in language: a semiotic approach to literature and art. Trans. Thomas Gora, Alice Jardine, and Leon S. Roudiez. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Kristeva, J. (1984). Revolution in poetic language. Trans. Margaret Waller. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Kristeva, J. (1987). Tales of love. Trans. Leon S. Roudiez. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Kristeva, J. (1989). Black sun: depression and melancholia. Trans. Leon S. Roudiez. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Leader, D. (2003). Lacan’s Myths. In J. M. Rabate (ed.), The cambridge companion to Lacan. Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Lechte, J. (1990). Julia Kristeva. London and New York: Routledge.
• Lechte, J. and Margaroni, M. (2004). Love and Death by Any Other Name … (On Love and Melancholia). Julia Kristeva: Live Theory. London; New York: Continuum.
• Lexico. (n. d.). Cadaver. In Lexico.com dictionary. Retrieved August 31, 2021, from https://www.lexico.com/definition/cadaver
• Lexico. (n. d.). Cadence. In Lexico.com dictionary. Retrieved August 31, 2021, from https://www.lexico.com/definition/cadence
• Lexico. (n. d.). Contemplate. In Lexico.com dictionary. Retrieved August 31, 2021, from https://www.lexico.com/definition/contemplate
• Lexico. (n. d.). Dissociate. In Lexico.com dictionary. Retrieved August 31, 2021, from https://www.lexico.com/definition/dissociate
• Lexico. (n. d.). Lethal. In Lexico.com dictionary. Retrieved August 31, 2021, from https://www.lexico.com/definition/lethal
• Lexico. (n. d.). Lethargic. In Lexico.com dictionary. Retrieved August 31, 2021, from https://www.lexico.com/definition/lethargic
• Lexico. (n. d.). Oblivion. In Lexico.com dictionary. Retrieved August 31, 2021, from https://www.lexico.com/definition/oblivion
• Lexico. (n. d.). Speculate. In Lexico.com dictionary. Retrieved August 31, 2021, from https://www.lexico.com/definition/speculate
• Lexico. (n. d.). Theory. In Lexico.com dictionary. Retrieved August 31, 2021, from https://www.lexico.com/definition/theory
• Macmurraugh-Kavanagh, M. K. (1998). Peter Shaffer: theatre and drama. London: Macmillan.
• Matthews, G. M. (Ed.) (1971). John Keats: the critical heritage. London: Routledge.
• McAfee, N. (2004). Julia Kristeva. London and New York: Routledge.
• Merriam-Webster. (n. d.). Melancholy. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved August 31, 2021, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/melancholy
• O’Connor, N. (1990). The an-arche of asychotherapy. In J. Fletcher and A. Benjamin (Eds.), Abjection, melancholia, and love: the work of Julia Kristeva. London and New York: Routledge.
• Oliver, K. (2002). Introduction. The portable Kristeva. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Payne, M. (1993). Reading theory: an introduction to Lacan, Derrida, and Kristeva. Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Mass., USA: Blackwell.
• Sperry, S. M. (1994). Keats the poet. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
• Steinhoff, S. T. (1987). Keats’s Endymion: a critical edition. New York: The Whitston Publishing Company.
• Swann, K. (2001). Endymion’s beautiful dreamers. In S. J. Wolfson (Ed.), The Cambridge companion to John Keats. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Waldoff, L. (1990). The silent work of imagination. In H. de Almeida (Ed.), Critical essays on John Keats. Boston, Mass.: G. K. Hall.
• Walsh, W. (1981). Introduction to Keats. London and New York: Methuen.