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KAZUO İŞİGURO’NUN GÜNDEN KALANLAR ROMANI ÜZERİNDEN 20. YÜZYIL İNGİLTERE'SİNDE CENTİLMENLİK KAVRAMINA YENİDEN BAKIŞ

Year 2022, Volume: 62 Issue: 2, 1574 - 1592, 20.12.2022
https://doi.org/10.33171/dtcfjournal.2022.62.2.32

Abstract

Yeni Tarihselcilik, Stephen Greenblatt'ın Rönesans eserlerine dayanan çalışmaları sayesinde 1980'lerde öne çıkan edebi bir yaklaşımdır. Greenblatt, edebi bir metni, ortaya çıktığı sosyal ve politik ortamın bir ürünü olarak ele alır. Çalışmalarını özellikle Shakespeare'in oyunları üzerinde gerçekleştiren yazar, edebi bir metnin tarih ve edebiyat arasındaki ilişkiden nasıl etkilendiğini göstermektedir. Yeni tarihselci yaklaşım, herhangi bir edebi metnin yalnızca yazarın sosyo-politik bağlamıyla değil, aynı zamanda eleştirmenin ona verdiği yanıtla da büyük ölçüde belirlendiğini göstermektedir. Dolayısıyla, böyle bir bakış açısı okuyucunun geleneksel zaman ve tarih algısını etkiler. Bu çalışmanın amacı, Kazuo İşiguro’nun Günden Kalanlar (1989) adlı eserinin Yeni Tarihselcilik yaklaşımı bağlamında özellikle centilmenlik kavramının temsiline odaklanarak, kavramın geleneksel algısının geçerliliğini sorgulamaktır. Teorik çerçeve göz önüne alındığında, çalışma öz-biçimlendirme, temsil, kişilik, zaman ve tarih gibi kavramları kullanmaktadır. Roman, tüm hayatını İngiliz bir beyefendinin hizmetine ve Oxford yakınlarındaki muhteşem bir konağın sahibine adayan eski bir uşak olan Stevens'ın anılarına dayanıyor. Mülkün sınırları dışına asla çıkmayan ve dünyadaki hızlı değişimlerden habersiz olan Stevens, haysiyet, sadakat ve alçakgönüllülük gibi değerlerle karakterize edilen geleneksel centilmenlik ilkelerine göre yaşamaya kararlıdır. Araştırma, beyefendi algısının, 20. yüzyıl İngiltere'sinde geçerliliğini baltalayan zamanın yıkıcı gücü nedeniyle yıllar içinde değiştiğini savunmaktadır. Bunun için, Kazuo İşiguro’nun Günden Kalanlar adlı eserine yönelik Yeni Tarihselci yaklaşım, çeşitli sosyo-politik bağlamların geleneksel centilmenlik anlayışı üzerindeki etkisine odaklanmaktadır.

References

  • Berberich, C. (2007). The image of the English gentleman in twentieth-century literature: Englishness and nostalgia. Farnham: Ashgate.
  • Campbell, J. (2011). The Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher: From Grocer’s Daughter to Iron Lady. London: Penguin Books
  • Cannadine, D. (2000). Class in Britain. London: Penguin Books.
  • Costigliola, F. C. (1977). Anglo-American financial rivalry in the 1920s. The Journal of Economic History, 37(4), 911-934.
  • Evans, S. (1997). Thatcher and the Victorians: A Suitable Case for Comparison? History, 82(268), 601-620.
  • Gassert, P. (2012). The spectre of Americanization: Western Europe in the American century. In The Oxford Handbook of Postwar European History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Greenblatt, S. (1980). Renaissance self-fashioning: from More to Shakespeare. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.
  • Greenblatt, Stephen, and H. Aram Veeser. (1989). The New Historicism. London: Routledge.
  • Ishiguro, K. (1990). The Remains of the Day. Padstow, Cornwall: T.J. Press.
  • Lethbridge, L. (2013). Servants: A Downstairs History of Britain from the Nineteenth Century to Modern Times. New York: WW Norton & Company.
  • Lukes, I., & Goldstein, E. (Eds.). (1999). The Munich Crisis, 1938: Prelude to World War II. London: Psychology Press.
  • Parkes, Adam. (2001). Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day: A Reader's Guide. New York: Continuum.
  • Peden, G. C. (2012). Suez and Britain's decline as a world power. The Historical Journal, 55(4), 1073-1096.
  • Samuel, R. (1992). Mrs. Thatcher’s return to Victorian values. In Proceedings of the British Academy (Vol. 78, pp. 9-29).
  • Smith, D. R. (2014). The Gent-rification of English masculinities: class, race and nation in contemporary consumption. Social Identities, 20(4-5), 391-406.
  • Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, F. (2012). Neo-liberalism and morality in the making of Thatcherite social policy. The Historical Journal, 55(2), 497-520.
  • Young, H. (2013). Margaret Thatcher left a dark legacy that has still not disappeared. The Guardian, 8.

REVISITING GENTLEMANLINESS IN 20TH CENTURY BRITAIN: KAZUO ISHIGURO’S THE REMAINS OF THE DAY

Year 2022, Volume: 62 Issue: 2, 1574 - 1592, 20.12.2022
https://doi.org/10.33171/dtcfjournal.2022.62.2.32

Abstract

New Historicism is a literary approach that came into prominence in the 1980s owing to Stephen Greenblatt’s studies based on Renaissance works. Greenblatt treats a literary text as a product of the social and political setting from which it emerges. Conducting his studies primarily on Shakespeare’s plays, the author illustrates how a literary text is affected by the interrelationship between history and literature. The new historicist approach shows that any literary text is shaped not only by the socio-political context of the author but is also largely determined by the critic’s response to it. Accordingly, such a viewpoint affects the reader’s conventional perception of time and history. The purpose of the present study is to perform a new historicist reading of Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day (1989) with a particular focus on the representation of the concept of gentlemanliness to question the validity of its conventional perception. Given the theoretical framework, the study employs such concepts as self-fashioning, representation, persona, time, and history. The novel is based on the reminiscences of a former butler, Stevens, who has devoted his entire life to the service of an English gentleman and owner of a spectacular mansion near Oxford. Never being outside the boundaries of the estate and unaware of the rapid changes in the world, Stevens is determined to live by the conventional principles of gentlemanliness characterized by such values as dignity, loyalty, and modesty. The research argues that the perception of gentlemanliness has changed over the decades due to the subversive force of time undermining its validity in 20th-century Britain. Hence, a new historicist approach to Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day focuses on the impact of various socio-political contexts on the conventional understanding of gentlemanliness.

References

  • Berberich, C. (2007). The image of the English gentleman in twentieth-century literature: Englishness and nostalgia. Farnham: Ashgate.
  • Campbell, J. (2011). The Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher: From Grocer’s Daughter to Iron Lady. London: Penguin Books
  • Cannadine, D. (2000). Class in Britain. London: Penguin Books.
  • Costigliola, F. C. (1977). Anglo-American financial rivalry in the 1920s. The Journal of Economic History, 37(4), 911-934.
  • Evans, S. (1997). Thatcher and the Victorians: A Suitable Case for Comparison? History, 82(268), 601-620.
  • Gassert, P. (2012). The spectre of Americanization: Western Europe in the American century. In The Oxford Handbook of Postwar European History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Greenblatt, S. (1980). Renaissance self-fashioning: from More to Shakespeare. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.
  • Greenblatt, Stephen, and H. Aram Veeser. (1989). The New Historicism. London: Routledge.
  • Ishiguro, K. (1990). The Remains of the Day. Padstow, Cornwall: T.J. Press.
  • Lethbridge, L. (2013). Servants: A Downstairs History of Britain from the Nineteenth Century to Modern Times. New York: WW Norton & Company.
  • Lukes, I., & Goldstein, E. (Eds.). (1999). The Munich Crisis, 1938: Prelude to World War II. London: Psychology Press.
  • Parkes, Adam. (2001). Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day: A Reader's Guide. New York: Continuum.
  • Peden, G. C. (2012). Suez and Britain's decline as a world power. The Historical Journal, 55(4), 1073-1096.
  • Samuel, R. (1992). Mrs. Thatcher’s return to Victorian values. In Proceedings of the British Academy (Vol. 78, pp. 9-29).
  • Smith, D. R. (2014). The Gent-rification of English masculinities: class, race and nation in contemporary consumption. Social Identities, 20(4-5), 391-406.
  • Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, F. (2012). Neo-liberalism and morality in the making of Thatcherite social policy. The Historical Journal, 55(2), 497-520.
  • Young, H. (2013). Margaret Thatcher left a dark legacy that has still not disappeared. The Guardian, 8.
There are 17 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Creative Arts and Writing
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

Yakut Akbay

Early Pub Date December 15, 2022
Publication Date December 20, 2022
Submission Date July 20, 2022
Published in Issue Year 2022 Volume: 62 Issue: 2

Cite

APA Akbay, Y. (2022). REVISITING GENTLEMANLINESS IN 20TH CENTURY BRITAIN: KAZUO ISHIGURO’S THE REMAINS OF THE DAY. Ankara Üniversitesi Dil Ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Dergisi, 62(2), 1574-1592. https://doi.org/10.33171/dtcfjournal.2022.62.2.32

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

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