INTERSECTIONS OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY, FICTION, AND POSTMODERNISM IN KAZUO ISHIGURO’S WHEN WE WERE ORPHANS

Year 2024, Volume: 64 Issue: 1, 1 - 17, 25.06.2024

Şebnem Düzgün

https://doi.org/10.33171/dtcfjournal.2024.64.1.1

Abstract

Kazuo Ishiguro’s When We Were Orphans (2000) can be read as a postmodern fictional autobiography, in which Christopher Banks, a fictional detective, uses autobiographical writing to relieve himself from his childhood traumas caused by the mysterious disappearance of his parents. Christopher reflects on past events from his mature perspective and fills in the gaps in his childhood memories by using his imagination to cope with his traumatic past. However, the narrator is unable to make a complete assessment of past events from his current perspective because of the temporal distance between the past and the present. Challenging the notions of metanarrative and linear temporality, he reimagines and reconstructs the past to create his own truths about his life. On the other hand, Christopher’s fictional autobiographical writing serves as a means for self-discovery, which compels him to confront his traumatic past rather than hide it behind the facade of a successful and renowned detective. Referring to the arguments on postmodernism and autobiographical writing, this article examines When We Were Orphans as a postmodern fictional autobiography to show that the narrator reconstructs and reshapes his story in order to create a coherent and cohesive personal reality and mitigate his childhood traumas.

Keywords

Kazuo Ishiguro, When We Were Orphans, Autobiography, Postmodernism, Postmodern Fictional Autobiography

KAZUO ISHIGURO’NUN ÇOCUKLUĞUMU ARARKEN ADLI ESERİNDE OTOBİYOGRAFİ, KURGU VE POSTMODERNİZM’İN KESİŞİMLERİ

Abstract

Kazuo Ishiguro’nun Çocukluğumu Ararken (2000) adlı romanı, hayali bir dedektif olan Christopher Banks’in, ebeveynlerinin gizemli bir şekilde ortadan kaybolmasının neden olduğu çocukluk travmalarından kurtulmak için otobiyografik yazını kullandığı postmodern bir kurgusal otobiyografi olarak incelenebilir. Christopher, geçmişteki olayları yetişkin bakış açısıyla değerlendirir ve travmatik geçmişiyle başa çıkmak için hayal gücünü kullanarak çocukluk anılarındaki boşlukları doldurur. Ancak anlatıcı, geçmiş ile şimdiki zaman arasındaki zamansal mesafe nedeniyle geçmiş olayları mevcut bakış açısıyla tam olarak değerlendiremez. Üst anlatı ve doğrusal zamansallık kavramlarına meydan okuyarak, yaşamı hakkında kendi gerçeklerini yaratmak için geçmişi yeniden hayal eder ve yeniden yapılandırır. Öte yandan, Christopher’ın kurgusal otobiyografik yazını, travmatik geçmişini başarılı ve ünlü bir dedektif görüntüsünün arkasına saklamak yerine onunla yüzleşmeye zorlayan kendini keşfetme aracı olarak işlev görür. Bu makale, postmodernizm ve otobiyografik yazın üzerine tartışmalara atıfta bulunarak, Kazuo Ishiguro’nun Çocukluğumu Ararken’i postmodern bir kurgusal otobiyografi olarak inceleyip, anlatıcının tutarlı ve bütünleşik bir kişisel gerçeklik yaratmak ve çocukluk travmalarını hafifletmek için hikayesini yeniden yapılandırdığını ve şekillendirdiğini göstermektedir.

Keywords

Kazuo Ishiguro, Çocukluğumu Ararken, Otobiyografi, Postmodernizm, Postmodern Kurgusal Otobiyografi

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