Iris Murdoch's Structuralism: Disbelief in Language

Year 2019, Volume: 7 Issue: 14, 358 - 372, 15.10.2019

Barış Mete

https://doi.org/10.20304/humanitas.574447

Abstract

Iris Murdoch published Under the Net among the structuralist discussions about meaning and language. As Murdoch was a philosopher, she published philosophical writings as well as literary works. Murdoch distrusted language, her main characters in Under the Net thus attend to the same concept. While her protagonist James Donaghue plagiarises from Hugo Belfounder in order to compose his book The Silencer, Hugo believes that it is silence instead of language where meaning is conveyed. James silences Hugo for he erases Hugo’s identity during the process of the composition of The Silencer as the speaker of the text. However, it is at the same time because of his approach to language that Hugo keeps silent in order to be meaningful. Besides being silenced by James, Hugo intentionally silences himself. This study, therefore, explores the traces of Murdoch’s involvement in the structuralist questions of meaning and language in her debut novel.

Keywords

meaning, language, structuralism, silence, speech

Iris Murdoch’ın Yapısalcılığı: Dile Olan Güvensizlik

Abstract

Iris Murdoch Under the Net’i anlam ve dil hakkındaki yapısalcı tartışmaların arasında yayımlamıştır. Murdoch bir filozof olduğundan, edebi eserlerin yanında felsefi metinler de yayımlamıştır. Murdoch dile güvenmemekteydi, Under the Net’teki belli başlı kahramanları da bu nedenle bu konu ile meşgul olmaktadırlar. Ana kahramanı James Donaghue, kitabı olan The Silencer’ı yazmak için Hugo Belfounder’dan izinsiz alıntılar yaparken, Hugo anlamın dilde değil suskunlukta ifade edilebileceğine inanmaktadır. The Silencer’ın yazılması sırasında Hugo’nun kimliğini ortadan kaldırdığı için, James Hugo’yu sessizleştirmektedir. Fakat aynı zamanda dile olan yaklaşımından dolayı Hugo, anlamlı hâle gelebilmek için kendisini sessizleştirmektedir. James tarafından susturulmasının yanında, Hugo kasıtlı olarak kendisini susturmaktadır. Bu çalışma bu nedenle, Murdoch’ın ilk romanında yer alan anlam ve dil hakkındaki yapısalcı sorulara olan ilgisinin izlerini araştırmaktadır.

Keywords

anlam, dil, yapısalcılık, suskunluk, konuşma

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