Discontinuous History and Magical Realism:A Foucauldian Reading of Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant

Abstract

Michel Foucault’s archaeological approach to history contests Hegelian understanding of evolutionary and progressive history which presupposes an ultimate arrival at a perfect form of society. For Foucault, history does not follow a linear, dialectical line within a cause-and-effect relationship. Each historical period has its own conditions of truth and between these periods, there are breaks, twists, ruptures and discontinuities determined by power relations in that society. These historical transformations occur following a change in épistèmé which connotes to the available set of knowledge produced by discursive practices in a particular period. Within this context, this study aims to analyse historical discontinuities in Kazuo Ishiguro’s magical realist novel, The Buried Giant (2015). In the novel, by benefiting from generic potentials of magical realism, and effectively exploiting the medieval romance, Ishiguro creates a quasi-mythological historical account of the Anglo-Saxon period. In his version, King Arthur makes Merlin perform a spell on a dragon. Due to the spell, the Britons and the Saxons suffer memory loss which causes historical discontinuities. Moreover, while the spell confines the people into a perpetual here and now, it grants Arthur absolute political power. The study will focus on these discontinuities and present a Foucauldian reading of the text. The study will also theoretically connect Foucault’s discontinuous history with magical realism, which may broaden our understanding of Ishiguro’s text.

Keywords

• Kazuo Ishiguro
• The Buried Giant
• magical realism
• history
• discontinuity

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Süreksiz Tarih ve Büyülü Gerçekçilik: Kazuo Ishiguro’nun Gömülü Dev Adlı Romanının Foucaultcu Bir Okuması

Abstract

Michel Foucault’nun tarihe arkeolojik yaklaşımı, nihayetinde mükemmel bir topluma ulaşmayı öngören Hegelci evrimsel ve ilerici tarih anlayışına itiraz eder. Foucault, tarihin, neden-sonuç ilişkisi içinde doğrusal, diyalektik bir çizgi izlediği düşüncesinde değildir. Her tarihsel dönemin kendine özgü hakikat koşulları vardır ve de bu dönemler arasında o toplum içerisindeki iktidar ilişkileri tarafından belirlenen kırılmalar, kopmalar ve süreksizlikler vardır. Bu tarihsel dönüşümler, belirli bir dönemde söylemsel pratikler tarafından üretilen mevcut bilgi dizisi olarak tanımlanan epistemenin değişiminin sonucu olarak ortaya çıkar. Bu bağlam içerisinde, makale Nobel ödüllü İngiliz yazar Kazuo Ishiguro’nun büyülü gerçekçi romanı Gömülü Dev’deki (2015) tarihsel süreksizlikleri incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Romanda Kazuo Ishiguro, büyülü gerçekçilik türünün ona sunduğu imkanlardan ve ortaçağ romanslarından etkili bir şekilde faydalanarak Anglo-Sakson döneminin yarı mitolojik bir tarihi versiyonunu yaratır. Ishiguro’nun tarih versiyonunda, Kral Arthur’un isteğiyle Merlin bir ejderhaya büyü yapar. Bu büyünün ortaya çıkardığı etkiyle hem Britonlar hem de Saksonlar, tarihsel süreksizliklere neden olan hafıza kaybına uğrarlar. Dahası, Merlin tarafından yapılan bu büyü, bu iki halkı ebedi şimdiye ve buradaya hapsederken, Kral Arthur’a ise mutlak ve sorgulanamayan bir siyasal iktidar inşa etme olanağı sunar. Çalışma, bu süreksizliklere odaklanarak metnin Foucaultcu bir okumasını sunmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu çalışma aynı zamanda Michel Foucault’nun süreksiz tarihi ile büyülü gerçekçilik türü arasında kuramsal bir bağ kurarak Ishiguro’nun metninin daha iyi anlaşılmasını sağlayacaktır.

Keywords

• Kazuo Ishiguro
• Gömülü Dev
• büyülü gerçekçilik
• tarih
• süreksizlik

Supporting Institution

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Project Number

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Thanks

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