The Dubious Representations of Histories in Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje

Year 2021, Volume: 31 Issue: 2, 547 - 564, 06.12.2021

Ersoy Gümüş

https://doi.org/10.26650/LITERA2020-835634

Abstract

Coined by Stephan Greenblatt in 1980s, new historicism flourished as a literary approach which presents new perspectives on the perception of history. It basically challenges the traditional understanding of history which claims that history records and interprets past events objectively in a chronological order. New historicists, therefore, centre on the representations of history, not the history itself as they assert that there is not a single objective history, but there are multiple subjective histories. As new historicism claims that history may be represented only subjectively, truths for new historicists are always unstable. Thus, new historicism states that history is not regarded as a grand narrative dictating a single meaning, truth or essence. The purpose of this article is to examine how history is represented in Michael Ondaatje’s Running in the Family, which is described as a fictionalised autobiographical memoir, from a new historicist perspective. As a Canadian diasporic writer returning to Sri Lanka, his birth place, after a long absence, Ondaatje reconstructs his family history by depending on memories, gossip, and rumour all of which are unreliable and subjective. Similarly, while reconstructing Sri Lankan history, the narrative is based on colonial discourse which fantasies or even mythologizes the island. Therefore, this article attempts to demonstrate how history is reconstructed and narrated in subjective ways which bring out multiple histories by focalising the unreliable memories and colonial discourse.

Keywords

New Historicism, Michael Ondaatje, Running in the Family, representation of history, memory

Michael Ondaatje’nin Running in the Family Eserinde Tarihin Müphem Temsilleri

Abstract

Yeni tarihselcilik, 1980li yıllarda Stephan Greenblatt tarafından öne sürülen ve tarih algısına yeni bakış açıları sunan bir edebi yaklaşımdır. Esasen bu yaklaşım, tarihin geçmiş olayları nesnel olarak kronolojik bir sıra içerisinde kayıt altına alıp yorumladığını iddia eden geleneksel tarih anlayışına karşı çıkmaktadır. Bu yüzden, tek bir nesnel tarihin olmadığını ancak birçok öznel tarihin olduğunu kabul ettikleri için yeni tarihselciler tarihin kendisi üzerinde değil, tarihin temsilleri üzerinde yoğunlaşırlar. Yeni tarihselcilik tarihin sadece öznel olarak yansıtıldığını iddia ettiği için, yeni tarihselciler için hakikatler her zaman değişkendir. Bu yüzden yeni tarihselcilik tarihin tek bir anlam, hakikat ya da öz dikte eden bir üst anlatı olarak kabul edilmediğini belirtir. Bu makalenin amacı, Michael Ondaatje’nin kurgulanmış otobiyografik anı olarak tarif edilen Running in the Family adlı eserini yeni tarihselci bir bakış açısıyla incelemektir. Uzun bir yokluktan sonra doğum yeri olan Sri Lanka’ya dönen Kanadalı diasporal bir yazar olarak Ondaatje, hepsi güvenilmez ve öznel olan anılara, dedikodulara ve söylentilere bağlı olarak kendi aile tarihini yeniden düzenler. Benzer bir şekilde Sri Lanka tarihini yeniden şekillendirirken anlatı, adayı fantezileştiren hatta mitleştiren kolonyal söyleme dayanır. Bu yüzden bu makale, tarihin birçok tarihi ortaya çıkaran öznel yollarla nasıl yeniden şekillendirildiğini ve anlatıldığını güvenilmeyen anılar ve kolonyal söyleme odaklanarak göstermeye çalışmaktadır

Keywords

Yeni Tarihselcilik, Michael Ondaatje, Running in the Family, tarihin temsili, bellek

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