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The Unslept Unsleeping Elsewhere: Radical Contemporaneity in the Last Poems of Adrienne Rich

Year 2018, Issue: 49, 101 - 130, 01.10.2018

Abstract

There are two perspectives on the commoditized present: one, a reified now which is based on a perpetual holiday from social reality and another, a radical contemporaneity which embraces the “foreverness” of the present through a commitment to change. The notion of contemporaneity in Adrienne Rich’s poems written from 2005 onwards especially the volume titled TNPWS: Poems: 2007-2010 responds ethically and politically to the market version of the eternalized ‘now’ which is self-induced forgetting. In choosing to be part of a political community, the contemporary in Adrienne Rich embraces the now as a life lived through, in and for the others. The sense of being one with the age in which you live through its social and political problems and the demand that these issues be addressed dominate Adrienne Rich’s poetpersona in her last work. Illness and coming of death offer an insight into the nature of the contemporaneous; they throw light on the idea that the present continues as life moves from the past into the future. In contrast to a notion of the “contemporary” as one who forgets and then drifts into nostalgia, the contemporary in Rich is one who, though falling asleep, is “not oblivious/ of the unslept unsleeping/ elsewhere.”

References

  • “In Memory of W. B. Yeats”. n.d., https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/ poem/memory-w-b-yeats. Accessed 04 November 2018.
  • Baldwin, James. “The Artist’s Struggle for Integrity,” The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings. Vintage, 2010.
  • Benjamin, W. “Frankfurt School: On the Concept of History by Walter Benjamin”. n.d., https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive /benjamin/1940/history.htm. Accessed 04 November 2018.
  • “Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary”. n.d., https://www.thefreedictionary.com/. Accessed 04 November 2018.
  • Edwards, M. “Adrienne Rich in Chile: an Interview - The Critical Flame”. n.d., http://criticalflame.org/adrienne-rich-in-chile-aninterview/. Accessed 04 November 2018.
  • Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. Preface. Jean-Paul Sartre. trans. Constance Farrington. Grove, 1991.
  • Forever Young. Directed by Steve Miner, performances by Mel Gibson and Jamie Lee Curtis, Warner Bros, 1992.
  • Gelpi, Barabara Charlesworth and Albert Gelpi. eds. Adrienne Rich’s Poetry and Prose. W. W. Norton & Company, 1993.
  • “In the Twilight of the Social State: Rethinking Walter Benjamin’s Angel of History”. n.d., https://truthout.org/articles/in-the-twilight-ofthe-social-state-rethinking-walter-benjamins-angel-of-history/. Accessed 04 November 2018.
  • Gramsci, Antonio. Prison Letters. trans. Hamish Henderson. Pluto Press, 1988.
  • ---. Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. eds. and trans. Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith. International Publishers, 1992.
  • “Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (Full Band Version)”. 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGaoXA wl9kw. Accessed 03 November 2018.
  • Hagglund, Martin. Radical Atheism: Derrida and the Time of Life. Stanford UP, 2008.
  • Hobsbawm, Eric. How to Change the World: Tales of Marx and Marxism 1840–2011. Abacus, 2012.
  • ---. Revolutionaries. The New York Press, 2001.
  • “Jennifer Lopez - On The Floor ft. Pitbull”. 2011, https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=t4H_Zoh7G5A. Accessed 04 November 2018.
  • Mosès, Stéphane and Ora Wiskind Source. “The Theological-Political Model of History in the Thought of Walter Benjamin.” History and Memory, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Fall - Winter, 1989), pp. 5-33.
  • Nichols, J. “Adrienne Rich’s Touch Was Political”. n.d., https://www. thenation.com/article/adrienne-richs-touch-was-political/. Accessed 04 November 2018.
  • Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Anti-Christ, Ecce Homo, Twilight of the Idols and other writings. Cambridge UP, 2005.
  • Ratcliffe, Krista. Anglo-American Feminist Challenges to the Rhetorical Traditions: Virginia Woolf, Mary Daly, Adrienne Rich. Southern Illinois University Press, 1996.
  • Rich, Adrienne. A Human Eye: Essays on Art in Society 1997-2008. W. W. Norton & Company, 2009.
  • ---. Blood, Bread and Poetry: Selected Prose 1979-1985. W. W. Norton & Company, 1994.
  • ---. Collected Early Poems: 1950-1970. W. W. Norton & Company, 1993.
  • ---. Later Poems Selected and New: 1971-2012. W. W. Norton & Company, 2013.
  • ---. The Fact of a Doorframe: Selected Poems 1950-2001. W. W. Norton & Company, 2002.
  • ---. Tonight no Poetry will Serve: Poems 2007-2010. W. W. Norton & Company, 2011.
  • ---. What Is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics. W. W. Norton & Company, 1994.
  • Sartre, Jean-Paul. Search for a Method. trans. Hazel E. Barnes. Alfred E. Knopf, 1963.
  • Simpson, John H. “Afterword: What is History?” History, Time, Meaning, and Memory: Ideas for the Sociology of Religion. ed. Barbara Jones Denison. Brill, 2011.

Başka Yerlerdeki Uyumayan Uyumamışlar: Adrienne Rich’in Son Dönem Şiirlerinde Radikal Eşzamanlılık

Year 2018, Issue: 49, 101 - 130, 01.10.2018

Abstract

Metalaştırılmış şimdiki zamana yönelik iki bakış açısı vardır. İlki, sosyal gerçeklikten ve başkalarından ebedi uzaklaşmaya dayanan şeyleşmiş şimdi; ikincisi ise içinde bulunulan anın “ebediyetini” değişime adanmışlıkla kucaklayan radikal eşzamanlılıktır. Adrienne Rich’in 2005 sonrası şiirlerinde, özellikle TNPWS: Şiirler: 2007-2010 başlıklı eserinde, eşzamanlılık kavramı pazarlanmakta olan ve tercihe bağlı unutma olarak da düşünülebilecek ebedileştirilmiş “şimdi”ye etik ve politik bir tepkidir. Bu şiirlerdeki çağdaş persona, politik bir topluluğun üyesi olma seçimiyle, şimdiyi geçirilen, içinde olunan ve başkaları için yaşanan bir hayat olarak kabul eder. Ele alınmasını istediği sosyal ve politik sorunların yaşandığı dönemle bir olma Adrienne Rich’in son eserindeki şiir personalarında baskın bir eğilimdir. Hastalık ve yaklaşan ölüm eşzamanlılığın doğasını kavramaya yardımcı olur; hayat geçmişten geleceğe ilerlerken, şimdiki zamanın eşzamanlı olarak devam etmekte olduğu düşüncesine ışık tutar. Unutan ve nostaljiye kapılan “çağdaş” kişi kavramının aksine, Rich’in çağdaş personası uykuya dalsa bile “bihaber değildir/başka yerlerdeki/uyumayan uyumamışlardan.”

References

  • “In Memory of W. B. Yeats”. n.d., https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/ poem/memory-w-b-yeats. Accessed 04 November 2018.
  • Baldwin, James. “The Artist’s Struggle for Integrity,” The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings. Vintage, 2010.
  • Benjamin, W. “Frankfurt School: On the Concept of History by Walter Benjamin”. n.d., https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive /benjamin/1940/history.htm. Accessed 04 November 2018.
  • “Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary”. n.d., https://www.thefreedictionary.com/. Accessed 04 November 2018.
  • Edwards, M. “Adrienne Rich in Chile: an Interview - The Critical Flame”. n.d., http://criticalflame.org/adrienne-rich-in-chile-aninterview/. Accessed 04 November 2018.
  • Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. Preface. Jean-Paul Sartre. trans. Constance Farrington. Grove, 1991.
  • Forever Young. Directed by Steve Miner, performances by Mel Gibson and Jamie Lee Curtis, Warner Bros, 1992.
  • Gelpi, Barabara Charlesworth and Albert Gelpi. eds. Adrienne Rich’s Poetry and Prose. W. W. Norton & Company, 1993.
  • “In the Twilight of the Social State: Rethinking Walter Benjamin’s Angel of History”. n.d., https://truthout.org/articles/in-the-twilight-ofthe-social-state-rethinking-walter-benjamins-angel-of-history/. Accessed 04 November 2018.
  • Gramsci, Antonio. Prison Letters. trans. Hamish Henderson. Pluto Press, 1988.
  • ---. Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. eds. and trans. Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith. International Publishers, 1992.
  • “Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (Full Band Version)”. 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGaoXA wl9kw. Accessed 03 November 2018.
  • Hagglund, Martin. Radical Atheism: Derrida and the Time of Life. Stanford UP, 2008.
  • Hobsbawm, Eric. How to Change the World: Tales of Marx and Marxism 1840–2011. Abacus, 2012.
  • ---. Revolutionaries. The New York Press, 2001.
  • “Jennifer Lopez - On The Floor ft. Pitbull”. 2011, https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=t4H_Zoh7G5A. Accessed 04 November 2018.
  • Mosès, Stéphane and Ora Wiskind Source. “The Theological-Political Model of History in the Thought of Walter Benjamin.” History and Memory, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Fall - Winter, 1989), pp. 5-33.
  • Nichols, J. “Adrienne Rich’s Touch Was Political”. n.d., https://www. thenation.com/article/adrienne-richs-touch-was-political/. Accessed 04 November 2018.
  • Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Anti-Christ, Ecce Homo, Twilight of the Idols and other writings. Cambridge UP, 2005.
  • Ratcliffe, Krista. Anglo-American Feminist Challenges to the Rhetorical Traditions: Virginia Woolf, Mary Daly, Adrienne Rich. Southern Illinois University Press, 1996.
  • Rich, Adrienne. A Human Eye: Essays on Art in Society 1997-2008. W. W. Norton & Company, 2009.
  • ---. Blood, Bread and Poetry: Selected Prose 1979-1985. W. W. Norton & Company, 1994.
  • ---. Collected Early Poems: 1950-1970. W. W. Norton & Company, 1993.
  • ---. Later Poems Selected and New: 1971-2012. W. W. Norton & Company, 2013.
  • ---. The Fact of a Doorframe: Selected Poems 1950-2001. W. W. Norton & Company, 2002.
  • ---. Tonight no Poetry will Serve: Poems 2007-2010. W. W. Norton & Company, 2011.
  • ---. What Is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics. W. W. Norton & Company, 1994.
  • Sartre, Jean-Paul. Search for a Method. trans. Hazel E. Barnes. Alfred E. Knopf, 1963.
  • Simpson, John H. “Afterword: What is History?” History, Time, Meaning, and Memory: Ideas for the Sociology of Religion. ed. Barbara Jones Denison. Brill, 2011.
There are 29 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language Turkish
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

Prakash Konac This is me

Publication Date October 1, 2018
Published in Issue Year 2018 Issue: 49

Cite

MLA Konac, Prakash. “Başka Yerlerdeki Uyumayan Uyumamışlar: Adrienne Rich’in Son Dönem Şiirlerinde Radikal Eşzamanlılık”. Journal of American Studies of Turkey, no. 49, 2018, pp. 101-30.

JAST - Journal of American Studies of Turkey