Erased and Displaced Identities in S.J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep

Year 2024, Issue: 72, 86 - 94, 12.06.2024

Yıldırım Özsevgeç

https://doi.org/10.55590/literatureandhumanities.1460951

Abstract

Steve J. Watson was born in England in 1971. Watson, who worked as an audiologist in the NHS before starting his writing career, had the opportunity to closely observe the characters’ lives, which would be the subject of his works in the hospital where he worked. Based on the lives of Henry Gustav Molaison and Clive Wearing, both of whom have long-term memory problems Before I Go to Sleep was published in 2011. Molaison and Wearing’s years of illness had a profound effect on Watson. Similarly, Christine, the novel’s protagonist, also suffers from Molaison and Wearing syndrome. Waking up every morning with a new identity, Christine tries to make sense of what is happening around her until she falls asleep again. The forgetfulness she experiences alienates her from everything. Given that similar circumstances exist in real life, Watson aims to show the reader the effect of memory on identity through Christine. Studies on memory always play an essential role in fiction. Many literary texts concentrate on how characters remember their past and how this memory triggers the construction of their identity. In other words, many texts serve as representations of individual memories. While memories form one’s identity, amnesia leads to a new identity, life, personality and darkness. Therefore, for fiction writers, amnesia is a tool that emphasizes the relationship between identity and memory. Based on these facts, this study will focus on Christine, who wakes up every morning as a new person and will seek the answer to whether identity can be constructed without memory.

Keywords

Amnesia, Memory, Identity, S. J. Watson, Society

S.J. Watson'ın Before I Go to Sleep adlı Romanında Silinmiş ve Yerinden Edilmiş

Abstract

Steve J. Watson 1971 yılında İngiltere’de dünyaya gelir. Yazarlık kariyerine başlamadan önce NHS’de odyolog olarak çalışan Watson, eserlerine konu edeceği karakterlerin yaşamlarını çalıştığı hastanede yakından izleme fırsatını yakalar. 2011 yılında yayınladığı Before I Go to Sleep romanı da uzun süre hafıza problemleri yaşayan Henry Gustav Molaison ve Clive Wearing’in hayatlarından kesitler taşır. Molaison ve Wearing’in yıllarca süren hastalık durumu Watson’ı derinden etkiler. Benzer bir şekilde, romanın başkarakteri Christine de Molaison ve Wearing sendromu yaşamaktadır. Her sabah yeni bir kimlikle güne uyanan Christine, tekrar uyuyana kadar etrafında olan bitenleri anlamlandırmaya çalışır. Yaşamış olduğu unutkanlık, onu her şeye yabancılaştırır. Gerçek hayatta da benzer durumların yaşanılmasından yola çıkan Watson, Christine üzerinden okura belleğin kimlik üzerindeki etkisini göstermeyi amaçlar. Bellek üzerine yapılan çalışmalar kurguda her zaman önemli bir rol oynar. Edebi metinlerin çoğu, karakterlerin geçmişlerini nasıl hatırladıklarına ve hatırlamanın kimliklerinin inşasını nasıl başlattığına odaklanır. Başka bir deyişle, birçok metin bireysel anıların temsili olarak hizmet eder. Anılar kişinin kimliğini oluştururken, hafıza kaybı yeni bir kimliğe, yeni bir hayata, kişiliğe ve karanlığa neden olur. Bu nedenle kurgu yazarları için amnezi, kimlik ve hafıza arasındaki ilişkiyi vurgulayan bir araçtır. Bu gerçeklerden hareket eden bu çalışma, her sabah yeni bir insan olarak uyanan Christine’e odaklanacak ve hafıza olmadan kimliğin inşa edilip edilemeyeceği sorusunun cevabını arayacaktır.

Keywords

Amnezi, Bellek, Kimlik, Toplum, S. J. Watson

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