One or Several Literary Animal Studies?

Year 2021, Issue: 1, 161 - 176, 28.10.2021

Susan Mchugh Translator: Ece Alparslan , Translator: Cevat Sucu

Abstract

This article questions whether literary studies of animals can rely on a single perspective or must embrace multiple methods. McHugh argues that the rise of animal studies has pushed literary criticism beyond viewing animals merely as metaphors for humans, toward examining their historical, cultural, and ethical contexts. She traces how animal metaphors, from Romantic poetry to contemporary literature, have served aesthetic, sentimental, and political functions. Writers like T.S. Eliot and Marianne Moore have used animal imagery to challenge human knowledge structures or call for moral reform. Poststructuralist and deconstructive approaches further critique the reduction of animals to fixed meanings, highlighting how animal narratives complicate notions of species boundaries, human identity, and disciplinary authority. McHugh emphasizes that the lack of a unified method or consensus within literary animal studies is itself productive: it enables diverse critiques and enriches interdisciplinary scholarship. Rather than resolve the political and ethical challenges of human-animal relations, this plurality of approaches exposes the deep entanglements of language, representation, and power. Ultimately, literary animal studies open new possibilities for understanding how animals shape—and unsettle—the frameworks of literary and cultural knowledge.

Keywords

Animal Representations , metaphor , poststructuralism , literary criticism , animal studies , human-animal relations

Edebiyatta Hayvan Araştırmaları: Bir mi Birden Fazla mı?

Abstract

Bu makale, edebiyatta hayvan temsillerinin tekil bir bakış açısından mı, yoksa çoğul yöntemlerle mi incelenmesi gerektiğini sorgular. McHugh, hayvan çalışmalarının yükselişiyle edebiyat eleştirisinin hayvanları yalnızca insanın metaforu olarak görmekten çıkıp, onların tarihsel, kültürel ve etik bağlamlarını araştırmaya yöneldiğini vurgular. Yazar, romantik dönemden günümüze kadar hayvan metaforlarının estetik, duygusal ve politik işlevlerini örneklerle tartışır. T.S. Eliot’tan Marianne Moore’a kadar farklı şair ve yazarların eserlerinde hayvan metaforu kimi zaman insanın bilgisini sorgulamak, kimi zaman ahlaki dönüşüm çağrısı yapmak için kullanılmıştır. Bununla birlikte postyapısalcı ve dekonstrüktif yaklaşımlar, hayvan temsillerinin sabit anlamlara indirgenmesini eleştirerek, hayvan anlatılarının insan kimliği, türler arası sınırlar ve disipliner bilgi biçimleri üzerindeki etkilerini görünür kılar. McHugh’a göre edebiyat alanında tek bir yöntem veya ortak bir yaklaşımın olmayışı, hayvan temsillerinin çok yönlü biçimlerde ele alınmasına ve disiplinler arası eleştirinin zenginleşmesine olanak tanır. Bu çeşitlilik, hem edebiyat tarihini hem de insan-hayvan ilişkilerine dair kavrayışları dönüştürmektedir.

Keywords

Hayvan Temsilleri , metafor , postyapısalcılık , edebiyat eleştirisi , hayvan çalışmaları , insan-hayvan ilişkileri

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