AUTHOR(ITY), REWRITING, AND POSTMODERN REALISM IN ALASDAIR GRAY’S POOR THINGS

Abstract

Alasdair Gray’s novel Poor Things is a rich text as it offers a variety of readings: it can be read as a fantasy novel, a science-fiction text, a fictionalize history/historicized fiction, and an autobiography, just to name a few. However, these readings provide but a limited insight, and the richness of the text can be best understood when it is examined within the frame of postmodern realism. Postmodern realism uses certain conventions such as characterization and attention to detail, yet it is painfully aware of the limitations of such conventions. In other words, postmodern realism uses the realist conventions only to point at their problematic nature, acknowledging the inevitability of the embeddedness of these conventions within the novel genre.In this respect, this paper argues that Gray’s Poor Things uses both realist and postmodern modes of writing, and that its employ of authorial intrusions as well as its rewriting of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein makes it one of the best examples of postmodern realism.

Keywords

• Alasdair Gray
• Poor Things
• rewriting
• postmodern realism

Alasdair Gray'in Zavallı Şeyler adlı Romanında Otorite, Yeniden Yazım ve Postmodern Gerçekçilik

Abstract

Alasdair Gray’in Zavallı Şeyler adlı romanı birçok okumaya imkan vermesi nedeniyle zengin bir metindir: fantazi romanı olarak, bilim-kurgu metni olarak, kurgusallaştırılmış tarih/tarihselleştirilmiş kurgu olarak ve otobiyografi olarak okunabilir. Ancak, bu okumalar kısıtlı bir bakış sağlamaktadır; metnin zenginliği en iyi olarak metin postmodern gerçekçilik çerçevesinde incelenirse anlaşılacaktır. Postmodern gerçekçilik karakterizasyon ve detaylara dikkat etme gibi gelenekleri kullanır, ancak bunların kısıtlılıklarının da oldukça farkındadır. Diğer bir değişle, postmodern gerçekçilik, gerçekçi gelenekleri bunların problemli doğalarına işaret etmek için kullanır, bu geleneklerin roman türü içindeki varlıklarının kaçınılmazlığını da kabul eder. Bu bağlamda bu makalede Gray’in Zavallı Şeyler adlı romanının hem gerçekçi hem de postmodern yazım modları kullandığını, metindeki yazar müdahalelerin ve metnin Mary Shelley’nin Frankenstein romanını yeniden yazmasının kendisini postmodern gerçekçiliğin en iyi örneklerinden biri yaptığını söylemektedir.

Keywords

• Alasdair Gray
• Poor Things
• yeniden yazım
• postmodern gerçekçilik

References

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