CHANCE AND ROMANCE IN DICKENS’S DOMBEY AND SON

Abstract

The rational man construed by Enlightenment thought sneered at the idea that the world was a haphazard place and instead highlighted the predictability of natural and even social phenomena. As Ian Hacking explains, after the Enlightenment, the tendency was to formulate laws that uncovered the operation of physical forces and even the economy. Yet sometimes the sciences, too, acknowledged and even theorized risk and probability. In this milieu, Charles Dickens welcomed the ability to acknowledge unpredictability. In Dombey and Son, in contrast to the protagonist, a formidable entrepreneur, women and the lower classes accept that the wheel of fortune is at work all around them. Even as Dickens critiques the denial of randomness, he portrays speculators who take advantage of unpredictability in a negative light. Further, the novel recognizes and satires the categorization of haphazardness as an Oriental trait. In embracing unpredictability, the novel valorizes the art of storytelling, which must provide uncertainty and suspense.

Keywords

• Dombey and Son,Charles Dickens,chance,storytelling,economics in literature

DICKENS’IN DOMBEY AND SON ESERİNDE ŞANS ve ROMANS

Abstract

Aydınlanma düşüncesi tarafından canlandırılan rasyonel adam figürü, dünyanın rastgelelikle dolu bir yer olduğu düşüncesine gülüp geçer ve doğal ve sosyal olayların tahmin edilebilir olduğunun altını çizer. Ian Hacking’in açıkladığı gibi, Aydınlanma’dan sonraki eğilim fiziksel güçlerin ve hatta ekonominin işleyişini çözen kanunlar kuramlamak doğrultusundaydı. Ne var ki, bazen bilim dalları da riskin ve olasılığın varlığını kabul etti ve kuramlaştırdı. Özellikle Dombey ve Oğlu’nda belli olduğu üzere, Charles Dickens belirsizliği kabul etme yeteneğini yüceltti. Bu romanda, heybetli bir işadamı olan Dombey’in aksine, kadınlar ve alt sınıflar feleğin çarkınının gücünü kabul ederler. Dickens talihin hayattaki rolünü reddedenleri eleştirse de, belirsizliği kendi çıkarı için kullanan yatırımcılara da olumsuz yaklaşır. Ayrıca, bu roman rastegeleliğin toplumda genelde bir doğulu özelliği gibi görüldüğünün farkındadır ve romans türünde serüvenleri Londra’nın göbeğine getirerek bunu hicveder. Öngörülmezliği kucaklamak suretiyle, belirsizlik ve heyecanlı bir bekleyiş sunmak zorunda olan öykü anlatma sanatına değer katar bu roman.

Keywords

• Dombey ve Oğlu,Charles Dickens,şans,öykü anlatımı,edebiyatta iktisat

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