THE INTRICACIES OF RACE, FREEDOM AND ETHICS IN RICHARD WRIGHT’S SAVAGE HOLIDAY

Year 2018, Issue: 30, 1 - 16, 15.01.2018

Aşkın Çelikkol

Abstract

Richard Wright’s Savage Holiday is a novel which attempts to move beyond the racial configurations and limitations
attributed to and imposed on race-neutral literary works penned by the African American authors. Convinced
that the racial/ethnic disparities, sociopolitical factors and historical contexts determine the subjective positions
of the blacks as well as the whites, in Savage Holiday Wright depicts the moral conundrum and the freedom
related predicaments of a white character who imagines himself to be the embodiment of white supremacy and
patriarchy. The present study offers a psychoanalytic exploration into the disturbed mental life of the protagonist
Erskine Fowler who commits two murders and the study also purports to read Fowler’s story as an epitome of the
social pathologies hinged on deeply ingrained racial classifications and prejudices.

Keywords

African American Literature, Race, Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism

RİCHARD WRİGHT’IN VAHŞİ TATİL ROMANINDA IRK, ÖZGÜRLÜK VE ETİK KARIŞIKLIKLARI

Abstract

Richard Wright’ın Vahşi Tatil isimli eseri, Afrikan Amerikalı yazarların kaleme aldığı ırksız edebi eserlere atfedilen ve
onlara dayatılan ırk biçimlerinin ve sınırlamaların ötesine geçmeye çalışan bir romandır. Irksal/etnik farklılıkların,
sosyopolitik faktörlerin ve tarihsel bağlamların hem siyah hem de beyazların öznel konumlarını belirlediğine
inanan Wright, Vahşi Tatil romanında kendisini beyaz üstünlüğün ve ataerkilliğin tecessümü olarak gören beyaz
bir karakterin ahlaki çıkmazlarını ve özgürlük ilintili ikilemlerini tasvir etmektedir. Bu çalışma, iki cinayet işleyen
romanın başkahramanı Erskine Fowler’ın zihinsel dünyasını psikanalitik açıdan incelemeyi ve aynı zamanda
Fowler’in öyküsünü müzmin ırksal sınıflandırmalara ve önyargılara dayanan sosyal patolojilerin bir örneği olarak
okumayı amaçlamaktadır.

Keywords

Afrikan Amerikan Edebiyatı, Irk, Psikanalitik Edebiyat Eleştirisi

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