UNMASKING MISANDRY: A NEW HISTORICIST READING OF CAROL ANN DUFFY’S “MRS AESOP” AND “EURYDICE”

Year 2024, Issue: 63, 19 - 34, 22.07.2024

Ayşegül Azaklı

https://doi.org/10.30794/pausbed.1413135

Abstract

The new historicism theory propounds that history is inherently textual, is composed of texts, and thus no such thing as absolute truth is possible while recounting the past. As a form of text, poetry stands out as a tool to reflect the society of which it is a product. As the first female poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy encapsulates both fictional and nonfictional women from history and successfully manipulates what has already been narrated by men into something novel to give voice to women’s concerns in her poetry. This study, employing a new historicist approach, examines “Mrs Aesop” and “Eurydice” from Duffy’s poetry collection The World’s Wife to explore the prevailing sense of misandry among women in the late-twentieth-century Britain with the potential motivations behind the social dynamics that might have resulted in hostility towards men.

Keywords

Mrs Aesop, Eurydice, new historicism, misandry

Thanks

I would like to express special thanks to my thesis supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yiğit SÜMBÜL for his invaluable contribution to my thesis from which this article is produced.

YENİ TARİHSELCİ BİR OKUMA: CAROL ANN DUFFY’NİN “MRS AESOP” VE “EURYDICE” ŞİİRLERİNDE ERKEK DÜŞMANLIĞI

Abstract

Yeni tarihselcilik teorisi, tarihin doğası gereği metinsel olduğunu, geçmişi anlatırken mutlak hakikat diye bir şeyin mümkün olmadığını, dolayısıyla tarihin metinlerden ibaret olduğunu savunur. Bir metin biçimi olarak şiir, toplumu yansıtmak için bir araç olarak öne çıkar. İlk kadın kraliyet şairi ünvanını taşıyan Carol Ann Duffy, tarihten hem kurgusal hem de kurgusal olmayan kadınları bir araya getirerek, erkekler tarafından anlatılmak yerine kadınlara, kendilerine ses olma olanağı sağlar. Bu çalışma, yeni tarihselci bir yaklaşımla, Duffy’nin The World’s Wife adlı şiir koleksiyonunda yer alan “Mrs Aesop” ve “Eurydice” şiirlerini inceleyerek, yirminci yüzyılın sonlarındaki Britanya’da kadınlar arasında hâkim olan erkek düşmanlığı duygusunu ve bu düşmanlığa sebebiyet vermiş olabilecek toplumsal dinamiklerin ardındaki potansiyel motivasyonları ortaya koymaktadır.

Keywords

Mrs Aesop, Eurydice, yeni tarihselcilik, erkek düşmanlığı

Thanks

Bu makalenin kaynağı olan tezimde büyük emeği olan sayın danışmanım Doç. Dr. Yiğit SÜMBÜL'e teşekkürü borç bilirim.

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