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Politikleştirilmiş Uzamda Huzursuzluğun Gösterimi: Paul Bowles’un TheSpider’s House Adlı Romanı

Year 2018, Volume: 6 Issue: 3, 100 - 112, 01.01.2018

Abstract

Bu makale, Paul Bowles’un The Spider’s House 1955 adlı romanında politikleştirilmiş Fez şehrinin yapısını kendi varlığı ve içinde yaşayan insanlar açısından çözümlemeyi amaçlar. Henri Lefebvre’in “mekan çalışmalarında dönüm noktası” hareketine yön veren uzam kuramı, uzamın fiziksel ve maddi olanı soyut ve toplumsal bileşenleriyle harmanlar ve onu bir değişim süreci içinde ele alır. Bu kuram romana uyar, çünkü Fez edilgen bir araç değildir; sömürge yönetimi altında durağan değil, kaygı verici olay ve durumların hızlandırıcı etmeni olarak devingendir. Bowles, Fez’i değiştirici/dönüştürücü olarak kavramlaştırır: şehir, yerli halkın mutsuzluğu ve eylemsizliğine yol açan mücadelenin nedenidir ve halkın saflıktan bozulmuşluğa dönüşmesine tanıklık eder. Fez, sosyo-politik olaylardan sorumludur ve bunlarda etkin pay sahibidir. Baskın rolüyle hem kendisinin, hem de insanların geleceğini biçimlendirir; ama ne sömürgeciye, ne de sömürülene refah vadeder. Huzursuzluğun resmidir: kimsesiz halkıyla kültürel kimliğini kaybetmiştir ve gelecek için bir değer oluşturamamaktadır. Jeopolitik durumu ve gizil güçleri, Fransız sömürgeci zihniyetinin dikkatini çeker ve güç ilişkilerinde mücadele alanı rolünü oynar. Öte yandan romanın başlığının işaret ettiği gibi politikleştirilmiş sömürge olan bir uzam olarak, bir örümcek ağına benzer: kırılgan, emniyetsiz ve kendine yabancı

References

  • Blank, Y; Rosen-Zvi, I. (2010). Introduction: The Spatial Turn in Social Theory. Hagar: Studies in Culture, Polity and Identities. 10(1), 1-6.
  • Bowles, P. (1991). The Spider’s House. London: Abacus.
  • Foucault, M. (1984). “Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias” web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/foucault1.pdf (accessed on 03.07.2017)
  • Lefebvre, H. (1978). Reflections on the Politics of Space. R. Peet (ed.) in Radical Geography: Alternative Viewpoints on Contemporary Social Issues. (pp. 339-52) London: Methuen.
  • Lefebvre, H. (1991). The Production of Space. (Translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith). Oxford: Blackwell.
  • Merriam-Webster (2018) https://www.merriam-webster.com/ (accessed on 07.06. 2018).
  • Merriam –Webster Inc., (updated on 5th June).
  • Moukhlis, S. (2015). The Spider's House. Interventions, 17(1), 24-44.
  • DOI:10.1080/1369801X.2014.886157 (accessed on 24.May.2017)
  • Purcell, M. (2014). Possible Worlds: Henri Lefebvre and the Right to the City. Journal of Urban Affairs. 36 (1), 141–154.
  • ISSN: 0735-2166. DOI: 10.1111/juaf.12034 Soja, E. W. (2000). Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and Imagined Places. Malden: Blackwell Publishers Inc.
  • Tyson, L. (2006). Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. New York: Routledge.
  • Walonen, M. K. (2009). Sense of Place in the North African Writings of Paul Bowles. M.B.
  • Hackler (ed.) in On and Off the Page: Mapping Place in Text and Culture. (pp.9-30). New Castle upon Tyne: Cambridge.

The Representation of Unrest in the Politicized Space: Paul Bowles’ The Spider’s House

Year 2018, Volume: 6 Issue: 3, 100 - 112, 01.01.2018

Abstract

This article aims at analyzing the nature of the politicized city of Fez in terms of its own existence and the people inhabiting it in Paul Bowles’ The Spider’s House 1955 . Henri Lefebvre’s theory of space which leads to the “spatial turn” mingles the physical and material with the abstract and social components of space, and regards it in a process of change. It fits into the novel, because Fez is not a passive agent; under the colonial rule, it is not static, but dynamic, being the catalyst of ominous events and situations. Bowles conceptualizes Fez as transformative: it is the cause of conflict, which leads to the unhappiness and inaction of the native people and it witnesses the transformation of them from innocence to decadence. It is responsible for the socio-politic events and is the active participant of them. It has the dominant role and shapes the future of the people and its own, but it promises prosperity neither to the colonizer nor to the colonized. It is the very picture of unrest: it with its derelict people has lost its cultural identity and cannot constitute value for its future. With its geopolitical landscape and potentials, it draws the attention of French colonial mind and plays the role of the arena of the power relations, but as the title of the novel suggests, as a politicized colonized space, it becomes a spider’s house: fragile, insecure and alienated in itself

References

  • Blank, Y; Rosen-Zvi, I. (2010). Introduction: The Spatial Turn in Social Theory. Hagar: Studies in Culture, Polity and Identities. 10(1), 1-6.
  • Bowles, P. (1991). The Spider’s House. London: Abacus.
  • Foucault, M. (1984). “Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias” web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/foucault1.pdf (accessed on 03.07.2017)
  • Lefebvre, H. (1978). Reflections on the Politics of Space. R. Peet (ed.) in Radical Geography: Alternative Viewpoints on Contemporary Social Issues. (pp. 339-52) London: Methuen.
  • Lefebvre, H. (1991). The Production of Space. (Translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith). Oxford: Blackwell.
  • Merriam-Webster (2018) https://www.merriam-webster.com/ (accessed on 07.06. 2018).
  • Merriam –Webster Inc., (updated on 5th June).
  • Moukhlis, S. (2015). The Spider's House. Interventions, 17(1), 24-44.
  • DOI:10.1080/1369801X.2014.886157 (accessed on 24.May.2017)
  • Purcell, M. (2014). Possible Worlds: Henri Lefebvre and the Right to the City. Journal of Urban Affairs. 36 (1), 141–154.
  • ISSN: 0735-2166. DOI: 10.1111/juaf.12034 Soja, E. W. (2000). Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and Imagined Places. Malden: Blackwell Publishers Inc.
  • Tyson, L. (2006). Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. New York: Routledge.
  • Walonen, M. K. (2009). Sense of Place in the North African Writings of Paul Bowles. M.B.
  • Hackler (ed.) in On and Off the Page: Mapping Place in Text and Culture. (pp.9-30). New Castle upon Tyne: Cambridge.
There are 14 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

F Gül Koçsoy This is me

Publication Date January 1, 2018
Published in Issue Year 2018 Volume: 6 Issue: 3

Cite

IEEE F. G. Koçsoy, “The Representation of Unrest in the Politicized Space: Paul Bowles’ The Spider’s House”, Researcher, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 100–112, 2018.

The journal "Researcher: Social Sciences Studies" (RSSS), which started its publication life in 2013, continues its activities under the name of "Researcher" as of August 2020, under Ankara Bilim University.
It is an internationally indexed, nationally refereed, scientific and electronic journal that publishes original research articles aiming to contribute to the fields of Engineering and Science in 2021 and beyond.
The journal is published twice a year, except for special issues.
Candidate articles submitted for publication in the journal can be written in Turkish and English. Articles submitted to the journal must not have been previously published in another journal or sent to another journal for publication.