Arada olmanın keyfi: Henry James’in The Ambassadors (Elçiler) eseri

Year 2019, Issue: 14, 469 - 479, 21.03.2019

Ali Yiğit

https://doi.org/10.29000/rumelide.541085

Abstract

Çok sayıda eseriyle, Amerika’nın sürgün roman ve
deneme yazarı Henry James, hem 19. yy sonu hem de 20. yy başlarına tanıklık
eden bir yazar olarak, ABD’de modernizme geçiş süreci hakkındaki algımızın
zenginleşmesine önemli ölçüde katkıda bulunmuştur. Uzun bir süre püriten düzeni
yaşayan ve katı bir şekilde kurulmuş ahlaki kurallara saplanıp kalmış olan
Amerika’nın New England toplumu yeni yüzyılın gelişiyle birlikte eski
muhafazakar kabuğunu kırıyordu. James bu geçiş sürecine, The Ambassadors, Bostonians ve Transatlantic Sketches gibi birçok
eseriyle ışık tutmuştur. Bu çalışmada, James’in Avrupa tecrübelerinin bir
izdüşümü sayılabilecek olan The Ambassadors eseri, Paris ve Woollett, daha
büyük eksende Eski Dünya ve Yeni Dünya’nın karşılaştırmalı temsilleri üzerinden
ele alınıyor. Hayatının büyük bir kısmını Eski ve Yeni Dünya arasında gidip
gelerek geçiren James, burada ele alınan eserinde okuyucularına, romanın
başkarakteri, Strether’in gözünden, bu yerler hakında eşsiz bakış açıları
sunmaktadır. Woollett ve Paris arasında yapılan önemli ayrımlar üzerinden,
James’in modern Amerikan kimliğini, Atlantik’in iki yakasına dayanarak nasıl
yeniden inşa ettiğinin incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır.  

Keywords

James ve Amerika, ahlaklılık, Avrupa, sanatsal yaşam, dönüşüm

The joy of in-betweenness: Henry James’s The Ambassadors

Abstract

With his numerous works, the well-known prolific
American expatriate novelist and essayist, Henry James considerably contributed
to enriching our perception of the transition process in the USA to modernism
as an author witnessing both late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
After experiencing a long period of puritanical order and remaining stuck in
the strictly established moral rules, American New England society was breaking
its earlier conservative crust with the advent of the new century. James shed
light on this transition process with many of his works such as The Ambassadors, Bostonians and Transatlantic Sketches. In this study, The Ambassadors, which can be seen as
the projection of James’s European experiences, is scrutinized with respect to
the comparative representations of Paris and Woollett, and in a bigger scope,
Europe and America. Spending most of his time by commuting between the Old and
New World, James provided his readers with unique perspectives about these
places in hereby-handled fiction through the eye of his protagonist, Strether.
Drawing on the distinctions made between Woollett and Paris, this article
examines how James reconstructs modern American identity hinging upon the two
sides of Atlantic.

Keywords

James and America, morality, Europe, artistic life, transformation

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