PAUL AUSTER’IN THE MUSIC OF CHANCE ADLI ROMANINDA SINIRLANDIRILMIŞ KAHRAMAN VE ÖZGÜRLÜKTEN KAÇIŞ

Year 2016, Issue: 36, 157 - 170, 23.12.2016

Faruk Kalay

https://doi.org/10.21497/sefad.284997

Abstract

Paul Auster
önemli bir Amerikalı romancı, eleştirmen ve şair olmakla birlikte bu The Music of Chance adlı romanıyla
Pen/Faulkner Kurgu Ödülünün Finalisti olmuştur. Romanın başkahramanı Jim Nashe
ülke boyunca yeni almış olduğu arabasını kullanabilmek ve parasını tükenmek
üzereyken para kazanabilmek için işini ve ailesini terk eden eski bir
itfaiyecidir. Nashe ve O’nun tarafından bir otoyolun kenarından yaralı halde
bulunan Pozzi isimli arkadaşıyla kolay para kazanabilmek için kumar oynamaya
karar verirler fakat kaybettikleri için kumar borçlarını ödeyebilmek için
“ağlama” duvarı yapmaya zorlanırlar. Öte taraftan Jim tutsaklığından önce bir
başıboş olduğu için Auster Thomas Nashe’in pikaresk romanı The Unfortunate
Traveller romanına atıfta bulunur. Eleştirmenler alegorik olarak hem ruhsal hem
bedensel açıdan Jim’in ev hapsine değinirler. Jim’in etnik ve kültürel normları
davranışlarını belirlemektedir. Etnik köken olarak Yahudi olan Auster Nazi
Soykırımından neler çektiğini ve deneyimlerini bu romanda yansıtmaya çalışır.
Jim Nashe’in yaşantı ve hayat tecrübeleri Holokost veya Pogrom’lardaki
Yahudilerle benzerlikler arz eder. Başkahramanın/yazarın benzer özellikleri
okuyucu adına karmaşık bir kurgu sunar. Çünkü okuyucunun hem yazarın yaşam ve
kökeni hakkında hem de romandaki ince göndermeleri kavraması gerekir. Bir de
bunu tarihsel ve günlük yaşama endekslemesi olayları biraz daha gerçekçi
kılmaktadır. Ancak Auster bunu yaparken iki farklı karakterin problemlerle
karşılaştığında aynı tepkiyi göstermesini gözler önüne serer. Bu çalışmada
Jim’in bedensel ve ruhsal hapsi ve bunun nedenleri irdelenecektir.

Keywords

Jim Nashe, Paul Auster, Pikaresk, The Music of Chance

THE LOCALIZED HERO AND ESCAPE FROM FREEDOM IN THE MUSIC OF CHANCE BY PAUL AUSTER

Abstract

Paul Auster is a prominent American novelist, critic and poet: he was a
Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction finalist for his novel, The Music of Chance. This book’s protagonist, Jim Nashe, is an
ex-fireman who has left his job and family to drive around the country and to
earn money while running out of money. He and his friend named Pozzi found
wounded on the motorway by him decide to gamble to make money easily: yet they
are trapped in a house and forced to make a “wailing” wall because of their
gambling debts for their losing. On the other hand, because Jim was a vagabond
before his enslavement, Auster invokes Thomas Nashe’s picaresque novel, The Unfortunate Traveller. Critics
allegorically address Jim’s home confinement from both spiritual and physical
perspectives. Jim’s ethnic and cultural foundations inform his behaviors. An
ethnic Jew, Auster illustrates the suffering of Holocaust survivors. Jim Nashe’s
experiences are similar to those of Jews in the Holocaust or the Pogroms. He
lives in a space that limits his freedom: he prefers death to living this way.
The same characteristics of protagonist/writer offer a sophisticated plot for
readers. Because the reader must know both the writer’s life and novel’s witty
nuance. In this study, we examine Jim’s incarceration and the reasons for it.

Keywords

Jim Nashe, Paul Auster, Picaresque, The Music of Chance

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