Conor McPherson’s The Veil: The Haunting Reflection of the Past in Early Twenty-First-Century Ireland

Yıl 2024, Cilt: 4 Sayı: 8, 276 - 292, 27.12.2024

Tuğba Şimşek

https://doi.org/10.69787/bitigefd.1570651

Öz

As an early twenty-first-century Gothic play, McPherson’s The Veil reflects the socio-economic problems and traumas of Ireland after the collapse of the Celtic Tiger economy. As indicated by the title and the prevalent mirror image within the play, the playwright holds up a mirror to the past and through a correlation between nineteenth-century and early twenty-first-century Ireland, he points out the everlasting impacts of postcolonial traumas in the present. In the play, the economic predicament of the landholders and the tenants functions as a microcosm of contemporary Ireland as the post-Celtic Tiger period brought back the problems of the past such as unemployment, dispossession and emigration. Moreover, during the early twenty-first century, the collapse of the Celtic Tiger economy created a haunted landscape replete with ghost estates while also producing zombie banks cannibalising the Irish society. In this regard, the impoverished and harsh conditions of nineteenth-century Ireland transforming people into zombified figures and the effects of economic decline in the early twenty-first century such as ghost estates and zombie banks are closely intertwined. The zombie figure signifies not only economic hardships but also the enduring legacy of colonialism in the present. At the intersection of the past and the present, McPherson presents an uncanny and zombified portrayal of contemporary Ireland. Accordingly, this article explores the traumatic echoes of Ireland’s revenant past in the aftermath of the dramatic economic crisis.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Conor McPherson, Irish Gothic, The Veil, the Celtic Tiger, ghost estates, zombie

CONOR MCPHERSON’IN THE VEIL ADLI OYUNUNDA YİRMİ BİRİNCİ YÜZYILIN BAŞLARINDAKİ İRLANDA’DA GEÇMİŞİN ÜRKÜTÜCÜ YANSIMASI

Öz

Yirmi birinci yüzyıl başı Gotik örneği olan McPherson’ın The Veil adlı oyunu, Kelt Kaplanı ekonomisinin çöküşünden sonra İrlanda’nın sosyo-ekonomik sorunlarını ve travmalarını yansıtır. Oyun başlığı ve oyun içinde sıkça kullanılan ayna imgesinin de gösterdiği gibi, yazar geçmişe bir ayna tutar ve on dokuzuncu yüzyıl ile yirmi birinci yüzyıl başı İrlanda’sı arasında bir bağlantı kurarak, sömürge sonrası travmaların günümüzde halen devam etmekte olan etkilerine dikkat çeker. Kelt Kaplanı sonrası dönem, işsizlik, mülksüzleştirme ve göç gibi geçmişteki sorunları geri getirdiği için, oyunda, mülk sahibi ve kiracıların ekonomik çıkmazları, çağdaş İrlanda’nın bir mikrokozmosu olarak işlev görmektedir. Dahası, yirmi birinci yüzyılın başlarında, Kelt Kaplanı ekonomisinin çöküşü, hayalet mülklerle dolu ürkütücü bir manzara yaratırken, aynı zamanda İrlanda toplumunu tüketen zombi bankaları da ortaya çıkardı. Bu bağlamda, on dokuzuncu yüzyıl İrlanda’sının insanları zombileştiren yoksul ve zor koşulları ile hayalet mülkler ve zombi bankalar gibi yirmi birinci yüzyılın başlarındaki ekonomik düşüşün sonuçları birbiriyle yakından bağlantılıdır. Zombi figürü sadece ekonomik zorlukları değil, aynı zamanda günümüzde devam eden sömürge mirasını da ifade eder. Geçmişle günümüzün kesiştiği noktada, McPherson, çağdaş İrlanda’nın tekinsiz ve zombileşmiş bir tasvirini sunar. Dolayısıyla, bu makale, dramatik bir ekonomik krizin ardından çağdaş İrlanda’nın dirilen geçmişinin travmatik yankılarını inceler.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Conor McPherson, İrlanda Gotiği, The Veil, Kelt Kaplanı, hayalet mülkler, zombi

Kaynakça

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