Disorientation as Liberation: A Queer Phenomenology of the Werewolf Figures in Carter’s “The Werewolf” and Le Guin’s “The Wife’s Story”

Abstract

The werewolf figure has traditionally been associated with aberration, bestiality, and the primal nature that is believed to lurk within all human beings. However, due to the liminal space the werewolf occupies as a hybrid of human and animal, embodying both masculine and feminine traits, it serves as a useful conceptual tool to question clear-cut distinctions between these hierarchical binaries. Drawing on Sara Ahmed’s concept of “queer phenomenology,” this study approaches the werewolf figure in Angela Carter’s “The Werewolf” and Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Wife’s Story” as an embodiment of queerness. Carter’s regendered werewolf and Le Guin’s were-human, who transforms from wolf into human rather than the reverse, disrupt normative expectations of werewolf narratives as they assume alternative identities that transcend the hierarchical binaries of masculine/feminine and human/animal. This study argues that through such disorientation, Carter’s and Le Guin’s unconventional werewolves emerge as queer figures and thus offer liberating alternatives to the restrictive models of identity, gender and species imposed by patriarchal and anthropocentric discourses.

Keywords

• Angela Carter
• Ursula K. Le Guin
• the werewolf
• queer phenomenology
• disorientation
• “The Werewolf”
• “The Wife’s Story”

Bir Özgürlük Biçimi Olarak Disoryantasyon: Carter’ın “The Werewolf” ve Le Guin’in “The Wife’s Story” Öykülerindeki Kurt-İnsan Figürlerinin Kuir Fenomenolojisi

Abstract

Kurt adam, geleneksel olarak sapkınlık, hayvanlık ve tüm insanların içinde gizlenen ilkel doğa ile ilişkilendirilmiş bir figürdür. Ancak, insan ve hayvanın birleşimi olarak ve hem erkeksi hem de kadınsı özellikleri bünyesinde barındırarak işgal ettiği eşik alanı nedeniyle kurt adam, bu hiyerarşik ikilikler arasındaki keskin ayrımları sorgulamak için yararlı bir araç işlevi görmektedir. Bu çalışma, Sara Ahmed’in “kuir fenomenoloji” (queer phenomenology) kavramından yararlanarak Angela Carter’ın “The Werewolf” ve Ursula K. Le Guin’in “The Wife’s Story” öykülerindeki kurt adam figürünü kuirliğin bedenlenmiş hali olarak ele alacaktır. Carter’ın cinsiyeti değiştirilmiş kurt adamı ve Le Guin’in insandan kurda değil, kurttan insana dönüşen kurt adamı, kadın/erkek ve hayvan/insan arasındaki hiyerarşik ikilikleri aşan alternatif kimlikler benimseyerek kurt adam anlatılarının normatif beklentilerini bozguna uğratırlar. Bu disoryantasyon aracılığıyla, kuir figürler olarak Carter ve Le Guin’in sıra dışı kurt adamları, ataerkil ve insan-merkezci söylemlerin dayattığı kısıtlayıcı kimlik, cinsiyet ve tür modellerine özgürleştirici alternatifler sunmuş olur. Bu çerçevede mevcut literatürden açıkça ayrılan bu çalışma, kurt adamı dünya üzerinde var olmanın yeni toplumsal, bedensel ve mekânsal yollarını açan çok daha karmaşık ve düşünmeye zorlayan bir figür olarak ele almasıyla orijinal bir kurt adam yorumlaması sunmaktadır.

Keywords

• kurt adam
• kuir fenomenoloji
• disoryantasyon
• "The Werewolf"
• "The Wife's Story"
• Angela Carter
• Ursula K. Le Guin

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