QUEST FOR UTOPIAN IMPULSE IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY DYSTOPIAN NARRATIVE: P. D. JAMES’S CRITICAL DYSTOPIA, THE CHILDREN OF MEN

Öz

Dystopian narrative has gained enormous worldwide recognition and popularity with an upsurge in the number of literary dystopias and dystopian films. Dystopia presents alternative world scenarios, which project a relatively worse dystopian social order than the current experienced one, thereby functioning as a cautionary tale. Twentieth century witnessed the emergence and gradual rise of dystopia in the aftermath of the socio-political conjuncture and led dystopia to be generally interpreted as pessimistic. However, twentieth-century dystopian fiction is not completely pessimistic since it signifies hope through open-ended narratives, especially in the critical dystopias of the century. The experiential journey motif, which facilitates potential transformation in the character’s stance on the dynamics of the projected system, plays a significant role in eliciting the utopian impulse. The aim of this article is therefore to discuss the possibility of hope in twentieth-century dystopian fiction through a comprehensive analysis of P. D. James’s critical dystopia, The Children of Men (1992), which has not achieved critical and scholarly acclaim it deserves, probably due to the success of Alfonso Cuaron’s film, Children of Men (2006).  

Anahtar Kelimeler

• critical dystopia,hope,P. D. James,journey,utopian impulse

20. YÜZYIL DISTOPIK ANLATISINDA ÜTOPIK DÜRTÜ ARAYIŞI: P. D. JAMES’IN ÜMITVAR DISTOPYASI, THE CHILDREN OF MEN

Öz

Distopik romanlardaki ve filmlerdeki artış, distopik anlatının dünya çapında tanınırlık kazanmasına büyük ölçüde katkıda bulunmuştur. Distopya, deneyimlenen toplumsal düzene kıyasla daha kötü bir toplum düzenini yansıtan alternatif dünya senaryolarını sunmaktadır. Bu bağlamda distopyanın uyarıcı, ikaz edici bir boyutu da bulunmaktadır. 20. yüzyıl, distopyanın sosyo-politik konjonktür sonrası ortaya çıkışına ve kademeli gelişimine tanıklık etmiştir. Bu da distopyanın karamsar bir tür olarak algılanmasına yol açmıştır. Ancak,  20. yüzyıl distopik anlatısı tamamıyla karamsar değildir çünkü bu yüzyılda yazılan romanların, özellikle de eleştirel distopyaların açık uçlu yapısı umudu barındırmaktadır. Eserdeki karakterin, tasarlanan sistemin dinamiklerine olan tutumunda olası bir değişimi mümkün kılan ve tecrübeye dayanan seyahat motifi, ütopik dürtünün ortaya çıkarılmasında önemli bir rol oynamaktadır. Bu anlamda bu makalenin amacı, muhtemelen Alfonso Cuaron’un Children of Men (Son Umut, 2006) başlıklı filminin başarısı yüzünden şu ana kadar hak ettiği değeri görmeyen P. D. James’in ümitvar4 distopyası, The Children of Men (1992)’in kapsamlı analizi üzerinden, 20. yüzyıl distopik anlatısında umudun olasılığını tartışmaktır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• P. D. James,eleştirel distopya,umut,P. D. James,seyahat,ütopik dürtü

Kaynakça

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