SPECTRALITY AND ABJECTION IN THE STORIES OF CHARLES DICKENS’ THE SIGNAL-MAN AND HERMAN MELVILLE’S BARTLEBY

Yıl 2016, Cilt: 40 Sayı: 1, 203 - 213, 12.07.2016

Zeynep Harputlu

Öz

The stories of Charles Dickens and Herman Melville, respectively The Signal-Man (1866) and Bartleby (1853), have received much critical attention more than one century to date. The settings and themes of the two stories suggest that they share a common understanding of mid-nineteenth century Britain and America in terms of urban alienation, industrialised landscape, and the division of labour. In this study, I argue that spectrality has been used as a narrative strategy to describe the experience of abjection, a psychoanalytical theory developed by Julia Kristeva in Powers of Horror (1982). Kristeva asserts that when an adult confronts the abject, s/he simultaneously identifies it and feels a sense of helplessness. Thus, an abject turns into a threat against the self and ‘it must be radically excluded from the place of the living subject, propelled away from the body and deposited on the other side of an imaginary border’ (Creed, 1993, p. 65). Once the subject is driven into the world of the abject and imaginary borders are disintegrated, fear and horror become unavoidable. The occupations and eccentric characterizations of the signalman and Bartleby signify this fragile border between their selves and experiences of abjection through spectrality.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Spectrality, Abjection, The Signal-Man, Bartleby, Urban space, Alienation, Industrialism, Wall-Street

Charles Dickens’ın The Signal-Man ve Herman Melville’in Bartleby Eserlerinde Hayalsellik ve Abjeksiyon

Öz

Charles Dickens’ın The Signal-Man (1866) ve Herman Melville’in Bartleby (1853) adlı eserleri yüzyılı aşkın süredir farklı açılardan ele alınmıştır. İki öyküde olayin geçtiği çevre ve temalar göz önüne alındığında on dokuzuncu yüzyıl ortalarında İngiltere ve Amerika’daki kentsel yabancılaşma, endüstrileşen çevre ve işbölümü konularına benzer bir yaklaşım sergiledikleri anlaşılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, hayalselliğin bir anlatı stratejisi olarak Julia Kristeva’nın Korkunun Güçleri (1982) adlı kitabında geliştirdiği bir psikoanalitik teori olan ve kişinin benlik duygusu sınırlarını koruma güdüsüyle ortaya çıkan dehşet ya da dışlama gibi tepkilerini açıklayan abjeksiyon deneyimini anlattığını öne sürmekteyim. Kristeva abjeksiyon nesnesi ile karşılaşan bir yetişkinin onu tanıyarak kendini savunmasız hissettiğini öne sürer. Bu nedenle, dışlanan nesne kişinin öz benliğine karşı bir tehdit olarak algılanır ve “bireyin yaşadığı alandan uzaklaştırılmalı, bedeninden atılmalı ve hayali sınırların ötesine itilmelidir” (Creed, 1993, p. 65). Birey abjeksiyon dünyasına çekildiğinde hayali sınırlar yıkılır ve yerini korku ile dehşet alır. İşaret memuru ile Bartleby’nin meslekleri ve eksantrik karakter tanımlamaları hayasellik stratejisi kullanılarak kişilerin benlikleri ile abjeksiyon deneyimi arasındaki kırılgan sınıra işaret eder

Anahtar Kelimeler

Hayalsellik, Abjeksiyon, The Signal-Man, Bartleby, Kentsel

Kaynakça

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