PRODUCING SPACE, REPRESENTING GRIEF: SEPTEMBER 11 MEMORIAL IN AMY WALDMAN’S THE SUBMISSION

Öz

Published a decade after September 11, 2001, Amy Waldman’s novel The Submission recounts the events about the project to build a memorial for September 11. Two years after the attack, a jury is commissioned to decide the winner of the blind memorial competition. After winnowing five thousand entries, the jury chooses two finalists: the designs named “the Garden” and “the Void.” Following the long discussions about how the tragedy should be remembered in that memorial space, the design named “the Garden” wins. When the submission file is opened, the winner’s identity as a Muslim-American is revealed which leads to a debate among the jury members. The news regarding the identity of the winner is leaked to a journalist and the chaos in the jury becomes nationwide. The debate on the symbolic associations and the practice of the memorial space goes along with ruminations on mourning, art, Islam, equality and democracy. Using Henri Lefebvre’s socio-spatial dialectics as a theoretical framework, this study examines the representation and practice of “the Garden” in The Submission as a space to memorialize and mourn.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Amy Waldman,The Submission,Henri Lefebvre,Space

MEKANIN ÜRETİMİ, ACININ TEMSİLİ: AMY WALDMAN’IN THE SUBMISSION ROMANINDA 11 EYLÜL ANITI

Öz

11 Eylül 2001den on yıl sonra basılan Amy Waldman’ın The Submission romanı 11 Eylül için bir anıt inşa etme projesi etrafında gelişen olayları anlatır. Saldırıdan iki yıl sonra, katılımcıların kimliklerini gizleyerek başvurduğu anıt tasarımı yarışmasının kazananını belirlemek üzere bir komisyon oluşturulur. Beş bin başvuruyu eledikten sonra, jüri biri “Bahçe” diğeri “Boşluk” adında iki tasarımı finalist olarak seçer. Trajedinin bu anıt mekânında nasıl hatırlanması gerektiğine dair uzun tartışmaların sonucunda, “Bahçe” isimli tasarım kazanır. Başvuru dosyası açıldığında, kazananın bir Müslüman-Amerikalı olduğu ortaya çıkar ve bu jüri üyeleri arasında tartışmaya yol açar. Kazananın kimliğine dair haber bir gazeteciye sızdırılır ve jürideki kaos ülkenin geneline yayılır. Anıt mekânının pratiği ve sembolik çağrışımları üzerine yapılan tartışmalara yas, sanat, İslam, eşitlik ve demokrasi üzerine düşünceler eşlik eder. Bu çalışma, Henri Lefebvre’nin sosyo-mekansal diyalektiğini teorik çerçeve olarak kullanarak, The Submission romanında “Bahçe”nin hatırlama ve yas tutma mekanı olarak temsili ve pratiğini inceler.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Amy Waldman,The Submission,Henri Lefebvre,Mekân

Kaynakça

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