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

Yıl 2018, Cilt: 20 Sayı: 3, 333 - 346, 12.11.2018

Evrim Ersöz Koç

https://doi.org/10.16953/deusosbil.432290

Cited By: 1

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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