Exploring Ambiguity: Literary Significance of Holocaust Representation in Raymond Federman’s To Whom it May Concern

Öz

As a significant literary tool and narrative technique, ambiguity is regarded as one of the most common and striking components of postmodern writing. The obscurity in its definition, context and usage leads researchers and literary critics to take interest in this concept and authors to refer to it frequently as well. In this sense, Raymond Federman’s To Whom It May Concern is one of the novels in which ambiguity, as a narrative technique, emerges overtly. This study tries to define and explain the context of ambiguity which is among the major narrative elements of postmodern literature. Likewise, how it appears in the novel and for what purposes authors apply it will be handled. Moreover, how ambiguity is included in the main elements of novel such as the character, theme, time-space, point of view and plot, what apparent and embedded purposes the author has by applying to narrative ambiguity and its connection with the Holocaust will be scrutinised. On the other hand, whether this ambiguity in narrative is a genuine ambiguity or just a narrative clarity intentionally used by the author to steer the readers toward an intended objective will also be discussed.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Narrative ambiguity
• Holocaust
• Raymond Federman
• To Whom It May Concern

Belirsizliği Keşfetmek: Raymond Federman’ın To Whom it May Concern Adlı Eserinde Holokost Temsilinin Edebi Önemi

Öz

Önemli bir edebi araç ve anlatı tekniği olan belirsizlik, postmodern yazının en yaygın ve öne çıkan bileşenlerinden biri olarak kabul edilir. Bu kavramın tanım, kapsam ve kullanımındaki muğlaklık, edebiyat eleştirmenleri ve araştırmacılarının kavrama ilgi duymasına, yazarların da yapıtlarında bu kavrama sıklıkla başvurmalarına yol açar. Bu bağlamda Raymond Federman’ın To Whom It May Concern adlı romanı, bir anlatı yöntemi olarak belirsizliğin bariz bir şekilde ortaya çıktığı yapıtlardan biridir. Bu çalışmada postmodern edebiyatın en önemli anlatı öğelerinden olan belirsizlik kavramının tanım ve kapsamı açıklanmaya çalışılacaktır. Ayrıca romanda bu kavramın nasıl ortaya çıktığı ve yazarın bunu hangi amaçla kullanıldığı ele alınacaktır. Ayrıca karakter, tema, zaman-mekân, bakış açısı ve olay örgüsü gibi romanın ana unsurlarında belirsizliğin ne şekilde kullanıldığı, yazarın anlatı belirsizliğini kullanırken açık ve örtük amacının ne olduğu ve bunun Holokost ile olan ilişkisi irdelenecektir. Öte yandan anlatıdaki bu belirsizliğin gerçekten bir belirsizlik mi yoksa yazar tarafından bilinçli olarak kullanılan ve okuru amaçlanan hedefe yönlendiren bir anlatı açıklığı mı olduğu da tartışılacaktır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Anlatı Belirsizliği
• Holokost
• Raymond Federman
• To Whom It May Concern

Kaynakça

1. Abrams, M. H. (2009). A glossary of literary terms. Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
2. Awwad, M. (2017). The ambiguous nature of language. International J. Soc. Sci. & Education. 7(4), 195-207.
3. Bartleby, (2024). Ambiguity in language and literature: Meaning, types, and examples, available at: https://www.bartleby.com/writing-guide/ambiguity-in-language-and-literature-meaning-types-and-examples
4. Britannica. (2024). William-Empson. available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Empson
5. Buran Utku, S. (2018). Historiographic metafiction of the past time: a self-begetting novel to whom it may concern. Kafkas University Journal of the Institute of Social Sciences. 22, 377-389 http://doi.org:10.9775/kausbed.2018.025
6. Cambridge. (2024). Definition of ambiguity from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary Available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/ambiguity
7. Cassen, F. (2017). Marking the Jews in Renaissance Italy. Cambridge University Press.
8. Collinsdictionary, (2024). Definition of “ambiguity”. available at: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/ambiguity

9. Federman, R. (1990). To whom it may concern. Illinois.
10. Forster, E. M. (1927). Aspects of the novel. HBMC.
11. Gaies, S. J. (2016). Commandant of lubizec: fiction and the Holocaust in the twilight of the survivor era, universitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity, 11(1), 1-25.
12. Heled, G. G. (2007). Reader, writer, and Holocaust literature: The case of ka-tzetnik. Israel Studies, 12(3), 109-133.
13. Jablon, S. (2015). Badge of dishonor: Jewish Badges in medieval Europe. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education. 8(1), 39-46. http://doi.org: 10.1080/17543266.2014.960483
14. James, H. (2005). The art of fiction. Essentials of the theory of fiction. Hoffman, M. J. and Murph, P. D. (Eds). Duke University Press. Durham and London. 13-21.
15. Kızıltaş, S. (2016). The reflections of institutional racism in Nadine Gordimer’s novels: a literary reading of apartheid. Dicle Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi. 17, 236-246.
16. Klarer, M. (1999). An introduction to literary studies. Routledge.
17. Landwehr, M. J. (2007). Review of “Review of Andrew Leak and George Paizis, eds., The Holocaust and the text: Speaking the unspeakable.,” Bryn Mawr. Review of Comparative Literature. 6(1). Available at: https://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmrcl/vol6/iss1/7
18. Leo, J. R. D. (2011). Federman’s fictions: Innovation, theory, Holocaust. State University of Newyork. Albany.
19. Lewis, B. (2001). Postmodernism and literature. The Routledge companion to postmodernism. Stuart Sim (Ed.) Routledge.
20. Merriam-Webster. (2024). Ambiguity. Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ambiguity
21. Raphael, L. S. (2003). Representing the Holocaust in literature: diaries, memoirs, “fateless”, and other fiction. Colloquia Germanica. 36(3/4), 225-245.
22. Roskies, D. G. & Diamant, N. (2012). Holocaust literature: A history and guide. Brandeis University Press.
23. Sennet, A. (2021). Ambiguity, Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2023/entries/ambiguity/
24. Sierakowiak, D. (1996). The diary of Dawid Sierakowiak: five notebooks from the Lodz Ghetto. Oxford University Press
25. Tallant, C. E. (1980). Theory and Performance of Narrative Ambiguity in Selected Novels by John Hawkes. LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 3539. http://doi.10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.3539
26. Wielechowski, B. J. (2021). Introduction to narrative journalism. Available at: https://oer.pressbooks.pub/narrativejournalism/