Narratives of the Dead: Corpses and Bodies in the Works of Clough, Dickens, and Conrad

Öz

Horrific and visceral elements such as death, corpses, and grotesque details are the materials that many authors occasionally utilize in various ways in their works. While some writers use figurative or euphemistic language to express the bleak realities of death, murder, and violence, others adopt a direct and realistic style, graphically depicting such scenes. This study surveys narratives of death and murder in literature. It compares the works of three English authors: Arthur Hugh Clough’s “Amours de Voyage,” Charles Dickens’s “The Uncommercial Traveller,” and Joseph Conrad’s Secret Agent. The lifeless body in literature reflects a society’s broader cultural and existential concerns, which literary works both reflect and reinterpret. The literary representations of death, corpses, and murder are an intersection where history, cultural studies, and literature meet. The ways in which writers represent dead bodies and death vary according to their historical periods and cultural contexts. With this representation, literature seeks to answer fundamental questions about death, murder, the body, presence, and the material and metaphysical human body. In conclusion, it is stated that the undesired scenes of murder, death, corpses, and mutilated bodies in the works of Dickens and Conrad are represented with great detail and utmost realism. They present death as perceived by the people and the culture during their active years: cold and motionless. On the other hand, Clough allows his main character to play the role of a meek, ironic gentleman who appears to have never witnessed murder, raid, death, or violence. Clough has him go through horrible events, but he consoles him by bypassing awful scenes and inducing forgetfulness.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• corpses
• narration
• death
• Clough
• Dickens
• Conrad.

Etik Beyan

Ethics committee approval: Ethics committee approval is not required for the study. Research and publication ethics statement: This is a research article, containing original data, and it has not been previously published or submitted to any other outlet for publication. The author followed ethical principles and rules during the research process. In the study, informed consent was obtained from volunteer participants, and the privacy of the participants was protected. Contribution rates of authors to the article: The article is single-authored. Support Statement (optional): No financial support was received for the study. Conflict of interest: There is no conflict of interest between the authors of this article.

Ölülerin Anlatıları: Clough, Dickens ve Conrad’ın Eserlerinde Cesetler ve Bedenler

Öz

Yazarlar eserlerinde ölüm, cesetler ve ürkütücü detaylar gibi korkunç ve dehşet verici sahne ve kısımları çeşitli yöntemlerle resmetmişlerdir. Bazı yazarlar ölüm, cinayet ve şiddetin kasvetli gerçeklerini ifade etmek için mecazi veya örtülü bir dil kullanırken, diğerleri bu tür bölümleri açıkça anlatarak doğrudan ve gerçekçi bir üslup kullanırlar. Bu makale, edebiyatta ölüm ve cinayet anlatılarını üç İngiliz yazarın şu eserlerini karşılaştırarak incelemektedir: Arthur Hugh Clough’ın “Amours de Voyage”, Charles Dickens’ın “The Uncommercial Traveler” ve Joseph Conrad’ın Secret Agent. Edebi eserlerde ölüm, ölüler ve cansız bedenler, içerisinde üretilen toplumun kültürel ve varoluşsal kaygılarını yansıtır. Ölüm, ceset ve cinayetin edebi temsilleri tarih, kültürel çalışmalar ve edebiyatın buluştuğu bir kesişme noktasıdır. Yazarların ölü bedeni ve ölümü temsil etme biçimleri eserlerindeki bağlamlara ve tarihsel dönemlere göre değişir. Bu temsiller ile yazarlar, ölüm, cinayet, beden, varlık, maddi ve metafizik insan bedeni hakkındaki temel ve esaslı sorulara cevap vermeye çalışıp bu konuyu irdelemişlerdir. Sonuç olarak, Dickens ve Conrad’ın eserlerinde ilgilenilmesi zor olan cinayet, ölüm, ceset ve parçalanmış beden anlatılarının büyük bir ayrıntı ve son derece gerçekçilikle resmettikleri ifade edilmiştir. Bu iki yazar ölümü, bulundukları dönemdeki insanlar ve kültür tarafından algılandığı şekliyle yani soğuk ve hareketsiz olarak betimlerler. Öte yandan Clough, ana karakterinin cinayet, baskın, ölüm ya da şiddete hiç tanık olmamış gibi görünen uysal, ironik bir beyefendi rolüne büründürür. Clough karakterine korkunç olaylar yaşatır ama bu sahneleri görmemiş gibi atlayarak ve unutkanlık gibi göstererek onu teselli eder.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• ceset
• anlatı
• ölüm
• Clough
• Dickens
• Conrad

Kaynakça

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