Feminist Ambivalence in Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret

Abstract

1860ların sansasyonel romanları, alışılmadık ve sıradışı kadın karakterleri nedeniyle yazıldıkları dönemde hararetli tartışmaların çıkmasına neden olmuştur. Çünkü, bu romanlar daha çok kadın okur kitlesine hitap etmiş ve zina yapan, iki eşli ya da bir şekilde suça bulaşmış kadın karakterlerin kadın okurlar üzerindeki olası etkileri edebi çevreleri endişelendirmiştir. Öte yandan, yirminci yüzyıl feminist edebi eleştirmenler bu olağandışı ve tartışmalı kadın temsiliyetini feminist uyanışın dönem edebiyatındaki yansıması olarak yorumlama eğilimi göstermişlerdir. Fakat, bunun tam tersi yaklaşımlardan bahsetmek de mümkün. Örneğin, cinsel, sosyal ve kültürel normların dışına çıkan kadın karakterlerin romanlarda cezalandırıldığı ve disipline edildiğine vurgu yapan farklı okumalar de bulunmaktadır. Bu çalışmanın yaklaşımı ikinci görüşe daha yakındır. Bu makale anlatılardaki feminist içeriğin aslında anti-feminist bir bakış açısı ile ele alındığına vurgu yapmayı amaçlar. Bunun için sansasyonel roman türünün en iyi örneklerinden kabul edilen Mary Elizabeth Braddon’ın Lady Audley’nin Sırrı (1862) başlıklı romanının detaylı okuması sunulacaktır.

Keywords

• Mary Elizabeth Braddon,Lady Audley’s Secret,sensation novel

Mary Elizabeth Braddon’un Lady Audley’nın Sırrı Başlıklı Romanında Feminist Çelişki

Öz

The sensation genre in the 1860s stirred fierce discussions regarding scandalous, sensational and unconventional representations of women in fiction. This is because the 1860s sensation novels appealed more to a female readership, and thus potential influences of adulterous, bigamous and/or criminal women characters on women readers alarmed literary circles of the said period. On the other hand, feminist literary critics in twentieth century tended to read such unusual and controversial fictional representations in women’s writing as a sign of resistance and feminist revival in Victorian literature. There were opposing views too, though. They rather focused on anti-feminist and at times disciplinary treatment of women characters, who transgressed rooted sexual, social and cultural norms. The approach in this study is closer to the latter view in that the article aims to reveal the ambivalent nature of such narratives by paying attention to the contradiction between feminist and subversive content and its anti-feminist treatment. To do this, the article offers a detailed analysis of one of the best examples of the sensation genre, which is Lady Audley’s Secret (1862) by Mary Elizabeth Braddon.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Mary Elizabeth Braddon,Lady Audley's Secret,Sensation Novel

Kaynakça

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