Doğaüstü ve Gerçek: Ben Okri’nin Aç Yol Adlı Romanında Rüyalar, Efsaneler ve Gerçeklik Algıları

Öz

Ben Okri’nin Aç Yol adlı romanın doğaüstü içeriği anlatının her tarafına yayılıp romanın biçimsel yapısını da etkilemektedir. Romanın anlatıcısı Azaro’nun bir “abiku” (peri-çocuk) olması romandaki bütün doğaüstü olaylar için bir zemin sağlamaktadır. Dahası, bir Yoruba efsanesi olan “abiku” döngüselliğini romanın öykü yapısına da verir. Nijerya’nın bağımsızlığı yaklaşırken gerçekleşen bir çok olay, oldukça fakir bir işçi sınıfı ailesinin çocuğu olarak mahallesindeki yolları arşınlayan ve çevresini geri dönüşü olmayacak şekilde dönüştüren gelişmeleri kaydeden Azaro’nun gözünden aktarılır. Bu makale, kültürel olarak belirgin bir doğaüstü olayı (“abiku”yu) anlatısının merkezine oturtmasının ve aynı zamanda sömürge döneminin varlığına ait göndermelerin olmamasının Ben Okri’ye kendiliğinden doğaüstü olan münferit bir gerçekliği resmetme fırsatı verdiğini, hem de bunu sömürge dönemi Nijerya’sındaki dönüşümü, özellikle de çevresel değişimleri oldukça gerçekçi bir şekilde anlatarak yaptığını öne sürmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Ben Okri
• Aç Yol
• Büyülü Gerçekçilik
• Nijerya
• Abiku
• Doğaüstü

The Supernatural and the Real: Dreams, Myths, and Perceptions of Reality in Ben Okri’s The Famished Road

Öz

The supernatural content of Ben Okri’s novel The Famished Road spreads through the narrative and also affects the formal structure of the novel. The fact that narrator of the novel, Azaro is an abiku (spirit child) provides the basis for all of the supernatural phenomena in the novel. Furthermore, the Yoruba myth of abiku lends its cyclicality to the narrative structure. Many transitions occuring as Nigeria gets closer to independence are depicted through the eyes of Azaro, who, as a small child from a povertystricken working class family, travels many roads around his ghetto, registering all the developments that transform his environment irretrievably. This article suggests that Okri’s use of a culturally specific supernatural phenomenon (abiku) at the center of his narrative as well as the lack of references to a colonial presence provides him with the ability to depict a single inherently supernatural reality while at the same time depicting the transformation of colonial Nigeria, particularly the environmental changes, quite realistically.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Ben Okri
• The Famished Road
• Magical Realism
• Nigeria
• Abiku
• Supernatural

Kaynakça

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