Sözü “yaymak:” Salgın anlatılarının uyarlamalarında bir metod olarak bulaşım

Öz

Salgın hastalıklar tarih boyunca hem bakteri ve virus kaynaklı epidemiler şeklinde fiziksel bedenlere bulaşmış hem de klasik dönem anlatıları ve İncil’deki hikayelerden başlayarak aynı zamanda metinsel düzleme sirayet etmiştir. Bu makale, Daniel Defoe’nun Türkçe’ye Veba Yılı Günlüğü olarak çevrilmiş, 1722 tarihli kurgusal tanıklık anlatısı A Journal of the Plague Year ile Mark Ravenhill’in müzik tiyatrosu Ten Plagues için 2011 yılında yazdığı librettoyu inceleyecektir. Defoe, salgın kurbanları ve geride kalanların dokunaklı hikayeleriyle, anlatıcısının alıntıladığı ve zaman zaman değerlendirdiği istatistiksel bilgileri bir araya getirerek 1665 yılında Londra’yı perişan eden Büyük Veba Salgını’nı anlatır. Ten Plagues, A Journal of the Plague Year’ın sahne uyarlamasıdır. Bu makale, Priscilla Wald’un (2008) deyimiyle “salgın anlatısı”’nın metinsel dinamiklerinden ve Linda Hutcheon’ın (2006) “bir palimpsest olarak uyarlama” yaklaşımından yola çıkarak, bu iki eserde görüldüğü üzere bulaşım fikrine yalnızca konu ve izlek olarak değil, bir yöntem ya da araç olarak da yaklaşılabileceğini iddia eder. A Journal ve Ten Plagues’in girift hikayeleri insanlığın tıbbi ve sosyal belirsizlikler karşısındaki kırılgan ve tehlikeli durumunun yanı sıra hayatta kalışını ve dirayetini temsil eder. Sonuç olarak makale, Defoe ve Ravenhill’in zor zamanlarda tecrit ve yakınlığı tahayyül ederek okur ve izleyicilerini salgın hastalıklarla dolu geçmiş ve gelecek hakkında düşünmeye davet ettiklerini ve birlikte yarattıkları estetik ve eleştirel düzlemde sanatın ve kurgunun gücünü gösterdiklerini öne sürer.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Salgın
• bulaşım
• uyarlama
• Defoe
• Ravenhill

“Spreading” the word: Contagion as method in adaptations of plague narratives

Abstract

Plagues have both infected physical bodies as bacterial and viral epidemics and permeated textual bodies starting from ancient and biblical texts throughout history. This paper will explore the plague as portrayed in Daniel Defoe’s fictional testimony A Journal of the Plague Year (1722) and Mark Ravenhill’s libretto of his music theatre Ten Plagues (2011). Defoe brings together poignant fictional stories about the plague victims and survivors with the statistical reports quoted, and at times analysed, by his narrator to portray the Great Plague of London that hit the city in 1665. Ten Plagues is a stage adaptation of A Journal of the Plague Year. Drawing upon the textual dynamics of the plague or “the outbreak narrative” in Priscilla Wald’s terms (2008) and Linda Hutcheon’s understanding of adaptation as a palimpsest (2006), this paper argues that the idea of contagion could operate not only as subject matter or a narrative thread but also as a method or medium as demonstrated by these two works. The interwoven stories of A Journal and Ten Plagues represent survival and resilience along with the fragile and precarious condition of humanity under medical and social uncertainties. The paper concludes that Defoe and Ravenhill lead their audience to contemplate on “diseased” pasts and futures by envisioning isolation and connection in dire times and establish the power of art and fiction in the aesthetic and critical space they create together.

Keywords

• plague
• contagion
• adaptation
• Defoe
• Ravenhill

Kaynakça

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