William Beckford’s Depiction of the Orient and the Oriental as Infernal in Vathek

Öz

Vathek treats the despotic rule of caliph Al-Wathik (842-847), the ninth caliph of the Abbasid dynasty, and by extension, depicts Islamic caliphate and culture as decadent. For Beckford, though exotically absorbing, eastern paradigm has its sinister aura: under despotic, necromantic, and sly rulers, ‘good’ Muslims are no more than an insipid mass. And this submissive cultural character of the East is shown as the ‘other’ of the West. Contrary to conventional English gothicists who praise in their works the Protestant moral code against ‘decadent’ Catholicism, Beckford, due to his acquaintance with European languages and cultures, assumes multicultural tone and style: through a contrastive portrayal of caliph Vathek as the wrathful, proud, greedy, slothful, lustful, envious, and gluttonous ruler of the lands of Islam, he creates the doppelgänger of the idealized enlightenment individual. Yet, this socio-cultural and psychological schematising influenced the first and the second generations of romantic poets, who, by orientalising the Orient like Beckford, further contributed to the distorted image of Islam, Muslims, and the East.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Gothic,Romanticism,Beckford,Orientalism,Islam

William Beckford’un Vathek Adlı Eserinde Doğu ve Doğuluyu Şeytanlaştırması

Öz

Vathek, Abbasi halifelerinden Al-Wathik’in (842-847) zalim yönetimini konu edinirken, bir yandan da İslam halifeliği ve İslam kültürünü itibarsızlaştırma çabasındadır. Beckford için doğunun egzotik bir cazibesi olsa da, bu dünya aynı zamanda tehditkâr ve tehlikelidir. Eserde, sihir ve büyüyle uğraşan zorba, şeytani hükümdarların tahakkümü altındaki ‘iyi’ Müslümanlar kuru kalabalık olmaktan öteye gidemezler ve doğunun bu teslimiyetçi kültürel kimliği de Beckford tarafından batıyı tanımlayan ‘öteki’ şeklinde resmedilir. Eserlerinde Protestan ahlâkını ‘çürümüş’ Katolik inancına karşı öven geleneksel İngiliz Gotik yazarların aksine batı dilleri ve kültürleriyle tanışık olan Beckford, çok kültürlü Avrupalı bireyden yanadır: Aydınlanma Çağı’nın idealize ettiği bu bireyin şeytani ikizini çıkarmak adına da İslam topraklarının halifesini öfkeli, kibirli, açgözlü, tembel, şehvetli, kıskanç ve obur biri olarak betimler. Beckford’un doğu ve doğulu için çizdiği bu sosyo-kültürel, psikolojik şema da, birinci ve ikinci kuşak romantik şairlerin Beckford’u örnek almaları sebebiyle doğuyu, İslam’ı ve Müslümanlar’ı Beckford gibi çarpıtılmış biçimde tasvir etmelerinin yolunu açmıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Gotik,Romantizm,Beckford,Şarkiyatçılık,İslam

Kaynakça

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