THE HUMAN BODY AS A TEXT IN CHARLES DICKENS’S A TALE OF TWO CITIES

Yıl 2024, Cilt: 8 Sayı: 4, 1090 - 1104, 30.12.2024

Işıl Öteyaka

https://doi.org/10.47525/ulasbid.1571522

Öz

Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities portrays a social panorama of the French Revolution in the context of the human body as a canvas for the era’s political and psychological struggles. In this panorama, characters’ actions and experiences inscribe bodies as texts of power dynamics, and the narrative reveals how the human body embodies themes of suffering, resilience, and transformation. Accordingly, the novel engages with the representation of the human body as an agent that both acts and is acted on. The body serves not only as a site of personal struggle but also as a powerful symbol of collective identity and social unrest. By analyzing key moments in the text, this study scrutinizes how Dickens uses bodily imagery to illustrate the interplay between individual agency and body politics as societal forces, and how he conditions the human body as a critical lens which reflects the political discourse and emotional atmosphere of the era in A Tale of Two Cities. Accordingly, the paper will focus on the human body not as an isolated entity but as a social and political construct by employing a theoretical framework that blends phenomenology, critical body theory, and Foucauldian perspectives on body and power.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, body politics, human body as a text

CHARLES DICKENS’IN İKİ ŞEHRİN HİKAYESİ ESERİNDE İNSAN BEDENİNİN METİN OLARAK İNCELENMESİ

Öz

Charles Dickens'ın İki Şehrin Hikayesi adlı eseri, Fransız Devrimi'nin toplumsal panoramasını, dönemin politik ve psikolojik mücadelelerini anlatan bir tuval olarak insan bedeni bağlamında tasvir eder. Bu tasvirde, karakterlerin eylemleri ve deneyimleri bedenleri güç dinamiklerinin metinleri olarak işlerken, anlatı insan bedeninin acı, dayanıklılık ve dönüşüm temalarını nasıl somutlaştırdığını ortaya koymaktadır. Buna bağlı olarak, roman insan bedeninin hem eylemde bulunan hem de eylemde bulunulan bir etken olarak temsil edilmesiyle ilgilenmektedir. Beden yalnızca kişisel mücadele alanı olarak değil, aynı zamanda kolektif kimliğin ve toplumsal huzursuzluğun güçlü bir sembolünü de ortaya koymaktadır. Bu çalışma, metindeki önemli anları analiz ederek, Charles Dickens’ın İki Şehrin Hikayesi eserinde bireylerin eylemlerindeki bireysel yetkinlikleri ile toplumsal güçleri oluşturan beden politikaları arasındaki etkileşimi tasvir etmek için bedensel imgeleri nasıl kullandığını ve insan bedenini dönemin politik söylemini ve duygusal atmosferini yansıtan eleştirel bir mercek olarak nasıl konumlandırdığını incelemektedir. Buna göre, makale fenomenoloji, eleştirel beden teorisi ve beden ve iktidara ilişkin Foucaultcu bakış açılarını harmanlayan teorik bir çerçeve kullanarak insan bedenini izole bir varlık olarak değil, toplumsal ve politik bir yapı olarak odağına almaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Charles Dickens, İki Şehrin Hikayesi, beden politikaları, metin olarak insan bedeni.

Etik Beyan

Bu çalışma ile ilgili taraf olabilecek herhangi bir kişi, kurum veya kuruluşun finansal ilişkileri bulunmadığını dolayısıyla herhangi bir çıkar çatışmasının olmadığını beyan ederim.

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