The Truth(s) of Western Civilization in Julian Barnes’ A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters

Year 2024, , 510 - 526, 26.04.2024

Begüm Tuğlu Atamer

https://doi.org/10.21547/jss.1329076

Abstract

A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters (1989) promises a history of the world, however, it only provides its readers with subjective perceptions of various Western characters. Barnes’ collection of vaguely connected stories depicts the world as a hegemonic Western space in which the Western definition of universal truth is used as a tool of cultural imperialism. The connections between the stories might seem oblique but meticulously structured patriarchal, religious, and artistic elements seem to expose the multiplicity of the definition of truth while simultaneously revealing how truth is used as a tool to create a specific and an exclusive understanding of civilization that is reserved for the West. This study explores how gender relations, religion, art, and perceptions towards cultures outside the Western civilization are narrated in A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters to reveal how Barnes reinstalls the very dynamics of the Western civilization he aims to deconstruct. The study starts with an exploration of the truths that are narrated in Barnes’ novel in order to demonstrate how Barnes attempts to deconstruct the fundamental values of civilization in his work through his stories offered from subjective points of view that are exclusively Western. The second part of the study defines the main ideals of the Western civilization and correlates these ideals with Barnes’ narrative which offers a seemingly deconstructive discourse while simultaneously reinstating hegemonic undertones. The third part of the study focuses on how Barnes reinstalls a fundamentally exclusive Western understanding of patriarchy, religion and art through his stories.

Keywords

Western civilization, literary truth, historiographic metafiction, Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters

Economi The Truth(s) of Western Civilization in Julian Barnes’ A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters

Abstract

10 ½ Bölümde Dünya Tarihi (1989) bir dünya tarihi anlatısı vadederken yalnızca çeşitli Batılı karakterlerin öznel alımlamalarını ortaya koymaktadır. Barnes’ın zayıf bağlarla birbirlerine tutturulan hikâyeleri, dünyayı evrensel hakikatin Batılı tanımının kültürel emperyalizm olarak kullanıldığı hegemonik Batılı bir uzam olarak betimlemektedir. Hikâyelerin arasındaki bağlantılar bulanık görünebilir ancak dikkatlice yapılandırılan ataerkil, dinî ve sanatsal unsurlar, hakikat kavramının tanımının çoğulluğunu dışa vururken aynı zamanda hakikatin nasıl belirgin ve ayrıcalıklı bir şekilde Batıya ait bir medeniyet anlayışı yaratmak için bir araç olarak kullanıldığını da göstermektedir. Bu çalışma, toplumsal cinsiyet ilişkileri, din, sanat ve Batı medeniyetinin dışında kalan kültürlere dair alımlamalara odaklanarak 10 ½ Bölümde Dünya Tarihi romanında Julian Barnes’ın yapısökümüne uğratmayı hedeflerken yeniden ürettiği Batı medeniyetinin temel dinamiklerini ortaya koymayı hedeflemektedir. Çalışmanın ilk bölümü Barnes’ın romanında hakikatlerin araştırılmasına ve bu hakikatlerin medeniyetin temel değerlerini ayrıcalıklı şekilde Batılı olan öznel bakış açıları ile oluşturduğu hikâyeleri aracılığıyla nasıl yapısökümüne uğratmaya çalıştığına odaklanmaktadır. İkinci bölümde, Batı medeniyetinin ana idealleri tanımlanmakta ve bu değerlerin görünürde yapısökümcü bir söylem sunmaya çalışırken nasıl aynı anda hegemonik alt anlamları yeniden ürettiğini göstermek amaçlanmaktadır. Üçüncü bölümde ise çalışma, Barnes’ın temelde salt Batılı bir perspektiften anlam bulan ataerkillik, din ve sanat kavramlarının hikâyeleri aracılığıyla nasıl yıkmaya çalıştığı değerleri yeniden güçlendirdiği ortaya konulmaktadır.

Keywords

Batı medeniyeti, edebi hakikat, tarihsel üstkurmaca, Julian Barnes, 10 ½ Bölümde Dünya Tarihi

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