INVASION OF THE SYMBOLIC BY THE SEMIOTIC IN ORANGES ARE NOT THE ONLY FRUIT: A KRISTEVAN ANALYSIS

Year 2022, , 204 - 216, 26.01.2022

Sinem Oruç

https://doi.org/10.21547/jss.956677

Abstract

It can be argued that Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson’s debut novel, subverts the two main patriarchal institutions, the family and Church, by laying bare how they accommodate the motherly in their fatherly discourse. These subversions emerge especially in the problematic mother-daughter relationship, family and religion as a result of their confusing nature, centrality in the novel and formative effects on Jeanette’s life. The two main domains in the novel, which are the family and the Church, require further analysis as they are mingled with the mother-daughter relations, and Kristeva’s register theory would yield a deeper psychoanalytic insight into the family and Church. In “Stabat Mater,” Kristeva’s discussions of Virgin Mary as a “return of the repressed” and a subversion of the semiotic within the symbolic order of monotheistic religion can offer insight into the construct of the family and the Church. This study aims to find out workings of the family and Church in Oranges in the light of Kristevan register theory and the maternal in “Stabat Mater.” It is claimed that the family and Church entail the maternal at their paternal heart despite the mother’s efforts to protect and perpetuate their patriarchal discourse and role in the symbolic order. Invasion of the symbolic by the semiotic is noteworthy because it brings about problematizations of binary oppositions, totalizing truths and the myth of development, which is found in Bildungsroman genre, upon which patriarchal constructs and the symbolic order depend.

Keywords

Oranges are not the Only Fruit, Kristeva, Winterson, “Stabat Mater", register theory, Virgin Mary

TEK MEYVE PORTAKAL DEĞİLDİR ROMANINDA SEMİYOTİĞİN SEMBOLİĞİ İŞGALİNİN KRISTEVACI BİR OKUMASI

Abstract

Jeanette Winterson’un ilk romanı Tek Meyve Portakal Değildir’in, toplumun iki temel ataerkil kurumu olan aile ve kiliseyi, babasal söylemlerinde annesel ögeleri bulundurmalarını gözler önüne sererek tersyüz ettiği öne sürülebilir. Tersyüz etme örnekleri özellikle romandaki sorunlu anne-kız ilişkisiyle aile ve din konularında görülür çünkü bu noktalar çelişkili doğaları gereği romanda ve ana kahraman Jeanette üzerinde büyük bir önem ve belirleyici etki taşımaktadır. Bu iki temel alanlardan aile ve kilise, anne-kız ilişkisi ile iç içe olmaları sebebiyle derinlemesine bir araştırmayı gerekli kılar ve Kristeva’nın kayıt kuramı, aile ve kiliseye derin bir psikanalitik bakış açısı sunabilir. “Stabat Mater” makalesinde Kristeva’nın Bakire Meryem’i tek tanrılı bir dinin sembolik düzeninde ortaya çıkan semiyotik tersyüz etme ve bir “bastırılmışın geri dönüşü” olarak ele alışı, romandaki aile ve kilise yapılarına dair bir bakış açısı sunabilir. Bu çalışma, Tek Meyve Portakal Değildir romanındaki aile ve kilisenin işleyişini Kristeva’nın “Stabat Mater” makalesindeki kayıt kuramı ve annesel ile ilgili görüşleri ışığında araştırmayı amaçlar. Romandaki aile ve kilisenin, anne karakterinin ataerkil söylemi ve bu kurumların sembolik düzendeki rolünü koruma ve devam ettirme çabalarına rağmen, babasal merkezlerinde annesel ögeleri bulundurdukları öne sürülmektedir. Semboliğin semiyotik tarafından işgali, beraberinde ataerkil yapıların ve sembolik düzenin dayandığı ikili zıtlıkları, egemenlik kuran doğruları ve oluşum romanlarındaki gelişme mitini sorunsallaştırması açısından önem taşımaktadır.

Keywords

Tek Meyve Portakal Değildir, Kristeva, Winterson, “Stabat Mater", kayıt kuramı, Bakire Meryem

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