Evelyn Waugh’un Bir Avuç Toz’unda Tony Last’ın Birey ve Toplumla Umutsuz Çarpışması

Year 2019, Volume: 18 Issue: 1, 1 - 12, 22.01.2019

Cemre Mimoza Bartu

https://doi.org/10.21547/jss.450374

Abstract

Evelyn Waugh’nun 1934 yılında
yazdığı Bir Avuç Toz, başkahraman
Tony Last’ın yirminci yüzyıl Londra’sındaki farklı sahnelerde mücadelesini konu
alan yazarın dördüncü romanıdır. Bu romanda Waugh yirminci yüzyıl İngiliz
toplumu ve bireyinin karanlık tarafını resmederken “insanın bencilliği ve
kendini kandırması” fikrini açıkça ortaya koymaya çalışmıştır (Ward, 2008, p.679).
Genel anlamda, yazar modern zamanın ve bireyin ruhunu etkisi altına alan
yozlaşmayı ele alarak eleştirisini İngiliz toplumsal yaşamının farklı açılarına
yöneltmiştir. Tony Last’ın evliliği, sosyal ilişkileri ve Brezilya’ya yaptığı
seyahatine odaklanarak, Waugh geçmişe ve geleneklere değer veren masum Tony
Last portresi çizmiştir. Ancak, böylesi bir toplumda yaşamında devam edebilmek
amacıyla Tony kendini bulmak için girdiği mücadelelerde her seferinde mağlup
olur. Bu sonuçsuz girişimleri resmetmek amacıyla da Waugh romana başkahramanın
hüsranıyla biten iki farklı son yazar. Bireysel başarısızlıklar ve
sosyo-kültürel yozlaşmadan ötürü roman, kişisel, kültürel ve sosyal
tersliklerle çevrelenmiş Tony Last’ın savaşı ile ilgilidir. Bu bilgiler
ışığında, bu çalışmada modernist bir tema olan bireyin arayışı Tony Last’ınki
üzerinden incelenirken, Waugh’nun romanındaki modern zamanlar ve kişileri
eleştirisi de tartışılmaktadır. 

Keywords

Evelyn Waugh, Bir Avuç Toz, Modernist Roman, Arayış, Birey ve Toplum, Tony Last

The Doomed Struggle of Tony Last with the Society and the Individual in Evelyn Waugh’s A Handful of Dust

Abstract

A Handful of Dust (1934), the fourth novel of Evelyn Waugh, deals with
the struggles of the protagonist Tony Last in various stages of the twentieth
century society. Waugh in this novel illustrates a dark picture of the
twentieth century English society and its individuals with the aim of laying
bare the “human selfishness and self-delusion” (Ward, 2008, p.679). In general
sense, the author directs his criticism towards the various aspects of English
social life indicating the pervading decadence in the soul of the individual
and modern zeitgeist. Focusing on Tony Last’s, marriage, social relationships
and expedition to Brazil, Waugh delineates a portrait of an innocent man who
values the past and its traditions. Yet, in order to survive in the society
Tony embarks on a quest for self-identity but fails in each attempt. So as to
illustrate the futile attempts of Tony, Waugh writes two different endings for
the novel both of which end in utter failures. Therefore, by the virtue of
individual failures and socio-cultural corruption, the novel is concerned with
the struggle of Tony Last who is surrounded by those individual, cultural and
social adversities. In this study, the modernist theme of the quest of the
individual will be analysed through Tony Last’s quest in social and personal
spheres by also demonstrating the Waugh’s critique of the modern times.                                                                                                
    

Keywords

Evelyn Waugh, A Handful of Dust, Modernist Novel, Quest, Individual vs Society

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