An Ecocritical Exploration of Bakhtin's Major Concepts in Solar Storms

Year 2024, Issue: 20, 81 - 102, 10.03.2024

Ayşe Şensoy , Meryem Ayan

https://doi.org/10.46250/kulturder.1395061

Abstract

Mikhail Bakhtin is a Russian scholar who has been studied internationally in fields of literature and the humanities. Basing his theory on the principle of communication, Bakhtin formed a significant path in literary and cultural studies. Some scholars like Michael Gardiner (1993), Michael M. Bell (1994), Michael J. McDowell (1996), Timo Müller (2010) and Patrick D. Murphy (2013) propose that Bakhtin’s concepts can be appropriated to ecocriticism to make more powerful analyses of literary texts since both Bakhtinian literary criticism and ecocriticism highlight diversity, heterogeneity, agency, and interaction. In this way, Bakhtinian ecocritical theory suggests a new definition of the human subject in its relation to the physical environment and nonhuman beings. Revealing the viability of Bakhtinian critical theory with ecological concerns, this article aims to study the novel Solar Storms by Linda Hogan, a Native American female writer, through an “eco-Bakhtinian” approach to explore how nature is represented in Native American context, how the relationship between human and nonhuman worlds is depicted, how both worlds function in one another, how and why the perception of nature differs in cultural aspects, and how the concept of nature has changed over time. In doing so, this article attempts to show the interaction between culture-nature, human-nonhuman, earth-body, body-mind, traditional-modern, native-non-native, fact-fiction, story-history, self-other, individual-society, and text-reader.

Keywords

Linda Hogan, Solar Storms, native American, Mikhail Bakhtin, ecocriticism

Güneş Fırtınaları Romanında Bahtin’in Temel Kavramlarının Ekoeleştirel Bir İncelemesi

Abstract

Mihail Bahtin, edebiyat ve beşerî bilimler alanlarında uluslararası ölçekte çalışılan bir Rus düşünür ve kuramcıdır. Kuramını iletişim ilkesine dayandıran Bahtin, edebiyat ve kültür çalışmalarında önemli bir yol çizmiştir. Bahtin’in fikirleri son yıllarda edebiyat ve kültür kuramlarının en verimli eleştirel temaları arasında yer almıştır. Michael Gardiner (1993), Michael M. Bell (1994), Michael J. McDowell (1996), Timo Müller (2010) ve Patrick D. Murphy (2013) gibi yazar ve akademisyenler, hem Bahtinci hem de ekoeleştirel kuramların çeşitliliği, heterojenliği, eyleyiciliği ve etkileşimi vurgulamasından dolayı Bahtin'in kavramlarının edebî metinlerin daha güçlü çözümlemelerini yapmak için ekoeleştiriye uygulanabileceğini öne sürmüşlerdir. Böylece Bahtinci ekoeleştiri, fiziksel çevre ve insan olmayan canlılar ile ilişkisinde insan öznesinin yeni bir tanımını ortaya koymaktadır. Bahtin’in eleştirel kuramının ekolojik konulara uygulanabilirliğini gösteren bu makale, yerli Amerikan bağlamında doğanın nasıl tasvir edildiğini, insan ve insan olmayan dünyalar arasındaki ilişkinin nasıl betimlendiğini, her iki dünyanın birbiri içinde nasıl işlediğini, doğa algısının kültürel açıdan nasıl ve neden farklılaştığını, ve doğa kavramının zaman içinde nasıl değiştiğini ortaya çıkarmak için yerli Amerikan kadın yazar Linda Hogan’ın Güneş Fırtınaları romanını “eko-Bahtinci” bir yaklaşımla incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Bunu yaparken bu makale, kültür/ doğa, insan/ insan olmayan, yeryüzü-beden, beden-zihin, geleneksel-modern, yerli-yerli olmayan, gerçek-kurgu, hikâye-tarih, birey-toplum, benlik-öteki ve metin-okur arasındaki etkileşimi göstermeye çalışmaktadır.

Keywords

Linda Hogan, Güneş Fırtınaları, yerli Amerikan, Mihail Bahtin, ekoeleştiri

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