Isolation, frustration and struggle in B. S. Johnson's Three Main novels
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Date
2009-09-10
Authors
Yıldırım, Billur
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Uludağ Üniversitesi
Abstract
Bryan Stanley Johnson çalışan sınıftan bir aileye sahip; yaşıtlarına göre çok geç aldığı eğitim sayesinde edebi dünyanın yüksek sınıflarına yükselmiş deneysel bir yazardı. Johnson en önde gelenleri Albert Angelo, Trawl ve House Mother Normal olan romanlarına konu olarak hayatın ham gerçeklerini seçmiştir. Yazar altmışlı ve yetmişli yılların muhafazakar ortamında yazmaya çalışıyordu. Bu arada; gerek sınıfsal kökeni gerekse edebi gelenek ve roman hakkındaki marjinal görüşleri nedeniyle kendisine ayırımcılık uygulayan ve kendisini yok sayan hakim edebi topluluğu eleştirmekten de çekinmiyordu. Johnson hikaye anlatmanın yalan söylemek olduğuna inanıyordu. Bu nedenle; romanlarında kendi deneyimlerini, gerçek hayatın kaotik yapısını daha iyi aktarabileceğini düşündüğü rasgele bir sırayla kullanmaktaydı.Ona göre; uydurulmuş veya hayal edilmiş olaylarla gerçek duyguları uyandırmak mümkün değildi.Bu nedenle; romanlarında onun kişisel ve edebi karakterini oluşturan yalıtılmışlık, engellenme ve mücadele kavramalarının izlerini takip etmek mümkün görünmektedir. Gerçek temelli bakış açısının yanı sıra; yazarın fikirlerini okuyucuya aktarmak için yenilikçi fikirleri vardı. Gerçeği okuyucuya aktarmak için grafik yöntemlerden de yararlanıyordu. Özetlemek gerekirse; Johnson'ın eserleri yalıtılmışlık içindeki bir yazarın, edebi bir marjinal, sosyal olarak bir yabancı ve duygusal açıdan yalıtılmış bir çalışan sınıf adamı olarak yaşadığı tüm engellemelere rağmen edebiyatın gelişmesi ve edebi geleneğin yeniden tanımlanması gerekliliklerini kanıtlamak için nasıl mücadele edip nasıl başardığını göstermektedir.
Bryan Stanley Johnson was an experimental writer who was born into a working class family and, then, elevated to the upper classes of literary world by education, which he got at a relatively later age than his same agers as a result of his failure in the exam. He believed in use of truth as subject matter in his novels, among which the most outstanding ones are Albert Angelo, Trawl and House Mother Normal. Johnson tried to write in the conservative environmant of 60s and early 70s. Meanwhile; he was criticazing the literary community, which discriminated and neglected him because of both his class origins and his marginal views about novel and literary tradition. Johnson used to believe that telling stories was telling lies. Thus; he tried to use his own experiences in his novels mostly in random order, which he thought reflected the chaotic structure of real life. In his opinion, it was impossible to evoke real emotions via imagined or made up events. Therefore; it seems possible to track the signs of Johnson?s life and isolations, frustrations and struggles that shaped his personal and literary character in his novels. Apart from his truth based views on novel content; he also had innovative opninions of mediating the writers ideas to the readers. For that reason; he used typographical means to convey the truth. To sum up; it may be said that Johnsons works show us how an isolated writer struggled and succeeded to prove that literature should be developed and literary tradition must be redefined, despite all the frustrations he had in his life as a literary marginal, socially outsider and emotionally isolated man coming from a working class family
Bryan Stanley Johnson was an experimental writer who was born into a working class family and, then, elevated to the upper classes of literary world by education, which he got at a relatively later age than his same agers as a result of his failure in the exam. He believed in use of truth as subject matter in his novels, among which the most outstanding ones are Albert Angelo, Trawl and House Mother Normal. Johnson tried to write in the conservative environmant of 60s and early 70s. Meanwhile; he was criticazing the literary community, which discriminated and neglected him because of both his class origins and his marginal views about novel and literary tradition. Johnson used to believe that telling stories was telling lies. Thus; he tried to use his own experiences in his novels mostly in random order, which he thought reflected the chaotic structure of real life. In his opinion, it was impossible to evoke real emotions via imagined or made up events. Therefore; it seems possible to track the signs of Johnson?s life and isolations, frustrations and struggles that shaped his personal and literary character in his novels. Apart from his truth based views on novel content; he also had innovative opninions of mediating the writers ideas to the readers. For that reason; he used typographical means to convey the truth. To sum up; it may be said that Johnsons works show us how an isolated writer struggled and succeeded to prove that literature should be developed and literary tradition must be redefined, despite all the frustrations he had in his life as a literary marginal, socially outsider and emotionally isolated man coming from a working class family
Description
Keywords
B. S. Johnson, Edebiyat, Roman, Yalıtılmışlık, Engellenme, Mücadele, Deneysel, Literature, Novel, Isolation, Frustration, Struggle, Experimental
Citation
Billur, Y. (2009). Isolation, frustration and struggle in B. S. Johnson's Three Main novels. Yayınlanmamış yüksek lisans tezi. Uludağ Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü.