A mimetic and narratological reading of postmodern fiction

Abstract

Bu tez parcalanmis ve karmasik bir anlatiya sahip olan ve de butunluklu biranlam icermezmis gibi gorunen postmodern metnin yapisinin metni anlamli kilabildiginikanitlmayi amaclayarak uc postmodern calismayi inceler: Richard Brautigan'in kisaoykusu ?Scarlatti Tilt?, Don DeLillo'nun romani Beden Sanatcisi ve Spike Jonze'unfilmi Tersyuz. Postmodern eserlerin butunluklu ve anlamli yorumlari mumkunkildiklarini gostermek icin Mimetik Teori ve Anlati Bilimi tekrar incelenmelidir. Bu tezeskiden gunumuze bircok mimetik anlayisini, postmodern eserlerin de gercegegonderme yaptigini aslinda eserlerde yansitilanin postmodern donemde zaten parcaliolan algilar oldguunu gostermek icin inceler. Anlati Bilimi metinlerin ?anlati? kabuledilmeleri icin butunluklu ve birbirini takip eder sirayla oykulenmeleri gerektigini soylerama metinlerdeki anlatici bakis acisi, gecmise yonelik aciklama iceren bolumler ve deanlatidaki yazar ve okuyucu arasinda gerceklesen iletisim duzeni incelendiginde ?anlati?olmanin bir metin icin muhakkak butunluklu ve kronolojik bir duzen gerektirmedigianlasilir. Bahsedilen Anlati Bilimi araclarini mimesisin postmodern metinlerde debulundugu iddiasiyla birlestiren bu calisma eserlerdeki parcalanmis anlati ve boslugunbutunluklu hikayelere isaret edebilecegini iddia eder. Iki cumleden olusan kisa oyku?Scarlatti Tilt? metinde gerceklestigi bile acik bir sekilde soylenmeyen bir cinayetianlatir; parcali ve 3. sahis anlatisina sahip olan Beden Sanatcisi kocasinin olumundensonraki halini aslinda kendi agzindan anlatan bir kadinin hikayesidir; ve Tersyuzpostmodern metnin klasik anlatiyla icice gecip mimetik ve butunluklu anlati ozelliklerikazanabilecegini gosterir.

This thesis analyzes three postmodern pieces: ?Scarlatti Tilt?, a short story byRichard Brautigan, The Body Artist, a novel by Don DeLillo, and Adaptation, a film bySpike Jonze, with an aim to prove that the structure of all three, though highlyfragmented and complex, as well as the seemingly absent unified meaning eventuallylead to a closure. A reinterpretation of mimetic theory and narratology is necessary todemonstrate how postmodern texts lend themselves to more meaningful interpretations.This thesis explores several mimetic approaches including ancient and contemporaryones to display that even postmodern texts are still referential in the sense that theyreflect the perception of the postmodern era which itself is fragmented. Narratologyanalyzes texts in the light of sequentiality to attribute a narrative value to them;however, after reinterpreting the point of view, exposition and the communication modelof narrative, which involves the participation of the implied author, the dramatizednarrator, the model reader and the authorial reader, one can see that narrative qualitydoes not necessitate a sequential order. Combining the reinterpreted narratologicalapproaches mentioned above with the idea that mimesis continues to exist inpostmodern fiction, this study claims that the fragmentation and emptiness in texts canreveal unified plots. The two-sentence-long short story ?Scarlatti Tilt? narrates a murderwhich the text does not explicitly portray; the fragmented novel The Body Artist is thenarration of a woman?s story by herself in the aftermath her husband?s death, and thefilm Adaptation displays that postmodern fiction may have to cooperate withconventional story telling, thereby being mimetic and narrative.