A comparative study of the saint of incipent insanities by Elif Shafak and Brick Lane by Monica Ali by focusing on the loss of identity

Abstract

Son yillarda cokkulturluluk hem edebiyatin hemde politikanin en onemlikonularindan biri haline geldi. Kulturel cogulculuk ve ulusal kimlik kavraminiasma cabalari gunumuz dunyasinda kuresellesmenin kacinilmaz bir sonucu olarakortaya cikti. Cokkulturluluk meselesine artan bir talep olustu ve bu kavram butundunyada karsitlari ve savunuculariyla genis olarak tartisilmaya baslandi.Yurtdisinda yasayan gocmenlerin otekiyle olan iliskileri kapsaminda asimilasyon,ayrimcilik, otekilestirme ve kimlik kaybi gibi cesitli kavramlar kullanilmayabaslandi. Bu tez kapsaminda cokkulturluluk ve kimlik kaybi konularinayogunlasilacak olmasina ragmen, konunun akisina gore diger kavramlara da atiftabulunulacaktir.Bu calismada cokkulturluluk ve cogulcu kimlik konulari lehte ve aleyhtegorusler kullanilarak tartisilacak, daha sonra ise konu Elif Safak ve Monica Aliromanlarina yapilan referanslarla derinlemesine ele alinacaktir.Birinci bolum belirtilen konularla ilgili genel bir bilgi ve bu konularinedebiyattaki yansimalarini ele alir.Somurge donemi sonrasinda ortaya cikanedebiyat teorisi ve bu teorinin edebi eserleri nasil sekillendirdigi ile ilgilidir. Dahasonra kulturel cesitlilige haiz toplumlarda yasamanin mumkunlugu vecokkulturluluk kavrami derinlemesine ele alinmistir. 3. bolum tez kapsaminda elealinan yazarlar ve eserleri hakkinda kisa bilgi vermektedir. Daha sonraki bolumlerayri ayri romanlari incelemeye ayrilmistir; yabanci kulturlerle basetmeye calisanroman karakterlerinin psikolojilerini ve herbirinin birey olarak hayata tutunmacabalarini anlatir. Son olarak, ortaya cikan fikirler isiginda iki romaninkarsilastirmali bir analizi yer almaktadir.Anahtar kelimeler; cokkulturluluk, arada kalmislik, aidiyetsizlik, kimlik kaybi,vatan kavrami, aidiyet, kulturel farklilik.

Multiculturalism became one of the prominent topics of both literature andpolitics in the last decades. As a result of globalization, cultural pluralism andtranscending the boundary of national identity came on stage as the indispensablerealities of today?s world. There is an increasing demand on the issue ofmulticulturalism and it became one of the most controversial topics throughoutthe world with both its critics and supporters. In terms of the immigrant?srelationship with the other citizens of the hosting countries, various terms likeassimilation, discrimination, othering and loss of identity are used. In this thesismulticulturalism and loss of identity are the focused ones, yet there are alsoreferences to the others through the course of the work.In this work, the concept of multiculturalism and dealing with pluralidentities will be discussed initially by talking about both pros and cons of theissue and later, in the light of those ideas, it will be deeply analyzed withreferences to two novels by Elif Shafak and Monica Ali.Chapter 1 concerns with the general information about the emergence ofpost-colonial theory and the effects of it on literature. After that, the possibility ofliving in culturally diverse societies is discussed. The following chapter concernswith multiculturalism as a branch of post-colonial theory. Chapters 3 gives briefinformation about the authors and their works. The following chapters deal withtwo novels separately; there is an analysis of the psychology of characters in bothnovels as individuals trying to succeed in foreign cultures. Finally, there will be acomparative part of the two novels in the light of the ideas developed.Key Words: multiculturalism, inbetweenness, displacement, loss of identity,notion of home, belonging, cultural diversity