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Subversion of the Empire and Colonial Spatial Narratives in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Almayer's Folly

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Subversion of the Empire and Colonial Spatial Narratives in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Almayer's Folly SUBVERSION OF THE EMPIRE AND COLONIAL SPATIAL NARRATIVES IN JOSEPH CONRAD'S HEART OF DARKNESS AND ALMAYER'S FOLLY A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY AHMET CAN VARGÜN IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE NOVEMBER 2019 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Yaşar KONDAKÇI Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem SAĞIN ŞİMŞEK Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts. Assist. Prof. Dr. Hülya YILDIZ BAĞÇE Supervisor Examining Committee Members Assist. Prof. Dr. Elif ÖZTABAK AVCI (METU, ELIT) Assist. Prof. Dr. Hülya YILDIZ BAĞÇE (METU, ELIT) Assist. Prof. Dr. Mustafa KIRCA (Çankaya Uni., TINS) I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last Name : Ahmet Can VARGÜN Signature : iii ABSTRACT SUBVERSION OF THE EMPIRE AND COLONIAL SPATIAL NARRATIVES IN JOSEPH CONRAD'S HEART OF DARKNESS AND ALMAYER'S FOLLY VARGÜN, Ahmet Can M.A. in English Literature Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Hülya YILDIZ BAĞÇE November 2019, 163 pages This thesis analyses narrative spaces of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899) and Almayer’s Folly (1895) to better situate him within the discussions of whether his works strengthen the colonial discourse or disturb it. In the light of the postcolonial spatiality Sara Upstone, Bill Ashcroft, and John Noyes develop, which discuss colonization spatially via the concepts of rewriting, negation, and forcing newness, this thesis argues that Joseph Conrad problematizes colonial spatial absolutism. Colonial discourse manifests mathematical, static, and taken-for- granted narrative spaces. Conrad’s works disrupt the imperial spatial rhetoric by rendering subjective, incomprehensible, unmappable, and impenetrable narrative spaces. These characteristics are explorable by the tenets of modernism and impressionism. Foregrounding the narrative spaces of the texts under study not only reveals a critical attitude against colonial spatial rhetoric but also demonstrates the importance and the potential of the study of narrative space against time in narratology. Therefore, suppression of space as a secondary constituent of narratives manifests ramifications of a colonial narratology in which temporality is prioritized and the violence done to space is silenced. Heart of Darkness weakens imperial iv spatial narratives with modernism and the subjective narrative point of view and Almayer’s Folly modifies colonial narrative conventions of describing static spaces and develops a narrative spatiality which can deliver diversity and impairs the totalizations of space in imperial narratives. Keywords: Postcolonial Spatiality, Heart of Darkness, Almayer’s Folly, Narrative Space, Colonial Space v ÖZ JOPSEPH CONRAD’IN KARANLIĞIN KALBİ VE ALMAYER’IN SIRÇA KÖŞKÜ ROMANLARINDAKİ İMPARATORLUĞUN VE SÖMÜRGECİ UZAMSAL ANLATILARIN BOZUMU VARGÜN, Ahmet Can Yüksek Lisans Tezi, İngiliz Edebiyatı Tez Yöneticisi: Dr. Öğr. Üyesi Hülya YILDIZ BAĞÇE Kasım 2019, 163 Sayfa Bu tez Joseph Conrad’ın Karanlığın Kalbi (1899) ve Almayer’ın Sırça Köşkü (1895) romanlarındaki anlatısal uzamları inceler. Conrad’ın bahsi geçen eserlerde sömürgeci söylemleri nasıl yansıttığını daha iyi konumlandırmayı amaçlar. Bu tez, Sara Upstone, Bill Ashcroft ve John Noyes gibi yazar ve düşünürlerin sömürgeleşmeyi uzamsal olarak incelemek için geliştirdiği yeniden yazım, boşa çıkarma ve yeniliği zorlama gibi kavramların ışığında, Joseph Conrad’ın incelenen eserlerinde sömürgeci mutlak uzamsal anlatıyı sorunsallaştırdığını savunur. Sömürgeci anlatısal uzamlar matematiksel, değişmez ve önemi sorgulanmaz uzamsal anlatılar ortaya çıkarır. Conrad’ın eserleri imparatorluğa ait bu uzamsal retoriği, modernizm ve empresyonizm yoluyla (öznel, anlaşılamaz, haritalandırılamaz anlatısal uzamlar resmederek) engeller. Karanlığın Kalbi ve Almayer’ın Sırça Köşkü romanlarının anlatısal uzamlarını öne çıkarmak sadece sömürgeci uzamsal retoriğin yıkımına özgün örnekleri ortaya çıkarmakla kalmaz, ayrıca anlatıbilim bağlamı içinde anlatısal uzamın anlatısal zamana göre önemini de gösterir. Bu nedenle uzamın, anlatının ikincil bir bileşeni olarak vi bastırılmasının ve aksiyon için bir kap görevi görecek şekilde konumlandırılmasının uzama yapılan şiddetin sessizleştirildiği, sömürgeci bir anlatıbilimin gelişmesi yönünde sonuçları oluşmaktadır. Conrad’ın eserlerine uzamsal bir yönelişin, yazarın edebi sanatının gelişimi, İmparatorluğun uzamsal söylemlerinin yıkımı ve anlatıbilim içinde anlatısal zamanın önceliğinin tartışmaya açıldığı gibi sonuçlar ortaya çıkmaktadır. Bu bağlamda, Karanlığın Kalbi modernizm ve öznel anlatısal bakış açısı ile İmparatorluğun mutlak uzamsal anlatılarını sorgularken, Almayer’ın Sırça Köşkü ise değişmez uzamların resmedildiği sömürgeci anlatısal gelenekleri değiştirerek çoğulcu uzamsal anlatıları verebilecek, sömürgeci uzamsal mutlakıyetin işlemediği bir anlatı tarzını geliştirir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Sömürgecilik Sonrası Uzam, Karanlığın Kalbi, Almayer’ın Sırça Köşkü, Anlatısal Uzam, Sömürgeci Uzam vii To my family and my love viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply grateful to my supervisor Assist. Prof. Dr. Hülya Yıldız Bağçe for her guidance and support. She has always been available when I needed help and I am very thankful for her encouragement and interest in my research. Her careful editing and many hours of both written and verbal feedback on my drafts guided me towards the actualization of this thesis. I am thankful for her adamantine patience with me. I count myself lucky to be one of her students. I am filled with gratitude to my jury members Assist. Prof. Dr. Elif Öztabak Avcı and Assist. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Kırca for their constructive criticism during both my proposal jury and my thesis defense jury. I cherish the experience, the suggestions, and the chance to learn from them so that they guide me in my future studies. I would like to thank to all my friends who encouraged me and pushed me to finish my thesis. I am idyllic when I remember the laughter, the gossiping, and the great company of my friends Tuğba Pekşen, Özkan Akkaya and Azime Pekşen. I thank the many fun and busy hours we have spent at the library together. I am heartily thankful to Gülsevin Güleryüz Kara whose candid encouragements catapulted my motivation in writing this thesis and with whom I shared a common research topic. I would like to thank to many people who helped me during the process of writing this thesis; I sincerely want them to know that they are always more than worthy of my undying regard. I would like to thank to my dear parents and my brother for their support of any kind because I would not be the person I am today without their everlasting love, faith, and confidence in me. To, my lovely wife Sevda, I express my boundless love and gratitude. This work owes a great debt to your intellect, patience, and support. I cherish the moments we spend discussing and explaining each other our ideas. Your sweet reproaches when I was lazy, your unconditional love, and support have been a substantial drive for me. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM.........................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................ iv ÖZ ............................................................................................................................ vi DEDICATION ...................................................................................................... viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................... ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................... x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................ xii CHAPTER 1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 1.1 The Aim of the Study ............................................................................. 1 1.2 Methodology and the Frame of the Study .............................................. 3 1.2.1 Spatial Terminology: Space, Narrative Space, Setting, Place, Landscape, and Description ................................................................. 10 2 Spatial Manipulation .................................................................................. 16 2.1 The Spatiality of Colonization and Postcolonial Spatiality .................. 16 2.1.1 Colonial Erosion of Space: Appropriation through Rewriting .... 17 2.1.2 Colonial Reconstruction of Space: Re-signification of Space through Discourse and Imaginary Lines .............................................. 24 2.2 Spatial Turn, Space and Narratology ................................................... 37 2.3 Modernism, Impressionism, Space, and Conrad .................................. 50 3 Heart of Darkness and the Foregrounding of Narrative Space
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