Dialectical Oscillations in Keats: a Kristevan Reading of Endymion, Hyperion and the Fall of Hyperion
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DIALECTICAL OSCILLATIONS IN KEATS: A KRISTEVAN READING OF ENDYMION, HYPERION AND THE FALL OF HYPERION A THESIS PROPOSAL SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY GÖKHAN ALBAYRAK IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH LITERATURE JANUARY 2019 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Tülin Gençöz Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Sağın Şimşek 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 Doctor of Philosophy. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Margaret J-M Sönmez Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. Huriye Reis (Hacettepe Uni., IDE) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Margaret J-M Sönmez (METU, FLE) Prof. Dr. Nazan Tutaş (Ankara Uni., IDE) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nurten Birlik (METU, FLE) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nil Korkut Kaykı (METU, FLE) PLAGIARISM 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 : Gökhan Albayrak Signature : iii ABSTRACT DIALECTICAL OSCILLATIONS IN KEATS: A KRISTEVAN READING OF ENDYMION, HYPERION AND THE FALL OF HYPERION Albayrak, Gökhan PhD, Department of English Literature Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Margaret J-M Sönmez January 2019, 422 pages By deploying Kristevan theory, this thesis argues that Keats's poetry oscillates between the semiotic and the symbolic and it asserts that the semiotic threatens to overwhelm the symbolic in Endymion while the poet strives to repress the semiotic in Hyperion poems but it returns and causes the poet to leave these poems as fragments. The poet is immersed in the semiotic in Endymion, a romance, while attempts are made to repress this immersion in the epicscape of Hyperion and in the allegorical vision of The Fall of Hyperion. Nevertheless, the semiotic resurfaces, thereby challenging the resolution to restrain the semiotic. This thesis also studies the Keatsian confrontation with the abject. Boundaries threaten to collapse in Endymion, which provokes repulsion in the encounter with the abject. Hyperion strives to maintain boundaries against the revolting presence of the abject; likewise, The Fall of Hyperion seeks to preserve distinctions in the face of the blurring of boundaries; nonetheless, both Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion are haunted by the abject. This study further iv discusses how melancholy permeates these longer poems. The melancholic Endymion withdraws from the symbolic and retreats into the realm of the unnameable Thing where self and other are undifferentiated. The fallen Titans in Hyperion relapse into asymbolic melancholy while the Olympian Apollo, the new god of the black sun, merges with the unrepresentable Thing, obliterating the divide between subject and object. Similarly, the poet-narrator of The Fall of Hyperion mingles with the muse Moneta, eradicating the breach between inside and outside. Keywords: Keats, the semiotic, the symbolic, abjection, melancholy v ÖZ KEATS ŞİİRİNDE DİYALEKTİK SALINIMLAR: ENDYMION, HYPERION VE THE FALL OF HYPERION ADLI ŞİİRLERİN KRISTEVACI OKUMASI Albayrak, Gökhan Doktora, İngiliz Edebiyatı Bölümü Danışman: Doç. Dr. Margaret J-M Sönmez Ocak 2019, 422 sayfa Kristeva’nın kuramından yararlanan bu çalışma Keats şiirinin semiyotik ve sembolik arasında salınımlar yaşadığını savunmaktadır; semiyotiğin Endymion şiirinde semboliği istila etme tehdidi olduğunu, buna karşılık şairin Hyperion şiirlerinde semiyotiği bastırmaya uğraştığını, ama yine de semiyotiğin geri döndüğünü ve bu şiirlerin yarım kalmasına sebep olduğunu iddia etmektedir. Şairin bir romans olan Endymion adlı şiirinde semiyotik olanı benimsediği ve onun içine gömüldüğü iddia edilmektedir. Diğer taraftan ise, epik bir şiir olan Hyperion ve bir alegori olarak görülen The Fall of Hyperion adlı şiirlerinde, semiyotikle olan bu kucaklaşma bastırılmaya çalışılmaktadır. Yine de, semiyotik ortaya çıkar ve böylece onu dizginleme kararlılığına meydan okur. Bu tez aynı zamanda şairin iğrençlikle karşılaşmasını da incelemektedir. Endymion şiirinde, sınırların muğlaklaşması tehdidi vardır; bu da şairde korku ve tiksinme duygularını uyandırır. Hyperion şiiri ise bu iğrenme duygusuna karşı, sınırları sağlamlaştırmaya çalışmaktadır; aynı şekilde The vi Fall of Hyperion şiirinde de, şair sınırların bulanıklaşmasına karşı onları pekiştirmeye çabalamaktadır. Fakat tiksinti her iki şiirin de peşini bırakmamaktadır. Ayrıca bu tezin bir diğer maksadı da melankolinin bu şiirlere nasıl sindiğini tahlil etmektir. Melankolik Endymion sembolik düzlemden uzaklaşır, ben ve öteki arasındaki bölünmenin olmadığı, adlandırılamaz olan Şeyin etkisine çekilir. Hyperion şiirinde ise çaptan düşmüş, yenik Titanlar asembolik melankolinin alanına geri düşerken, Apollo, ya da Kristeva’nın kavramıyla söyleyecek olursak yeni kara güneş tanrısı, ifade edilemez olan Şeyle kaynaşır ve böylece özne ve nesne arasındaki ayrımı aşındırır. Benzer şekilde, The Fall of Hyperion şiirindeki şair-anlatıcı esin perisi olan Moneta ile birleşip, içeri ve dışarı arasındaki gediği ortadan kaldırır. Anahtar kelimeler: Keats, semiyotik, sembolik, iğrençlik, melankoli vii DEDICATION to Boza and my parents Günay and Ali Albayrak viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Margaret J-M Sönmez, who has supported me throughout my studies with her enthusiasm, great effort, patience and kindness as well as her academic experience, which has been inspirational. Throughout this period, she has provided encouragement, motivation, sound advice, immense knowledge and good company. Besides my supervisor, I would like to thank the jury members Prof. Dr. Huriye Reis and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nurten Birlik for their wise advice, insightful comments and positive attitude. I also wish to thank Prof. Dr. Nazan Tutaş and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nil Korkut Kaykı for their valuable contributions and guidance. I wish to thank Bilge Bulut wholeheartedly for the thought-provoking discussions, for the sleepless nights we were working together before deadlines, and for all the fond memories and fun we have had since 2002. To Haktan Ural, I offer sincere thanks for his unshakeable faith in me, for encouraging me to embark on this journey, for the emotional support, camaraderie and caring he has provided throughout this period. Without this stimulating and fun environment in which to love, learn and grow, it would not be possible to write this thesis. Finally, but by no means least, I wish to thank my parents Günay and Ali Albayrak, and my grandmother Nedime Albayrak, who passed away three months ago. To them I dedicate this thesis. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ............................................................................................................ iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ iv ÖZ ................................................................................................................................ vi DEDICATION .......................................................................................................... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................. x CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The Aim of the Study ......................................................................................... 1 1.2 Julia Kristeva and Her Theory ........................................................................... 2 1.2.1 French Feminism ......................................................................................... 2 1.2.2 Kristeva’s Intellectual Journey and Her Conceptual Terrain ...................... 6 1.2.3 The Semiotic and the Symbolic ................................................................ 19 1.2.4 The Abject and Abjection ......................................................................... 37 1.2.5 Melancholy ................................................................................................ 41 1.3 A Kristevan Analysis of Keats’s Endymion, Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion ................................................................................................................. 46 1.3.1 Literature Review on Keats ....................................................................... 47 1.3.2 Keats the Romantic Poet in Tune with Kristeva the Theorist ................... 64 1.3.3 Exploring the Semiotic, the Symbolic, Abjection and Melancholy in Keats’s Poems .................................................................................................... 74 2. THE SEMIOTIC AND THE SYMBOLIC ............................................................ 89 2.1 A Semiotic Quest into “the drear abyss of death” in Endymion ...................... 89 2.1.1 Keats’s Sensuously Informed Platonism and the Affectivity of the Semiotic .............................................................................................................