SUBVERSION OF THE BINARIES BASED ON CLASS AND GENDER IN KATHERINE MANSFIELD'S "THE GARDEN PARTY"

Katherine Mansfield bir karakterin düşünce ve gözlemlerine odaklanan anlatı tarzıyla İngiliz edebiyatında kısa öykü türünün gelişimine önemli katkıda bulunmuştur. "The Garden Party" (Bahçe Partisi) adlı öyküsünde Mansfield, zengin sınıfından Sheridan ailesinin bahçe partisi hazırlıklarını öykünün baş karakteri Laura'nın gözünden anlatır. Hazırlıklar için gelen işçilerle karşılaştığı andan itibaren, Laura sınıf ve cinsiyet ayrımclığını sorgulamaya başlar. Komşuları olan alt sınıftan Mr. Scott'ın ölüm haberi ve Laura'nın cenaze evini ziyareti ile karakterin sınıf ayrımına dair sorgulamaları gittikçe artar. Zenginfakir karşıtlığını genç bir kadının gözünden aktararak Mansfield yalnızca burjuva sınıfının ikiyüzlülüğünü eleştirmekle kalmaz, aynı zamanda kadına atfedilen cinsiyet rollerini de sorgular. Bu makalenin amacı, Mansfield'in "The Garden Party" adlı öyküsünü yapıbozum kuramı çerçevesinde inceleyerek, yazarın sınıf ayrımı ve toplumsal cinsiyet rolleri konusundaki ikili karşıtlıkları nasıl eleştirdiğini göstermektir

KATHERINE MANSFIELD'IN "BAHÇE PARTİSİ" ADLI ÖYKÜSÜNDE SINIF AYRIMI VE TOPLUMSAL CİNSİYET ROLLERİ KONUSUNDAKİ İKİLİ KARŞITLIKLARIN YIKILMASI

Katherine Mansfield's contribution to the development of short story genre in English literature is based on her use of narrative techniques, especially that of focalization. In her short story "The Garden Party" which recounts the story of the upper-class Sheridan family's garden party preparations, Mansfield challenges issues related to class and gender from the main character Laura's focalisation. In this initiation story, Laura starts questioning the roles attributed to an upper-class woman right after she meets the workers who come to make the preparations for the party. Her dilemma about her class comes to a climactic point when she learns the death of a working class neighbour, Mr. Scott, and visits his funeral home. Through the juxtaposition of these two classes from the viewpoint of a female adolescent, Mansfield not only criticises the hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie, but also roles expected from a woman. The aim of this article, then, is to discuss Mansfield's "The Garden Party" with respect to the theory of deconstruction to show how the writer problematizes logocentrism by subverting the binary oppositions based on class and gender.

PDF

___

Abrams, Meyer Howard. (1999). A Glossary of Literary Terms. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.
Derrida, Jacques. (1989). "Différance." Critical Theory Since 1965. (Eds.) Hazard Adams and Leroy Searle. Tallahassee: Florida State University Press.
--. (1989). "Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences." Critical Theory Since 1965. (Eds.) Hazard Adams and Leroy Searle. Tallahassee: Florida State University Press.
Fullbrook, Kate. (1986). Katherine Mansfield. Brighton: The Harvester Press.
Genette, Gerard. (1988). Narrative Discourse. Trans. Jane Lewin. New York: Cornell University Press.
Gunsteren, Julia Van. (1990). Katherine Mansfield and Literary Impressionism. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Kaplan, Sydney Janet. (1991). Katherine Mansfield and the Origins of Modernist Fiction. New York: Cornell University Press.
Magalaner, Marvin. (1971). The Fiction of Katherine Mansfield. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press.
Mansfield, Katherine. (1981). The Collected Stories of Katherine Mansfield. London: Penguin Group.
Nathan, Rhoda. B. (1988). Katherine Mansfield. New York: The Contnuum Publishing Company.
Uzundemir, Özlem. (1996). "Narrative Techniques in Doris Lessing's Stories and Sketches." Diss. Bilkent University.
Weaver, Gordon. (Ed.) (1998). Katherine Mansfield: A Study of the Short Fiction. Oklahoma: Oklahoma State University.
Wolfreys, Robbins. & Kenneth Womack. (2002). Key Concepts in Literary Theory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.