ON THE DIVINE FEMININE: READING FAY WELDON'S PUFFBALL THROUGH THUNDER: PERFECT MIND

Kadın merkezciliğine odaklanan Fay Weldon’ın Kurtmantarı adlı romanı birçok feminist okumaya açık olmasına rağmen henüz kutsal dişilliğe odaklanarak metafiziksel açıdan incelenmemiştir. Roman her ne kadar olağan karakterlerle örülmüş gibi gözükse de dini, mitik ve mistik öğelere olan göndermeler nedeniyle bu tür bir analizin yapılması mümkün kılınır. Kadınlığın farklı dönemlerinde olan başkahraman Liffey ve karşı karakter Mabs’ın arasındaki gelgitler birbirinden çok farklı iki anneyi tasvir eder. Fakat, Neumann’ın Yüce Ana arketipiyle uyumlu bir şekilde her iki kadın da bu tezatlıklar sayesinde ironik bir biçimde birbirini tamamlar. Liffey ve Mabs’in geçirdikleri dönüşümler metni dengeleyerek düalistik fakat bütüncül bir yaklaşım sunar. Tezatlıklardan yola çıkarak varılan bu bütüncül yaklaşımı kutsal dişil bir sesin kendini karşıt imgelerle tanımladığı Gök Gürlemesi: Kusursuz Zihin adıyla anılan antik gnostik metinde de yansımasını görmek mümkün. Kurtmantarı’nı Gök Gürlemesi ışığında okuyarak karşıt güçlerin nasıl bir bütünün parçaları olabileceğini görmek mümkün olur. Bu bağlamda, bu makale Kurtmantarı romanındaki öğelerin antik gnostik söylemlerle, özellikle Gök Gürlemesi metniyle, yüklü olduğunu önererek ahenksizmiş gibi görünen yönlerinin kutsal dişil imgesinde nasıl birleştiğini irdeler.

ON THE DIVINE FEMININE: READING FAY WELDON’S PUFFBALL THROUGH THUNDER: PERFECT MIND

Focussing on gynocentric issues, Fay Weldon’s Puffball is a text open to many types of feminist readings but one that has yet to be explored is a metaphysical reading of the novel focussing on the divine feminine. Although the novel seems to portray everyday characters, the allusions to biblical, mythical, and mystical elements allow for this type of an analysis. The ebb and flow between the protagonist Liffey and antagonist Mabs, who are experiencing various stages of womanhood, portray two very different types of mothers. Yet, in tune with Neumann’s Great Mother archetype, both women ironically complement each other through these contradictions. The transformations Liffey and Mabs undergo inherently balances the text offering a dualistic yet unified approach. This unification through contradictions is most illustrative in the ancient gnostic text dubbed Thunder: Perfect Mind, where a divine feminine voice describes herself through clashing images. By reading Puffball through the lens of Thunder, it becomes possible to see how opposing forces may be considered as aspects of a whole. In this vein, this paper suggests that elements of Weldon’s Puffball resonate with ancient gnostic discourses specifically with the Thunder text where otherwise discordant aspects are fused in the image of the divine feminine.

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