A JOURNEY TO ANCIENT SUMER: THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE PAST IN JENNIFER J. GARRITY'S HISTORICAL CHILDREN'S NOVEL SECRET OF THE SCRIBE

This paper argues that Jennifer J. Garrity's historical children's novel Secret of the Scribe (2008) with its fictional stereotyping of Ancient Sumer and its polytheistic religion undercuts the possibility of the novel to critically engage its child readers with Sumerian history and culture. By selecting a young female slave as the historical personage of her novel and endowing her with contemporary qualities in tandem with individualism and the ethos of the marketplace, Garrity draws a very modern individual atypical of her time. While, the reader, on one hand, looks back critically on Sumerians' developed sense of collectivist religion, interpreting it as a threat to self-determination and personal autonomy, on the other hand, s/he appreciates the Sumerians for being the first ancient civilization that bears the imprints of a capitalist market society. The use of history enters the text, in so far as it creates a safe zone for fashioning, perpetuating and justifying the norms and values of the present and reassuring the future.

ANTİK SÜMER'E YOLCULUK: JENNIFER J. GARRITY'NİN TARİHİ ÇOCUK ROMANI “SECRET OF THE SCRIBE”DE GEÇMİŞİN YENİDEN İNŞASI

Bu makale, Jennifer J. Garrity'nin Secret of The Scribe (2008) isimli çocuk romanının, Antik Sümer uygarlığını ve çok tanrılı Sümer dinini kurgusal düzlemde klişileştirerek, çocuk okurların Sümer tarihi ve kültürüne eleştirel bir bakış geliştirebilme ihtimalini yok ettiğini ileri sürmektedir. Garrity'nin, romanın tarihi ana karakteri olarak köle bir genç kadın seçmesi ve ona bireycilik ve piyasa etiği gibi çağdaş nitelikler vermesi, ait olduğu zamana uymayan, oldukça modern bir birey portresi çizmektedir. Okur, bir yandan Sümerlerin gelişmiş kolektif din anlayışına eleştirel gözle bakıp bunu kendi kaderini tayin etme ve kişisel özerkliğine bir tehdit olarak algılarken, diğer yandan Sümerleri kapitalist pazar toplumunun izlerini taşıyan ilk uygarlık olması nedeniyle takdir eder. Bu şekilde, tarih kullanımı, günümüze ait norm ve değerlerin düzenlenip sürdürülmesi ve meşrulaştırılması ve bu sayede de geleceğin teminat altına alınmasını açısından güvenli bir alan yaratılabildiği müddetçe metne dahil olur.

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