ŞEYTAN ÜÇGENİ: SALMAN RUSHDİE’NİN SOYTARI ŞALİMAR ROMANINDA AŞIRI SAĞCI NEO-CON’LAR İLE YENİ-ORYANTALİZM’İN İTTİFAKI

Bu makalede Salman Rushdie’nin 11 Eylül sonrası yazdığı ilk roman ve yazarın en sıkıntılı eserlerinden biri olan Soytarı Şalimar adlı eserindeki oryantalist söylem analiz edilmektedir. Rushdie bu romanda sözde “İslami terörist” kavramını ve bu konunun kolektif Batı algısındaki yerini sorgulamak yerine, özellikle Bush yönetimi döneminde ortaya atılan “şeytan üçgeni” kavramını besleyecek şekilde romanda “barbar Doğu” klişelerini sıklıkla kullanmakta ve böylece yeni-oryantalist söylemin entelektüel altyapısını oluşturmaktadır. Makalede aynı zamanda Rushdie’nin Hindistan kökenli ve Müslümanların arasından çıkan bir yazar olmasından kaynaklanan “içeriden/onlardan biri” statüsü de sorgulanmakta ve bu statünün Rushdie’ye Batılı okuyucuları arasında haksız bir inandırıcılık kazandırdığı gösterilmektedir. Edward Said, Mahmood Mandani ve Pankaj Mishra gibi eski ve yeni sömürgecilik araştırmaları teorisyenlerinin düşüncelerinden yararlanılarak, Rushdie’nin, pek çok entelektüelin aksine, Amerika’daki aşırı sağcı neo-con’ların arasında kendini konumlandırışı gözler önüne serilmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Rushdie, Soytarı Şalimar, İslam, oryantalizm, sömürgecilik araştırmaları

THE AXIS OF EVIL: THE ALLIANCE OF NEO-CONSERVATISM AND NEO-ORIENTALISM IN RUSHDIE’S SHALIMAR THE CLOWN

In this article, the Orientalist discourse in Salman Rushdie’s Shalimar the Clown (2005), one of the author’s most problematic Works and his first novel after 9/11, is analyzed. It is argued that rather than questioning the assumptions about the “Islamic terrorist” and its place in the Western collective conscious, Rushdie reinforces and licenses the intellectual neo-orientalist discourse of “the axis of evil” perpetuated by the Bush administration by applying the stereotypes and clichés about the East, without engaging in a dialogue to understand the Other or historicizing the subject matter. It is also aimed to expose how Rushdie’s so-called “insider” status that arises because of his Indian origin and coming from amonst Muslims, gives him an unfair credit and makes him all the more credible in the eyes of his readership, mostly the literary intelligencia of the West. By building on the old and new post-colonial scholarship of particularly Edward Said, Frantz Fanon, Mahmood Mandani, and Pankaj Mishra, it is analyzed how, unlike many intellectuals, Rushdie positions himself amongst the neo-conservatives of the United States.

Keywords:

Rushdie, Shalimar The Clown, Islam, orientalism, post-colonialism,

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