“Tender Murderer”: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer in Thom Gunn’s Boss Cupid

Tülay Dağoğlu

Makale detayları

“Tender Murderer”: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer in Thom Gunn’s Boss Cupid

Yazarlar:

Tülay Dağoğlu

Yayıncı:

Gaziantep University

Ana Başlıklar:

İngiliz ve İrlanda Dili | Edebiyatı ve Kültürü

Dergi:

Gaziantep Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi Vol.23 Issue 3, pp.954-971

Belge Tipi:

Makale

Yayın Tarihi:

7/2024

Belge Dili:

İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.):

2001324213

pISSN:

1303-0094

Anahtar kelimeler:

Özet:

 This article examines Thom Gunns poem Troubadour, in his final collection Boss Cupid 2000, containing five songs Hitch-hiker, Iron Man, The Visible Man, A Borrowed Man, and Final Song, all of which are sung by the infamous serial killer, Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer. Gunns study of Dahmer, evoking compassion, furnishes a murderer who performs his own role of troubadour while singing his intense feelings and aberrant actions from his own voice in a romantic mode. This act of speaking for himself highlights a strong sense of self-awareness and renders a murderer who is cognizant of his miserable situation. Thus, the poets treatment is with a particular empathy for such all-consuming sexual passion through an act of romanticizing the killers horrendous ways of murdering. Based on the poets lack of prejudice towards any propensities and his courage of going against the poetic conventionalities in his time, this study explores Gunns portrayal of Dahmer as a tender murderer, a desperate intimacy seeker victimized by his damaged psyche, thereby having sexual gratification in killing, the only way to stop his partner from leaving him. While the article engages with the phases of Dahmers homicidal acts operating on tender feelings in these songs, it does so through Jacques Lacans theories of the psyche with its three diagnostic structures: Neurosis, Psychosis, and Perversion. Two of these fundamental categories of diagnosis will be utilized to define particular symptoms, which cater to reading the tender murderers motives.

 This article examines Thom Gunns poem Troubadour, in his final collection Boss Cupid 2000, containing five songs Hitch-hiker, Iron Man, The Visible Man, A Borrowed Man, and Final Song, all of which are sung by the infamous serial killer, Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer. Gunns study of Dahmer, evoking compassion, furnishes a murderer who performs his own role of troubadour while singing his intense feelings and aberrant actions from his own voice in a romantic mode. This act of speaking for himself highlights a strong sense of self-awareness and renders a murderer who is cognizant of his miserable situation. Thus, the poets treatment is with a particular empathy for such all-consuming sexual passion through an act of romanticizing the killers horrendous ways of murdering. Based on the poets lack of prejudice towards any propensities and his courage of going against the poetic conventionalities in his time, this study explores Gunns portrayal of Dahmer as a tender murderer, a desperate intimacy seeker victimized by his damaged psyche, thereby having sexual gratification in killing, the only way to stop his partner from leaving him. While the article engages with the phases of Dahmers homicidal acts operating on tender feelings in these songs, it does so through Jacques Lacans theories of the psyche with its three diagnostic structures: Neurosis, Psychosis, and Perversion. Two of these fundamental categories of diagnosis will be utilized to define particular symptoms, which cater to reading the tender murderers motives.

 This article examines Thom Gunns poem Troubadour, in his final collection Boss Cupid 2000, containing five songs Hitch-hiker, Iron Man, The Visible Man, A Borrowed Man, and Final Song, all of which are sung by the infamous serial killer, Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer. Gunns study of Dahmer, evoking compassion, furnishes a murderer who performs his own role of troubadour while singing his intense feelings and aberrant actions from his own voice in a romantic mode. This act of speaking for himself highlights a strong sense of self-awareness and renders a murderer who is cognizant of his miserable situation. Thus, the poets treatment is with a particular empathy for such all-consuming sexual passion through an act of romanticizing the killers horrendous ways of murdering. Based on the poets lack of prejudice towards any propensities and his courage of going against the poetic conventionalities in his time, this study explores Gunns portrayal of Dahmer as a tender murderer, a desperate intimacy seeker victimized by his damaged psyche, thereby having sexual gratification in killing, the only way to stop his partner from leaving him. While the article engages with the phases of Dahmers homicidal acts operating on tender feelings in these songs, it does so through Jacques Lacans theories of the psyche with its three diagnostic structures: Neurosis, Psychosis, and Perversion. Two of these fundamental categories of diagnosis will be utilized to define particular symptoms, which cater to reading the tender murderers motives.

 Bu makale, Thom Gunnın seri katil Jeffrey Lionel Dahmerden dinlediğimiz Hitch-hiker, Iron Man, The Visible Man, A Borrowed Man ve Final Song adlı beş şarkıyı içeren son kitabı Boss Cupidde 2000 yer alan Troubadour şiir koleksiyonunu incelemektedir. Gunnın şefkat duygusu içeren çalışmaları, Dahmerin yoğun duygularını ve sapkın eylemlerini romantik bir tarzda kendi sesinden bize aktarırken, ozan rolünü oynayan bir katili ortaya çıkarıyor. Bu kendi adına konuşma eylemi, güçlü bir öz-farkındalık duygusunu öne çıkarır ve bir katilin, içinde bulunduğu sefil durumun farkında olmasını sağlar. Bu nedenle şairin katili ele alış tarzı, onun korkunç cinayet yöntemlerini romantikleştirme eylemi yoluyla böylesi her şeyi tüketen cinsel tutkuya karşı belli bir empati gösterdiğini ortaya çıkarır. Şairin herhangi bir eğilime karşı önyargısız olmasından, döneminin şiir üslubundaki geleneklere karşı çıkmasından yola çıkan bu çalışma, Gunnın Dahmeri, ruh sağlığı bozuk olduğundan, partnerinin onu terk etmesini engellemenin tek yolu olan öldürmekten cinsel haz alan ve umutsuzca ilişki arayışında olan nazik bir katil olarak tasvirini araştırıyor. Makale, bu şarkılarda Dahmerin cinayet eylemlerinin şefkatli duygular üzerine kurulu aşamalarını ele alırken, Jacques Lacanın insan aklının üç tanısal teorisi, Nevroz, Psikoz ve Sapkınlık, üzerinden yapıyor. Bu temel teşhis kategorilerinin ikisi, nazik katilin cinayetlerinin arkasında yatan amacıamaçları okumaya yardımcı olan belirli semptomları tanımlamak için kullanılacaktır.

Makale detayları

“Tender Murderer”: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer in Thom Gunn’s Boss Cupid

Yazarlar:

Tülay Dağoğlu

Yayıncı:

Gaziantep University

Ana Başlıklar:

İngiliz ve İrlanda Dili | Edebiyatı ve Kültürü

Dergi:

Gaziantep Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi Vol.23 Issue 3, pp.954-971

Belge Tipi:

Makale

Yayın Tarihi:

7/2024

Belge Dili:

İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.):

2001324213

pISSN:

1303-0094

Thom Gunn

Jeffrey Dahmer

Boss Cupid

Lacan

PsychoanalysisThom Gunn

Jeffrey Dahmer

Boss Cupid

Lacan

Psychoanalysis

Sayı

Makale detayları

Yazarlar: Tülay Dağoğlu

Yayıncı: Gaziantep University

Ana Başlıklar: İngiliz ve İrlanda Dili | Edebiyatı ve Kültürü

Dergi: Gaziantep Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi Vol.23 Issue 3, pp.954-971

Belge Tipi: Makale

Yayın Tarihi: 7/2024

Belge Dili: İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.): 2001324213

pISSN: 1303-0094

Sayı

Yazarlar:

Tülay Dağoğlu

Yayıncı:

Gaziantep University

Ana Başlıklar:

İngiliz ve İrlanda Dili | Edebiyatı ve Kültürü

Dergi:

Gaziantep Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi Vol.23 Issue 3, pp.954-971

Belge Tipi:

Makale

Yayın Tarihi:

7/2024

Belge Dili:

İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.):

2001324213

pISSN:

1303-0094