Ömer Seyfettin’s Short Story “The Rainbow”: A Precursor of Transgender Narratives

Ercan Gürova

Makale detayları

Ömer Seyfettin’s Short Story “The Rainbow”: A Precursor of Transgender Narratives

Yazarlar:

Ercan Gürova

Yayıncı:

Yusuf ÇETİN

Ana Başlıklar:

Türkiye Sahası Yeni Türk Edebiyatı

Dergi:

Söylem Filoloji Dergisi Vol.9 Issue 2, pp.924-936

Belge Tipi:

Makale

Yayın Tarihi:

8/2024

Belge Dili:

İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.):

2001325756

pISSN:

2548-0502

Anahtar kelimeler:

Özet:

 Ömer Seyfettin, the founder of the modern Turkish short story and a widely read literary figure, published The Rainbow Eleğimsağma in 1917 in a magazine. The story revolves around a ten-year-old girl, Ayşe, and her gender transformation as part of a struggle against masculine hegemony and suppression. Although this transformation takes place through the protagonists dream, Seyfettin successfully showcases how gender roles and stereotypes become central in building respectful, acceptable, and powerful personas in society. The story also helps to question the so-called domestic roles of women by juxtaposing the responsibilities of the two genders based on existing cultural norms. To this end, this study aims to investigate how established gender roles in a patriarchal society are called into question and how gender fluidity defies stereotypical understanding of gender representation in a male-dominated society. The analysis of this gender transformation in the story will be made through the concept of performativity which has been introduced by Judith Butler. Though biologically female, Ayşe enjoys activities such as riding, wrestling, shooting, and playing in the streets, which are almost always associated with the male gender. Furthermore, she is subjugated to societal and religious pressure to act like a girl and cover her body. In this respect, Ömer Seyfettins The Rainbow can be hailed as a leading narration that puts gender performativity in the limelight at the beginning of twentieth-century Turkish literature.

 Ömer Seyfettin, the founder of the modern Turkish short story and a widely read literary figure, published The Rainbow Eleğimsağma in 1917 in a magazine. The story revolves around a ten-year-old girl, Ayşe, and her gender transformation as part of a struggle against masculine hegemony and suppression. Although this transformation takes place through the protagonists dream, Seyfettin successfully showcases how gender roles and stereotypes become central in building respectful, acceptable, and powerful personas in society. The story also helps to question the so-called domestic roles of women by juxtaposing the responsibilities of the two genders based on existing cultural norms. To this end, this study aims to investigate how established gender roles in a patriarchal society are called into question and how gender fluidity defies stereotypical understanding of gender representation in a male-dominated society. The analysis of this gender transformation in the story will be made through the concept of performativity which has been introduced by Judith Butler. Though biologically female, Ayşe enjoys activities such as riding, wrestling, shooting, and playing in the streets, which are almost always associated with the male gender. Furthermore, she is subjugated to societal and religious pressure to act like a girl and cover her body. In this respect, Ömer Seyfettins The Rainbow can be hailed as a leading narration that puts gender performativity in the limelight at the beginning of twentieth-century Turkish literature.

 Ömer Seyfettin, the founder of the modern Turkish short story and a widely read literary figure, published The Rainbow Eleğimsağma in 1917 in a magazine. The story revolves around a ten-year-old girl, Ayşe, and her gender transformation as part of a struggle against masculine hegemony and suppression. Although this transformation takes place through the protagonists dream, Seyfettin successfully showcases how gender roles and stereotypes become central in building respectful, acceptable, and powerful personas in society. The story also helps to question the so-called domestic roles of women by juxtaposing the responsibilities of the two genders based on existing cultural norms. To this end, this study aims to investigate how established gender roles in a patriarchal society are called into question and how gender fluidity defies stereotypical understanding of gender representation in a male-dominated society. The analysis of this gender transformation in the story will be made through the concept of performativity which has been introduced by Judith Butler. Though biologically female, Ayşe enjoys activities such as riding, wrestling, shooting, and playing in the streets, which are almost always associated with the male gender. Furthermore, she is subjugated to societal and religious pressure to act like a girl and cover her body. In this respect, Ömer Seyfettins The Rainbow can be hailed as a leading narration that puts gender performativity in the limelight at the beginning of twentieth-century Turkish literature.

 Modern Türk öyküsünün kurucusu ve aynı zamanda geniş kitlelerce okunan bir figür olan Ömer Seyfettin Eleğimsağma başlıklı öyküsünü 1917 yılında bir dergide yayımlamıştır. Öykünün merkezinde on yaşında bir kız olan Ayşe ve onun maskülen hegemonya ve baskılamaya karşı mücadelesinin bir parçası olarak cinsiyet değişimi yer almaktadır. Söz konusu değişim ana karakterin rüyasında gerçekleşmesine rağmen Seyfettin cinsiyet rollerinin ve kalıp kişiliklerin toplumda saygın, kabul edilebilir ve güçlü personalar oluşturmada nasıl temel bir rol oynadığını gözler önüne serer. Öykü aynı zamanda mevcut kültürel normlar üzerinden iki cinsiyetin sorumluluklarını kıyaslayarak kadınların sözde evsel rollerinin sorgulanmasına yardımcı olur. Bu amaçla, bu çalışma ataerkil bir toplumda yerleşik cinsiyet rollerinin sorgulanmasının ve cinsiyet akışkanlığının erkek egemen bir toplumda cinsiyet temsillerinin basmakalıp yargılarla anlaşılmasına nasıl karşı gelindiğinin araştırılmasını hedeflemektedir. Öyküdeki bu cinsiyet değişiminin çözümlemesi Judith Butler tarafından ortaya atılan performativite kavramı aracılığıyla yapılacaktır. Biyolojik olarak kadın olsa da Ayşe hemen her zaman eril cinsiyetle özdeşleştirilen ata binme, güreşme, silahla ateş etme ve sokaklarda oynama gibi faaliyetlerden zevk alır. Bunun yanı sıra bir kız gibi hareket etmesi ve bedenini örtmesi konusunda toplumsal ve dinsel baskılara maruz kalır. Bu açıdan Ömer Seyfettinin Eleğimsağma öyküsü yirminci yüzyıl Türk edebiyatında cinsiyet performativitesini odağına alan öncü bir anlatı olarak selamlanabilir.

Makale detayları

Ömer Seyfettin’s Short Story “The Rainbow”: A Precursor of Transgender Narratives

Yazarlar:

Ercan Gürova

Yayıncı:

Yusuf ÇETİN

Ana Başlıklar:

Türkiye Sahası Yeni Türk Edebiyatı

Dergi:

Söylem Filoloji Dergisi Vol.9 Issue 2, pp.924-936

Belge Tipi:

Makale

Yayın Tarihi:

8/2024

Belge Dili:

İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.):

2001325756

pISSN:

2548-0502

Ömer Seyfettin

the rainbow

gender performativity

transgender

Butlerömer seyfettin

eleğimsağma

cinsiyet performativitesi

transeksüel

Butler

Sayı

Makale detayları

Yazarlar: Ercan Gürova

Yayıncı: Yusuf ÇETİN

Ana Başlıklar: Türkiye Sahası Yeni Türk Edebiyatı

Dergi: Söylem Filoloji Dergisi Vol.9 Issue 2, pp.924-936

Belge Tipi: Makale

Yayın Tarihi: 8/2024

Belge Dili: İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.): 2001325756

pISSN: 2548-0502

Sayı

Yazarlar:

Ercan Gürova

Yayıncı:

Yusuf ÇETİN

Ana Başlıklar:

Türkiye Sahası Yeni Türk Edebiyatı

Dergi:

Söylem Filoloji Dergisi Vol.9 Issue 2, pp.924-936

Belge Tipi:

Makale

Yayın Tarihi:

8/2024

Belge Dili:

İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.):

2001325756

pISSN:

2548-0502