Grotesque Body Image and Carnivalesque Elements in Sevim Burak’s Play Here Is the Head, Here Is the Body, Here Are the Wings
Arzu ÖzyönThis study initially focuses on the grotesque body images which Bakhtin constructed on organs such as the mouth, dismembered body parts, anus, and reproductive organs by taking Rabelais’s Gargantua and Pantagruel (1564), one of the most remarkable works in the context of the grotesque during the late Renaissance period. The study then accordingly analyzes Sevim Burak’s play Here Is the Head, Here Is the Body, Here Are the Wings in the framework of Bakhtin’s grotesque body image and determines the play to have basically been constructed over three elements: mouth and insatiable appetite (i.e., gluttony), the dismembered body, and the lower parts of the body and defecation. The article also encounters some findings on carnival theory that Bakhtin related to the grotesque and reveals Burak’s play to not only carry the elements of the Renaissance grotesque (i.e., laughter), but also the elements of the Romantic grotesque (i.e., uncanny). In this context, the study aims to exemplify the original use of grotesque body images in Turkish Theatre by constructing a relationship between Bakhtin’s grotesque body image and Sevim Burak’s play.
Sevim Burak’ın İşte Baş, İşte Gövde, İşte Kanatlar Adlı Oyununda Grotesk Beden İmgesi ve Karnavalesk Unsurlar
Arzu ÖzyönBu çalışma geç Rönesans döneminde grotesk kavramı bağlamında en dikkat çeken eserlerden biri olan Rabelais’in Gargantua ve Pantagruel (1564) eserinden yola çıkarak Bahtin’in ağız, parçalanmış beden uzuvları, anüs ve üreme organları gibi organlar üzerine temellendirdiği grotesk beden imgesine odaklanmaktadır. Bu doğrultuda, Sevim Burak’ın İşte Baş, İşte Gövde, İşte Kanatlar adlı tiyatro oyunu Bahtin’in grotesk beden imgesi çerçevesinde analiz edilerek oyunun, temel olarak üç unsur üzerine inşa edilmiş olduğu tespit edilmiştir: ağız ve sonu gelmeyen iştah ile oburluk, uzuvlarına ayrılmış beden, vücudun alt bölgeleri ile dışkılama edimi. Ayrıca, Bahtin tarafından grotesk ile ilişkilendirilen karnaval teorisine ait bazı bulgulara rastlanmış; oyunun sadece Rönesans grotesk (güldürü) özellikleri değil, romantik grotesk(tekinsizlik) özellikleri de taşıdığı ortaya konmuştur. Bu bağlamda çalışmanın amacı, Bahtin’in grotesk beden imgesi ile Sevim Burak’ın oyunu arasında bir ilişki kurarak grotesk beden imgesinin Türk tiyatrosundaki özgün kullanımını örneklemektir.
Showing parallels with art and literature, body image and body perception change according to the needs of the era. For instance, while the understanding of the ideal body, beauty, and perfection were dominant especially in Ancient Greek art in the Classical period and later, body image and perception changed in the opposite direction in the early Renaissance alongside the emergence and takeover of the concept of the grotesque in the late Renaissance Period, with deformed and dismembered body images starting to appear in works of art. In the modern period, specifically under the influence of the concepts of loneliness, alienation, and otherness, this perception of the distorted body was also sometimes depicted in an exaggerated manner and sometimes presented as dismembered body images. In other words, grotesque body images continued to be the subject and source of inspiration for art and literature. During the Renaissance, one of the most remarkable works of art in terms of the use of grotesque was Rabelais’s Gargantua and Pantagruel (1564), which Bakhtin analyzed in detail in his Rabelais and His World (1965). Taking Rabelais’ work as a starting point, Bakhtin constructed grotesque features on organs such as the mouth, dismembered body parts, anus, and reproductive organs and expressed how the grotesque appears through the exaggeration or deformation of these organs.
In accordance with this, the current study attempts to present Sevim Burak’s original use of Renaissance (folk) grotesque as an element of folklore and Romantic grotesque as generally related to the concept of the uncanny and how Burak blended these with each other. In this context, the study analyzes Burak’s play Here Is the Head, Here Is the Body Here Are the Wings (1984), in the framework of the Bakhtinian grotesque body image. The article also proposes this play to have basically been constructed over three elements (i.e., sub categories) of the Bakhtinian grotesque body image in the framework of the Renaissance (folk) grotesque: 1) mouth and insatiable appetite (i.e., glutton), 2) dismembered body, and 3) lower parts of the body and defecation. In the first part of the play, two women, Melek and Nıvart, have insatiable feelings of hunger, and their action of constant eating are frequently observed. In this same part, dismembered body images being torn into pieces draws attention in the context of Bakhtinian grotesque body image. As for the second part of the play, the lower parts of the body (i.e., male and female genitalia) as well as the action of defecation are observed with respect to the grotesque body image. The study additionally focuses on some findings regarding carnival theory, which Bakhtin related to the grotesque, and observes how certain scenes of the play have a carnivalesque atmosphere that has been created in parallel with Bakhtinian carnival theory, with all boundaries, primarily the boundaries between sexes, being turned upside down in this atmosphere. The study additionally reveals the play to not only carry the elements of the folk/Renaissance grotesque constructed upon the elements of laughter and exaggeration, but also the elements of the Romantic grotesque based on the concept of the uncanny, with the playwright making use of these two types of grotesque imagery by intertwining them with each other. In this context, the present study aims to exemplify the original use of Bakhtinian grotesque body image through Sevim Burak’s play.
