The Dissolution of Images of Space and Time in Christian Kracht’s Novel 1979
Şebnem Sunar1979, the second novel of the Swiss writer Christian Kracht, published in 2001, is an implicit criticism of the culture of Western bourgeoisie. Both with its title and with its setting in Tehran, especially in the first part, the novel reminds us the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran from its start. Kracht’s novel depicts Tehran as a modern city. From this perspective, we get to know Tehran as a city where decadent people from all over the world organize jet-set parties, and in the light of this information Tehran as depicted in the novel emerges as a space which is beyond cultures and independent of Eastern identity. However, the date is 1979 and the city is on the threshold of social and political transformation. All in all, the novel does not mainly deal with the fact that city, hence the country, is at a political junction. The novel mainly focuses on an anonymous first person narrator and his partner Christopher who come to the city which is on the verge of the coup. They came to the city for a degenerate party of some degenerate people. After this party, which depicts the Western life style in its degenerated from, Christopher dies at a derelict hospital in one of the city’s dark neighbourhoods. Hence, the anonymous protagonist of 1979 decides to travel East as the other of the West. As one gets further away from the West, not only the subject with its Western identity, but all other concepts ascribed to the West also die. Hence, 1979 does not only pinpoint the beginning of a coup in world history, but the novel emerges as a turning point where concepts of space and time are also dissolved as cultural signifiers. The present study expounds on this argument in relation to Christian Kracht’s novel 1979.
Die Auflösung des Raum- und Zeitbildes in Christian Krachts Roman 1979
Şebnem SunarDer Schweizer Autor Christian Kracht übt in 1979, seinem im Jahre 2001 veröffentlichten zweiten Roman, eine verdeckte Kritik am westlichen bürgerlichen Kultur aus. Indem die iranische Hauptstadt Teheran – insbesondere im ersten Abschnitt – als Raum hervorgehoben wird, wird auch der in diese Zeit fallende iranische Revolution evoziert. Krachts Roman beschreibt Teheran vor allem als eine moderne Stadt. So begegnet uns Teheran einerseits als eine Stadt, in der dekadente Gruppen Jet-Set-Partys veranstalten, und im Lichte dieses Wissens erscheint die Stadt unabhängig von der spezifischen Kultur des Orients, sozusagen als ein transkultureller Raum. Jedoch stellt die bevorstehende Wegscheidung der Stadt und damit des Landes kein Thema des Romans dar. Der Roman fokussiert den namenlosen Ich-Erzähler und seinen Partner Christopher, die gerade an der Schwelle des Umsturzes in die Stadt kommen. Die beiden sind in die Stadt gekommen, um an einer Party einer dekadenten Gruppe teilzunehmen. Nach dieser Party, die uns die westliche Lebensweise in ihrer degenerierten Form vorstellt, stirbt Christopher in einem schäbigen Spital in einem dunklen Stadtteil. Die anonyme Hauptfigur des Romans 1979 macht sich auf nach Osten als der Andere des Westens, an deren Schwelle er sich befindet und geht immer weiter nach Osten. Je mehr er sich vom Westen entfernt, sterben nicht nur das Subjekt mit seiner westlichen Identität, sondern mit dem Subjekt auch Begriffe wie Zivilisation und Kultur, die dem Subjekt zugeschrieben werden. Somit schreitet 1979 auf einen Umschlagspunkt zu, in dem nicht nur die Geschichte einer Revolution, sondern auch die Begriffe von Zeit und Raum als kulturelle Indikatoren sich auflösen. Dieser Aufsatz befasst sich mit Christian Krachts 1979 unter dem Aspekt dieser Behauptung.
Christian Kracht’ın 1979 Adlı Romanında Zaman ve Mekân İmgelerinin Dağılması
Şebnem Sunarİsviçreli yazar Christian Kracht’ın 2001’de yayımlanan ikinci romanı 1979, Batı burjuva kültürüne zımni bir eleştiri niteliğini taşır. Gerek adı gerekse İran’ın başkenti Tahran’ı –özellikle de ilk bölümde– mekân olarak öne çıkarması dolayısıyla roman, doğrudan doğruya aynı tarihli İran İslam Devrimi’ni çağrıştırır. Kracht’ın romanı, Tahran’ı öncelikle modern bir kent olarak tarif eder. Bu doğrultuda Tahran’ı dünyanın dört bir yanından dekadan kesimlerin jet-set partiler düzenlediği bir kent olarak tanırız ve bu bilginin ışığında Tahran romanda, Doğu’nun özgül kimliğinden bağımsız, deyiş yerindeyse kültüraşırı bir mekân olarak karşımıza çıkar. Ne var ki tarih 1979’dur ve kent, toplumsal ve siyasi bir dönüşümün eşiğindedir. Bununla birlikte kentin, dolayısıyla da ülkenin politik bir yol ayrımında olması, bu romanın konusu değildir. Roman daha ziyade tam da darbenin eşiğinde bu kente gelen anonim bir ben-anlatıcı ile partneri Christopher’a odaklanır. İkili, dekadan kesimlerin dahil olduğu bir partiye katılmak üzere kenttedir. Batılı yaşam tarzını dejenerasyona uğramış biçimiyle teşhis ettiğimiz bu partiden sonra Christopher, kentin karanlık bir semtinde sefil bir hastanede ölür. Böylece 1979’un anonim başkişisi, halihazırda eşiğinde bulunduğu Batı’nın ötekisi olarak Doğu’ya doğru yola çıkar ve hep daha doğuya gider. Batı’dan uzaklaştıkça sadece Batılı kimliğiyle özne değil, özneyle birlikte uygarlık, kültür gibi aslen Batı’ya atfedilen kavramlar da ölür. Böylece 1979 sadece dünya tarihinde bir devrimin tarihi değil, kültürel birer gösterge olarak mekân ve zaman kavramlarının da çözünüp dağıldığı bir dönüm noktası haline gelir. Bu çalışma, Christian Kracht’ın 1979 adlı romanında bu savı tartışacaktır.
1979, the second novel of the Swiss writer Christian Kracht, published in 2001, is an implicit criticism of the culture of Western bourgeoisie. Both with its title and with its setting in Tehran, especially in the first part, the novel reminds us the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran from its start. Kracht’s novel depicts Tehran as a modern city and as one of the geographies of modernism and globalisation as Andreas Huyssen identifies (Huyssen 2005: 6). From this perspective, we get to know Tehran as a city where decadent people from all over the world organize jet-set parties and in the light of this information Tehran as depicted in the novel emerges as a space which is beyond cultures and independent of Eastern identity. However, the date is 1979 and the city is on the threshold of social and political transformation. All in all, the novel does not mainly deal with the fact that city, hence the country, is at a political junction. The novel mainly focuses on an anonymous first person narrator and his partner Christopher who come to the city which is on the verge of the coup. They came to the city for a degenerate party with drug use in the atmosphere. After this party, which depicts the Western life style in its degenerated from, Christopher dies at a derelict hospital in one of the city’s dark neighbourhoods. Hence, the anonymous protagonist of 1979, decides to travel East as the other of the West. The second part of the novel mainly deals with the constantly eastward journey of the anonymous protagonist. His purpose is the fill the gap inside him and create some value in his life. With this purpose in mind, the protagonist of 1979 joints the Tibetan pilgrims who travel to the sacred Mount Kailash, accepted as the centre of the universe. After a hard climb, he understands that he won’t find the meaning he was seeking there. The journey did not achieve its goal. Then he travels further eastwards. During his journey he gets arrested by the Red Chinese soldiers and he is taken to a working camp where experiments on atom bombs are carried out. It is at this camp that the protagonist can get rid of his western identity. The camp is a place where hunger and cruelty rule and people inflict great pain on one another. He is content; because his anonymity had gained some meaning at last. As Johannes Birgfeld (2007: 408) states, this is a kind of exile and it is an attempt to deal with the existing identity crisis. 1979 shows that as one gets further away from the West, not only the subject with its Western identity, but all other concepts ascribed to the West also die. Hence, 1979 does not only pinpoint the beginning of a coup in world history, but the novel emerges as a turning point where concepts of space and time are also dissolved as cultural signifiers. The present study expounds on this argument in relation to Christian Kracht’s novel 1979.
