An Overview of Vâsînî el-A‘rac and His Novel Memleketu’lFarâsha
İbrahim Şaban, Muhsin UzunIn this study, it is aimed to examine Vâsînî el-A‘rac's novel named Memleketu'lFerâşe, in terms of both the material elements it contains and the technical elements used in it. For this purpose, contained elements in the work such as the narrator, point of view, people, time, and places were analyzed. In addition, the narration techniques used by the author were also examined.Before starting the analysis of this novel, information about the life, literary side and works of the Algerian writer al-A‘rac, who was born in Tilimsan in 1954, was given. As a result of these informations, it is aimed to draw a portrait of the author in the reader's mind. During the analysis of the work, the literary and political conditions of the period in which al-A‘rac lived were examined and inferences were made about what effects these conditions might have on the author and this work. The author, who has written works in both Arabic and French, published Memleketu'l-Farâşe in 2013 and in this work, he described the period after the Algerian civil war, which is called the Black Decade. This work has an important place in modern Arabic literature as it sheds light on the recent period of Algeria and reveals the effects of war on individual and social psychology. Therefore, it was hoped that the analysis of Memleketu'l-Farâşe would contribute to the creation of an objective perspective on modern Algerian society. Aiming to make the story more authentic in the eyes of the reader and to establish a stronger connection between the narrator and the reader, El-A‘rac preferred the first-person (I) narrator type in his novel and used Fasih Arabic. The author, who used different narrative techniques at certain rates in his novel, won the Katârâ Arabic Novel Award in 2015 with Memleketu'l-Ferâşe.
Vâsînî el-A‘rac ve Memleketu‘l-Ferâşe Adlı Romanına Genel Bir Bakış
İbrahim Şaban, Muhsin UzunBu çalışmada, Cezayir'in önemli yazarlarından Vâsînî el-A‘rac’ın Memleketu’lFerâşe adlı romanının, gerek içerdiği materyal unsurlar, gerekse içerisinde kullanılan teknik unsurlar bakımından incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Bu amaç doğrultusunda, eserin ihtiva ettiği anlatıcı, bakış açısı, kişiler, zaman, mekân gibi unsurlar tahlil edilmiştir. Bunun yanı sıra, yazarın kullanmış olduğu anlatım teknikleri de incelenmiştir. Bu romanın teknik açıdan incelenmesine başlamadan önce, 1954 yılında Tilimsan'da doğmuş olan Cezayirli yazar el-A‘rac’ın hayatı, edebi yönü ve eserleri hakkında bilgiler verilmiştir. Bu bilgiler neticesinde, okuyucunun zihninde yazara ait bir portre çizilebilmesi hedeflenmiştir. Eserin tahlili aşamasında, el-A‘rac’ın yaşadığı dönemin edebi, siyasi koşulları incelenmiş ve bu koşulların, yazar ve bu eseri üzerinde ne gibi etkileri olabileceğine dair çıkarımlar yapılmaya gayret edilmiştir. Hem Arapça hem de Fransızca eserler kaleme almış olan yazar, Memleketu’lFerâşe'yi 2013 yılında yayınlamış ve bu eserinde Kara On Yıl olarak adlandırılan Cezayir iç savaşı sonrası dönemi anlatmıştır. Cezayir’in yakın dönemine ışık tutması, savaşın birey ve toplum psikolojsi üzerindeki etkilerini gözler önüne sermesi hasebiyle, bu eser, modern Arap edebiyatında mühim bir yere sahiptir. Bu nedenle, Memleketu’l-Ferâşe'nin tahlilinin, modern Cezayir toplumuna dair nesnel bir bakış açısı oluşturulmasına katkı sağlayacağı temenni edilmiştir. Hikâyeyi okuyucu nazarında daha sahih kılmayı ve anlatıcı ile okuyucu arasında daha güçlü bir bağ kurabilmeyi hedefleyen El-A‘rac, romanında birinci şahıs (Ben) anlatıcı türünü tercih etmiş ve Fasih Arapça kullanmıştır. Romanında farklı anlatım tekniklerini belirli oranlarda kullanmış olan yazar, Memleketu’l-Ferâşe ile 2015 yılında Katârâ Arapça Roman Ödülü’nü kazanmıştır.
Vâsînî el-A‘rac was born in 1954 in Tlemcen province. He completed his undergraduate studies in the field of Arabic Literature at the University of Algeria and completed his doctorate with a thesis he prepared on the Algerian novel in Damascus. He taught Arabic Literature at the University of Algeria until 1994. However, during the civil war in Algeria, he received death threats and left the country with his family. He stayed in Tunisia for a short time, then went to France. He taught modern Arabic Literature at Université Paris III-New Sorbonne in France. The author, who continues to publish novels and stories, received the greatest novel award of Algeria in 2001. el-A‘rac who is married to the poet Zeyneb el-A‘vac, currently heads the chair of the University of Algeria and the University of Paris-Sorbonne. In this study, the analysis of one of the author's recent works, Memleketu'l-Ferâşe, was discussed. Memleketu'l-Ferâşe (The Kingdom of the Butterflies) is the book of Vâsîn al-A'rac, published in 2013. In this important work, the author presented the period after the Algerian civil war, which was known as the Black Decade, to the reader in the language of a young girl (Yâmâ) and also from her point of view. While the writer wrote the story he wanted to tell in his novel, he focused on the civil war and its effects left behind, and reflected the political conditions of the period to the reader critically. When we look at the whole of the novel, we encounter a pessimistic picture. The author used modern narrative techniques in this book, which he wrote in Person 1 (I) narrator, and aimed to show the effects of the Algerian civil war in the context of individual psychology. Looking at the general concepts of the novel, it is possible to say that abstract elements such as fear, suspicion, pessimism, sadness, longing are used too much. In this work, which also contains elements of art and literature intensely, the names of real artists and literaturer are also included. Even though Yâmâ appears as a single person in the position of the narrator of the novel, she actually represents many people. Yâmâ is the voice of all people who lost their loved ones at that time, lost their joy of life, whose hopes disappeared day by day, and felt loneliness and fear deeply. Having been told the story in her own language, she allows readers not only to listen to this sound, but also to feel it in their hearts. El-A‘rac, who did not give weight to age or physical characteristics of the narrator, tried to create her with emotions and thoughts in the reader's mind and offered the readers a window from which they could look at the story. The period that constitutes the main background of the novel, that is, the time period in which the narration takes place, is a period after the Algerian civil war, which Yâmâ called Silent War. The civil war has ended but its effects still continue. El-A’rac used Fasih Arabic in this novel. In some parts of the book, he also included French words, phrases and lyrics. The author has used many narrative techniques, especially narration, demonstration, dialogue and flashback. The application of different narrative techniques in accordance with the nature of the narrator-hero made the work richer in the eyes of the reader. The word (butterfly) in the name of the novel appears on many pages when we look at the content. It has been used in many places for the purpose of metaphor. By its nature, the butterfly is beautiful, delicate and has a shorter life than many other creatures. There are species that live about a year or a few days. A butterfly can go towards its end, flapping its wings towards the fire without knowing what will happen to it - perhaps knowing it. These features of the butterfly are a reminder of how short life is and the fact of death is evident in the novel. While describing life, death, people, emotions and thoughts in his novel, El-A‘rac had the opportunity to express them more effectively by connecting them with the features of the butterfly at some points. Yâmâ sometimes describes it as (My Kingdom) when she talks about Facebook. In one place, the term was used instead of Facebook. The reason why the analogy of the Butterfly Kingdom was made for Facebook in the novel finds its place in the point of view of Yâmâ, who is trying to find the consolation of everything she has lost in the real World because at the end of the novel she learns that her beloved lover (Faust) is only a lie. Thus, her brief virtual life in that kingdom - her own kingdom - ends in pain. Just like the end of a butterfly.
