“Paracelsus’un Gülü” Öyküsünün İmgelem Kuramı Açısından Yorumlanması
Fulya Doğru ŞahinBu çalışmanın amacı Arjantinli yazar Jorge Luis Borges’in “Paracelsus’un Gülü” (La rosa de Paracelso) adlı öyküsündeki imgelerin ve arketiplerin bir çözümlemesini sunmaktır. Bu çözümlemede, semboller ve arketipler üzerinde öncü kaynaklar sunan Carl Gustav Jung’un analitik psikoloji alanındaki çalışmaları ve Gilbert Durand’ın İmgesel Yapısalcılık kuramından faydalanılmıştır. Öykü, Borges’in Kabala imgelerinin yer aldığı ikinci öyküsüdür ve öyküde Kabala aracılığıyla küllerinden yeniden doğan bir gül görülmektedir. Çalışmanın ilk bölümünde arketip kavramı Jung’un katkıları ile açıklanmaktadır ve Gilbert Durand’ın sembolleri reflekslere dayalı gündüz ve gece rejimi olmak üzere iki temel kategoride sınıflandırdığı İmgesel Yapısalcılık kuramından bahsedilmektedir. Kuramdaki rejimler, baskın reflekslerinin temsilleriyle ilgili fiil şemaları, sıfat ve isimlerle ilişkilendirilmiştir. Buna göre, öyküde tespit edilen sembolik unsurlar Durand’ın İmgesel Yapısalcılık kuramına göre incelenmiştir ve öykünün zıtlıklar (antagonismo) üzerine kurulmuş bir imgelem yapısı sunduğu görülmektedir. Zamanın yıkıcı etkisinden etkilenmeyen ve gece rejimiyle özdeşleşen imgeler görüldüğünden gece rejiminin baskın geldiği sonucuna varılmıştır. Öyküdeki iki karakter Jung’un arketipleriyle açıklanmaktadır. Paracelsus’un yaşlı bilge arketipi ile özdeşleşirken genç Johannes’in ise yaşlı bilgenin gölgesi olduğu ve gölge arketipiyle özdeşleştiği sonucuna ulaşılmaktadır. Sonuç bölümünde ise Borges’in öyküsündeki imge ve arketiplerin bir çözümlemesinin yanı sıra öyküde ulaşılan dört çıkarımdan bahsedilecektir. Ayrıca, örtmece sayesinde ölümün yani zamanın yıkıcı gücünün yenilgiye uğratıldığı ve ölümsüzlüğe ulaşıldığı görülmektedir.
Examination of the story of “The Rose of Paracelsus” according to Theory of the Imaginary
Fulya Doğru ŞahinThis study aims to present an analysis of the images and archetypes in Jorge Luis Borges’s story “The Rose of Paracelsus” (La rosa de Paracelso). In this analysis, we benefit from Carl Gustav Jung’s works on analytical psychology, considered leading sources on symbols and archetypes, and the Theory of the Imaginary of Gilbert Durand. The story is Borges’s second story featuring images of Kabala, and it presents a rose reborn from the ashes through Kabala. In the first part of the study, we explain the concept of archetype making use of Jung’s contributions, and we mention the Theory of the Imaginary, in which Gilbert Durand classifies symbols into two regimes based on reflexes, namely diurnal and nocturnal. Regimes in the theory are associated with verb schemes, adjectives, and nouns related to representations of dominant reflexes. After commenting on the symbolic elements detected in the story according to the theory of Durand, we move on to the use of euphemisms offering a structure of images based on contrasts (antagonism). Since images unaffected by the destructive effect of time and related to the nocturnal regime are detected, it shows that the nocturnal regime prevails. After analyzing two characters of the story according to Jung’s archetypes, we conclude that Paracelsus is identified with the old wise archetype, while Johannes is identified with the shadow archetype. In the light of this, we mention four main conclusions reached in the story. Another conclusion to be reached is that we defeat death and the destructive power of time, achieving immortality through euphemism.
The story titled “The Rose of Paracelsus” (La rosa de Paracelso) is one of four stories in Jorge Luis Borges’s book La memoria de Shakespeare (Shakespeare Memory) published in 1983. The story is Borges’s second story featuring images of Kabala, and it presents a rose reborn from the ashes through Kabala. The story is based on Paracelsus, portrayed as a wise man in the story, and Johannes Grisebach, who wants to be an apprentice to Paracelsus. The story begins with Paracelsus praying to his God to send him a student in an atelier consisting of two rooms in a basement. Paracelsus waits in the basement, underground , for a student to whom to transfer his knowledge like a seed. He thinks that he will be able to resist time and make progress by transferring his knowledge and in the end, he can become immortal through the knowledge that he passes on to this student. Johannes requests information from Paracelsus, and when we examine this according to the Theory of Imaginary, in which Gilbert Durand classifies symbols into two regimes based on diurnal and nocturnal reflexes , we see that he comes to the basement to get knowledge. The atelier located underground is the place where he searches for knowledge. He goes underground to possess the knowledge he needs to rise spiritually. The young man, looking for a new beginning and rebirth through the knowledge he wants to get goes back to the starting point, associated with the nocturnal regime. Even though we see the nocturnal regime in the actions of Johannes, we detect concepts in the story related to the diurnal regime such as light, word and talking. So, we reach a structure of images based on contrasts (antagonism). However, in our study we found more images which are unaffected by the destructive effect of the time and related to the nocturnal regime. This shows that the nocturnal regime prevails over the diurnal regime. After commenting on the story according to the regimes, we move on to mentioning the symbols related to Kabala. Johannes wants Paracelsus to teach him The Art (el Arte) and he says that he wants to accompany Paracelsus in the way of The Stone (la Piedra). The Stone mentioned in the story and written in capital letters, refers to ‘the stone of wisdom’ or ‘philosophy stone’ which has an important meaning in alchemy. Also, the words Stone, Art, and Way are all concepts related to Kabala. Another wish of Johannes is to see the rebirth of the rose after being burnt. The desire to burn the rose and then resurrect it from the ashes symbolizes renewal or rebirth. This can be interpreted as Johannes’ wish to witness the eternity of the rose. With only one word, Paracelsus says that the rose can be seen again to show that he can perform this transition without needing any tool. The word mentioned here is the word taught in Kabala.
After analyzing the two characters of the story according to Jung’s archetypes and concluding that Paracelsus is identified with the old wise archetype, while Johannes is identified with the shadow archetype, we can mention four main conclusions reached in the story. The first idea is that life is a journey. The story presents a cycle of starting and ending, seen constantly with actions such as coming and going and being born and dying. Recurring events in this cycle happen as starting and ending, which are contrasts with the transition between each other. Secondly, it offers important inferences in terms of time and space perception. Through his character Paracelsus, Borges expresses that we are spatially in heaven in the story in which he creates a cosmos. The third conclusion is that the story offers an organic transformation. The master says that we see a change of shape in the transition of rose to ash and ash to rose. He says that only the appearance changes because the object of the essence (seed) is infinite. This transformation is the regular change between the first and last points of its substance, and it is realized without the intervention of another substance or object. The fourth and last idea is that we are in a cosmological order in which nothing really disappears and changes shape in transformations. In the mini cosmos presented by Borges, ‘immortality’ is achieved, and death is defeated according to the perspective that the master describes but which Johannes cannot see. It turns out that we can ignore the destructive power of time, thanks to euphemism, when we consider that death converts into rebirth as the next phase and that this action will repeat as birth and death again. This also shows that we only change our shapes in this cycle.
