Julia Álvarez’in Garcia Kızları Aksanlarını Nasıl Kaybetti romanında sürgünün yarattığı boşluktan çıkmak
Abstract
Bu çalışma Dominik kökenli Amerikalı yazar Julia Álvarez’in ilk romanı olan Garcia Kızları Aksanlarını Nasıl Kaybetti (1991) eserinde işlenen sürgünün yarattığı travma olgusunun ifade edilişini incelemektedir. Otobiyografik öğeler içeren roman, kronolojik olarak geçmişe doğru akan alışılmadık anlatısıyla, Santo Domingo’lu göçmen bir Latino ailenin Amerika’daki trajikomik asimilasyon serüvenini aktarmaktadır. Bu zorlu uyumlanma sürecinde, kültürel mirasın ve aile hatıralarının yitirilmesi etrafında kurgulanmış roman, Garcia ailesi için otuz yıldan fazla bir zaman dilimini kapsayan anıların belleklerden silinmemesi adına yapılan yoğun bir hatırlama uğraşına dönüşür. James Holte etnik göçmen anlatılarında işlenen bireyin yaptığı dönüşüm yolculuğunu ardışık dört evreli bir süreç ile açıklar: 1) anavatanda geçen çocukluk dönemi, 2) anavatandan yeni dünyaya yapılan yolculuk, 3) eğitim sürecinde ve sonrasındaki iş hayatı deneyimleri, 4) bireyin yeni vatanındaki nihai başarısı ve tatmin duygusu. Ancak özellikle son evresinde, sunulan bu formülün dışına çıkan Álvarez, okuyucuya geleneksel olmayan bir büyüme öyküsü sunar. Böyle bir yazınsal çaba aktarılırken, ikili kimliği ile çetin bir uzlaşma uğraşı içinde olan başkişi Yolanda’nın dil edinimi veya aksanını yitirmesi süreci ele alınır. Birçok bileşenden oluşan özneleşme yolculuğu sırasında dilin üstlendiği rolün başlıca itici güç olduğu vurgusu yapılan bu makalede, romandan seçilen bölümlerin yakın okuması yapılacak, ve sonuç olarak Yolanda’nın ikili kimliği Gloria Anzaldúa’nın ‘melezlik’ ve ‘sınır-sakini’ kavramları çerçevesinde açıklanacaktır.
Keywords
References
- Álvarez, J. (1991). How the García Girls Lost Their Accents. New York: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
- Álvarez, J. (1998). Something to Declare. New York: Plume Penguin.
- Anzaldúa, G. (1981) Speaking in Tongues: A Letter to Third World Women Writers. In Moraga, C. & Anzaldúa, G. (Eds.), This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. Berkeley: Third Woman, 183-194.
- Anzaldúa, G. (1987). Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco: Aunt Lute.
- Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). The Dialogic Imagination. (Trans. Emerson, C. & Holquist, M.). Austin: University of Texas Press.
- Bhabha, H. (1992). The World and the Home. Social Text, 31/32, 141-153.
- Bhabha, H. (1994). The Location of Culture. London & New York: Routledge.
- Clifford, J. (1994). Diasporas. Cultural Anthropology, 9 (3), 302-338.
- Hall, C. S. (1954). A Primer of Freudian Psychology. New York: Mentor.
- Hoffman, J. M. (1998). ‘She Wants to be Called Yolanda Now’: Identity, Language, and the Third Sister in How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. Bilingual Review, 23 (1), 21-28.
- Holte, J. C. (1982). The Representative Voice: Autobiography and the Ethnic Experience. MELUS, 9 (2), 25-46.
- Kevane, B. & Heredia, J. (2000). Citizen of the World: An Interview with Julia Álvarez. In Kevane, B. & Heredia, J. (Eds.), Latina Self-Portraits: Interviews with Contemporary Women Writers. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 19-32.
- Lyons, B. & Oliver, B. (1998). Julia Álvarez: A Clean Windshield. In Lyons, B. & Oliver, B. (Eds.), Passion and Craft: Conversations with Notable Writers. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 128-144.
- Malakoff, M. & Hakuta, K. (1991). Translation Skills and Metalinguistic Awareness in Bilinguals. In Bialystok E. (Ed.), Language Processing in Bilingual Children. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 141-166.
- Mayock, E. C. (1998). The Bicultural Construction of Self in Cisneros, Álvarez, and Santiago. Bilingual Review, 23 (3), 223-230.
- Mujcinovic, F. (2003). Multiple Articulations of Exile in US Latina Literature. MELUS, 28 (4), 167-186.
- Neumaier, D. (1990). Judy Baca: Our People Are The Internal Exiles. In Anzaldúa, G. (Ed.), Making Face, Making Soul/Haciendo Caras: Creative and Critical Perspectives by Feminists of Color. San Francisco: Aunt Lute, 256-270.
- Ortiz-Vilarelle, L. (2013). Julia Alvarez and the Autobiographical Antojo. In Harrison, R. L. & Hipchen, E. (Eds.), Inhabiting La Patria: Identity, Agency, and Antojo in the Work of Julia Alvarez. State University of New York Press, 21-42.
- Rojas, L. (1989). Latinas at the Crossroads: An Affirmation of Life in Rosario Morales and Aurora Levins Morales’ Getting Home Alive. In Horno-Delgado, A., Ortega, E., Scott, N. M. & Sternbach, N. S. (Eds.), Breaking Boundaries: Latina Writing and Critical Readings. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 166- 177.
- Rosario-Sievert, H. (1997). Conversation with Julia Álvarez. Review: Latin American Literature and Arts, 54, 31-37.
- Said, E. (1984). Reflections on Exile. Granta, 13, 159-172.
- Stefanko, J. (1996). New Ways of Telling: Latinas’ Narratives of Exile and Return. Frontiers, 17 (2), 50-69.
- Trigo, B. (2006). Remembering Maternal Bodies: Melancholy in Latina and Latin American Women’s Writing. New York: Palgrave/Macmillan.
- Vázquez, D. (2003). I Can’t Be Me Without My People: Julia Alvarez and the Postmodern Personal Narrative. Latino Studies, 1 (3), 383-402.
- Yitah, H. A. (2007). ‘Inhabited by Un Santo’: The Antojo and Yolanda’s Search for the ‘Missing’ Self in How the García Girls Lost Their Accents. Bilingual Review, 27 (3), 234-243.
Abstract
The present article explores the articulation of the trauma of exile in Dominican-American writer Julia Álvarez’s debut novel, How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (1991). In reverse chronology the loosely autobiographical novel presents a Latino immigrant family from Santo Domingo in their tragicomic quest of Americanization, or assimilation. Revolving around the issue of the loss of cultural heritage and familial legacy during this arduous process of acculturation, the text becomes a recollection of the Garcias to save more than three decades’ of memories from oblivion. According to James Holte, the ethnic immigrant bildungs narrative traditionally presents the transformation of the individual in four phases: (1) the childhood spent in the homeland, (2) the voyage taken from the mother country to the new world, (3) the experiences in the educational realm followed by those of the working life, (4) the final success of the individual in the adopted country and psychic contentment. However, Álvarez deviates from this scheme to present her reader a peculiar coming-of-age tale. Such literary effort is projected through the protagonist, Yolanda, in her quest to negotiate with her dual identity via the theme of language acquisition and the loss of her accent. Emphasizing the role of language as the driving force in the complex process of subject formation, the present article offers a close reading of the selected passages from the novel to arrive at the conclusion that Gloria Anzaldúa’s notions of mestizaje (hybridity) and ‘border-dweller’ account for Yolanda’s dual identity.
References
- Álvarez, J. (1991). How the García Girls Lost Their Accents. New York: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
- Álvarez, J. (1998). Something to Declare. New York: Plume Penguin.
- Anzaldúa, G. (1981) Speaking in Tongues: A Letter to Third World Women Writers. In Moraga, C. & Anzaldúa, G. (Eds.), This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. Berkeley: Third Woman, 183-194.
- Anzaldúa, G. (1987). Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco: Aunt Lute.
- Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). The Dialogic Imagination. (Trans. Emerson, C. & Holquist, M.). Austin: University of Texas Press.
- Bhabha, H. (1992). The World and the Home. Social Text, 31/32, 141-153.
- Bhabha, H. (1994). The Location of Culture. London & New York: Routledge.
- Clifford, J. (1994). Diasporas. Cultural Anthropology, 9 (3), 302-338.
- Hall, C. S. (1954). A Primer of Freudian Psychology. New York: Mentor.
- Hoffman, J. M. (1998). ‘She Wants to be Called Yolanda Now’: Identity, Language, and the Third Sister in How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. Bilingual Review, 23 (1), 21-28.
- Holte, J. C. (1982). The Representative Voice: Autobiography and the Ethnic Experience. MELUS, 9 (2), 25-46.
- Kevane, B. & Heredia, J. (2000). Citizen of the World: An Interview with Julia Álvarez. In Kevane, B. & Heredia, J. (Eds.), Latina Self-Portraits: Interviews with Contemporary Women Writers. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 19-32.
- Lyons, B. & Oliver, B. (1998). Julia Álvarez: A Clean Windshield. In Lyons, B. & Oliver, B. (Eds.), Passion and Craft: Conversations with Notable Writers. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 128-144.
- Malakoff, M. & Hakuta, K. (1991). Translation Skills and Metalinguistic Awareness in Bilinguals. In Bialystok E. (Ed.), Language Processing in Bilingual Children. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 141-166.
- Mayock, E. C. (1998). The Bicultural Construction of Self in Cisneros, Álvarez, and Santiago. Bilingual Review, 23 (3), 223-230.
- Mujcinovic, F. (2003). Multiple Articulations of Exile in US Latina Literature. MELUS, 28 (4), 167-186.
- Neumaier, D. (1990). Judy Baca: Our People Are The Internal Exiles. In Anzaldúa, G. (Ed.), Making Face, Making Soul/Haciendo Caras: Creative and Critical Perspectives by Feminists of Color. San Francisco: Aunt Lute, 256-270.
- Ortiz-Vilarelle, L. (2013). Julia Alvarez and the Autobiographical Antojo. In Harrison, R. L. & Hipchen, E. (Eds.), Inhabiting La Patria: Identity, Agency, and Antojo in the Work of Julia Alvarez. State University of New York Press, 21-42.
- Rojas, L. (1989). Latinas at the Crossroads: An Affirmation of Life in Rosario Morales and Aurora Levins Morales’ Getting Home Alive. In Horno-Delgado, A., Ortega, E., Scott, N. M. & Sternbach, N. S. (Eds.), Breaking Boundaries: Latina Writing and Critical Readings. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 166- 177.
- Rosario-Sievert, H. (1997). Conversation with Julia Álvarez. Review: Latin American Literature and Arts, 54, 31-37.
- Said, E. (1984). Reflections on Exile. Granta, 13, 159-172.
- Stefanko, J. (1996). New Ways of Telling: Latinas’ Narratives of Exile and Return. Frontiers, 17 (2), 50-69.
- Trigo, B. (2006). Remembering Maternal Bodies: Melancholy in Latina and Latin American Women’s Writing. New York: Palgrave/Macmillan.
- Vázquez, D. (2003). I Can’t Be Me Without My People: Julia Alvarez and the Postmodern Personal Narrative. Latino Studies, 1 (3), 383-402.
- Yitah, H. A. (2007). ‘Inhabited by Un Santo’: The Antojo and Yolanda’s Search for the ‘Missing’ Self in How the García Girls Lost Their Accents. Bilingual Review, 27 (3), 234-243.
Details
| Primary Language | English |
|---|---|
| Subjects | Linguistics |
| Journal Section | World languages and litertures |
| Authors | |
| Publication Date | September 21, 2021 |
| Published in Issue | Year 2021 Issue: 24 |
RumeliDE Journal of Language and Literature Studies is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY NC).