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Article

Mother-Son Relationship and Identity Formation in The Moor’s Last Sigh

Hacettepe University Journal of the Faculty of Letters, Volume 36, Issue 1 (2018) pp. 23–32

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Abstract

Salman Rushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh revolves around the Moor who needs to record his genealogical history inorder to survive at a madman’s castle and restore his mother’s reputation. While re-telling his family’s story thatoriginated in Granada, parallel to the history of post-independence India, the Moor makes use of his motherAurora’s magical realist paintings that combine official History with individual histories. Aurora, the oppressivemother figure, dominates the Moor’s narrative through her paintings entitled “The Moor Cycle” andmanipulates his story-telling and identity-formation process. In “The Moor Cycle” paintings, she extols the Moor’sdeformed body and associates him with the last Sultan Boabdil of Granada. Reshaping the flow of history, themother-son relationship and its dynamics are as important as the historical backdrop of the narrative. Thisparallelism between individual histories and the history of India necessitates an allegorical reading, which givesthe key role to ‘Aurora the mother.’ Rushdie’s choice of Aurora as the main source of his postmodern narrative andher haunting influence on the Moor’s identity-formation echo the Mother India myth promoted during the Indiannation-building process. The love-hate relationship between the Moor and Aurora, and its effecs on the Moor’sidentity will be analyzed by referring to Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection. Rushdie’s association of magicalrealism with the maternal semiotic chora, his metaphorical use of the Moor’s grotesque body and the abject figures’potential of breaking the world order based on the law of the father will also be highlighted within the framework ofKristeva’s theory. Therefore, Aurora’s paintings will be read as a feminine form of history-writing that challengesthe paternal discourse that writes the official History.

Abstract (Turkish, translation)

Mağriplinin Son İç Çekişi Romanında Ana-Oğul İlişkisi ve Kimlik Oluşumu

Salman Rushdie’nin kaleme aldığı Mağriplinin Son İç Çekişi Mağripli karakterinin, deli bir ressamın İspanya’dakikalesinde son nefesini vermeye çalışırken yazdığı hayat öyküsünü anlatır. Mağripli, hayatta kalabilmek için ailesininhikayesini kayıtlara geçmek zorundadır. Yıllar önce ihanet ettiği annesinin ressam tarafından yapılmış portresini gerialmak ve annesini ölümsüz kılmak için Hindistan’ın bağımsızlık sonrası dönemiyle iç içe geçen aile tarihini tekraryazarken, annesi Aurora’nın gerçek ve fantastik ögeleri birleştiren büyülü gerçekçi tarzında yapılmış tablolarıanlatısının ana kaynağını oluşturur. Mağripli kaleme aldığı hayat öyküsüyle ihanet ettiği annesinden özürdilemesinin tek yoludur. Baskıcı bir anne portresi çizen Aurora’nın “Mağripli Serisi” tabloları oğlunun anlatısınaegemen olurken, onun hem anlatı hem de kimlik oluşturma sürecini şekillendirir. Tarihin akışını değiştiren veyeniden anlamlandıran anne-oğul ilişkisi ve bu ilişkinin dinamikleri de romanın tarihi arka planı kadar önemlidir.Hindistan’ın resmi tarihine paralel ilerleyen kişisel anlatılar, romanın alegorik okunmasını zorunlu kılar ve bukapsamda baş rolü anne rolündeki Aurora’ya verir. Rushdie’nin Aurora’yı postmodern anlatısına ana kaynakyapması ve Aurora’nın Mağripli’nin kimlik oluşturma sürecindeki baskılayıcı etkisi Hindistan’ın ulus kurmasürecinde ön plana çıkarılan ‘Hindistan Ana’ mitini hatırlatır. Bu bağlamda, aşk-nefret düzleminde ilerleyen anneoğul ilişkisi ve bu ilişkinin Mağripli’nin kimliği üzerindeki etkisi psikanalist Julia Kristeva’nın iğrençlik teorisiyleaçıklanacaktır. Rushdie büyülü gerçekçi tabloları anne rahmiyle özdeşleştirilen semiyotik koraya atfederken,Mağripli’nin normalden iki kat hızlı yaşlanan sıradışı vücudu ve Aurora gibi ötelenmiş figürlerin baba düzeniniyıkma potansiyeli Kristeva’nın teorileri çerçevesinde incelenecektir. Bu nedenle, Aurora’nın büyülü gerçekçitabloları, babaya ait sembolik düzenin içinde yazılan tarihe bir alternatif olarak okunacaktır.

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References

  1. Cantor, P. A. (2003). ‘Tales of the Alhambra: Rushdie’s Use of Spanish History in The Moor’s Last Sigh.’ Bloom’s Modern Critical Views: Salman Rushdie, H. Bloom (Ed.). Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers.
  2. Gonzalez, M. (2005). Fiction After the Fatwa: Salman Rushdie and the Charm of the Catastrophe. Amsterdam: Rodopi. ‘Jawaharlal Nehru, Tyrst with Destiny.’ (1947). Retrieved May, 15 2018, from Norton Topics Online website, https://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/20century /topic_1/ jawnehru.htm
  3. Jung, C. G. (1968). The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (2nd ed.). (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). New York: Princeton UP.
  4. Kristeva, J. (1982). Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection (L. S. Roudiez, Trans.). New York: Columbia UP.
  5. Kristeva, J. (1984). Revolution in Poetic Language (M. Waller, Trans.). New York: Columbia UP.
  6. Magennis, C. (2010). “ ‘…that great swollen belly’: the abject maternal in some recent Northern Irish fiction.” Irish Studies Review, 18 .1: 91-100.Rushdie, S. (1995). The Moor’s Last Sigh. (2006). London: Vintage.
  7. Shimkhada D. & Herman P. K. (Eds.). (2008). Preface. The Constant and Changing Faces of the Goddess: Goddess Traditions of Asia. New Castle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  8. Spivak, G. C. (1989). ‘Reading The Satanic Verses.’ Public Culture, 2.1: 79-99.
  9. Tharoor, S. (2011). Preface. Nehru: The Invention of India. New York: Arcade Publishing.
  10. Thiara, N. W. (2009). Salman Rushdie and Indian Historiography: Writing the Nation into Being. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  11. Viefhues-Bailey, L. H. (2007). Beyond the Philosopher’s Fear: A Cavellian Reading of Gender, Origin and Religion in Modern Skepticism. Hampshire: Ashgate.
  12. Zachariah, B. (2004). Introduction. Nehru. London: Routledge.

Cite this publication

APA 7

Kangüleç Coşkun, K. (2018). Mother-Son Relationship and Identity Formation in The Moor’s Last Sigh. Hacettepe University Journal of the Faculty of Letters, 36(1), 23–32. https://doi.org/10.32600/huefd.432782

BibTeX

@article{kanguleccoskun2018relationship,
  author = {Kang{\"u}le{\c{c}} Co{\c{s}}kun, K{\"u}bra},
  title = {{Mother-Son Relationship and Identity Formation in The Moor's Last Sigh}},
  journal = {Hacettepe University Journal of the Faculty of Letters},
  volume = {36},
  number = {1},
  pages = {23--32},
  publisher = {Hacettepe {\"U}niversitesi},
  year = {2018},
  month = {6},
  issn = {1301-5737},
  doi = {10.32600/huefd.432782},
  url = {https://hacettepe.hbtech.com.tr/en/publication/mother-son-relationship-and-identity-formation-in-the-moors-last-sigh},
  language = {en},
  keywords = {Creative Arts and Writing},
  abstract = {Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh revolves around the Moor who needs to record his genealogical history inorder to survive at a madman's castle and restore his mother's reputation. While re-telling his family's story thatoriginated in Granada, parallel to the history of post-independence India, the Moor makes use of his motherAurora's magical realist paintings that combine official History with individual histories. Aurora, the oppressivemother figure, dominates the Moor's narrative through her paintings entitled ``The Moor Cycle'' andmanipulates his story-telling and identity-formation process. In ``The Moor Cycle'' paintings, she extols the Moor'sdeformed body and associates him with the last Sultan Boabdil of Granada. Reshaping the flow of history, themother-son relationship and its dynamics are as important as the historical backdrop of the narrative. Thisparallelism between individual histories and the history of India necessitates an allegorical reading, which givesthe key role to `Aurora the mother.' Rushdie's choice of Aurora as the main source of his postmodern narrative andher haunting influence on the Moor's identity-formation echo the Mother India myth promoted during the Indiannation-building process. The love-hate relationship between the Moor and Aurora, and its effecs on the Moor'sidentity will be analyzed by referring to Julia Kristeva's theory of abjection. Rushdie's association of magicalrealism with the maternal semiotic chora, his metaphorical use of the Moor's grotesque body and the abject figures'potential of breaking the world order based on the law of the father will also be highlighted within the framework ofKristeva's theory. Therefore, Aurora's paintings will be read as a feminine form of history-writing that challengesthe paternal discourse that writes the official History.}
}
.bib

RIS

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kangüleç Coşkun, Kübra
TI  - Mother-Son Relationship and Identity Formation in The Moor’s Last Sigh
T2  - Hacettepe University Journal of the Faculty of Letters
VL  - 36
IS  - 1
PY  - 2018
DA  - 2018/06/11/
SP  - 23
EP  - 32
PB  - Hacettepe Üniversitesi
SN  - 1301-5737
DO  - 10.32600/huefd.432782
UR  - https://hacettepe.hbtech.com.tr/en/publication/mother-son-relationship-and-identity-formation-in-the-moors-last-sigh
AB  - Salman Rushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh revolves around the Moor who needs to record his genealogical history inorder to survive at a madman’s castle and restore his mother’s reputation. While re-telling his family’s story thatoriginated in Granada, parallel to the history of post-independence India, the Moor makes use of his motherAurora’s magical realist paintings that combine official History with individual histories. Aurora, the oppressivemother figure, dominates the Moor’s narrative through her paintings entitled “The Moor Cycle” andmanipulates his story-telling and identity-formation process. In “The Moor Cycle” paintings, she extols the Moor’sdeformed body and associates him with the last Sultan Boabdil of Granada. Reshaping the flow of history, themother-son relationship and its dynamics are as important as the historical backdrop of the narrative. Thisparallelism between individual histories and the history of India necessitates an allegorical reading, which givesthe key role to ‘Aurora the mother.’ Rushdie’s choice of Aurora as the main source of his postmodern narrative andher haunting influence on the Moor’s identity-formation echo the Mother India myth promoted during the Indiannation-building process. The love-hate relationship between the Moor and Aurora, and its effecs on the Moor’sidentity will be analyzed by referring to Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection. Rushdie’s association of magicalrealism with the maternal semiotic chora, his metaphorical use of the Moor’s grotesque body and the abject figures’potential of breaking the world order based on the law of the father will also be highlighted within the framework ofKristeva’s theory. Therefore, Aurora’s paintings will be read as a feminine form of history-writing that challengesthe paternal discourse that writes the official History.
KW  - Creative Arts and Writing
LA  - en
ER  -
.ris