An Analysis of the Novel "Tutunamayanlar" from the Perspective of Lacanian Psychoanalysis

Abstract

Oguz Atay's novel Tutunamayanlar (The Disconnected) is a postmodern work with its multi-layered structure and narration. The main problem in the novel is narrated through the internal revolts, alienation, and 'inability to hold on' to the life of the subjects who cannot create themselves in society and cannot adapt to the social discourse and the teachings imposed by the community. The context of the establishment stages of the subject is formed within the culture and by the sum of cultural influences. Since the formation of the unconscious subject, which is the epistemological object of psychoanalysis, is also handled through language, it appears to be difficult to consider the existence of the subject independently of cultural discourse. It is observed that the novels written with the technique of consciousness are notably relevant texts for the analysis of the unconscious, and they offer highly explanatory themes in terms of understanding the essential elements that form the character patterns. O & gbreve;uz Atay's novel Tutunamayanlar is a good text for psychoanalytic analysis with its fictional characteristic, use of stream-of-consciousness technique, and play-within-play narration. In this study, the character patterns and experiences of the subjects who are alienated from themselves-due to the split brought about by resisting the transition to the symbolic order and the fragmentation caused by remaining under the yoke of the imaginary register-in the novel Tutunamayanlar were interpreted against the background of the basic concepts (i.e., desire, alienation, other, Other, symbolic, and imaginary, real) in Lacanian theory.