Eğitim Romanı Türünde Postmodernist Bir Açılım: Patrick Süskind'in Kokusu

Abstract

The focus of German Bildungsroman as a type is an individual's life long processes leading to his or her forming of an identity. The prototype of Bildungsroman was put forward by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in his work titled "Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre". Since this novel included a typical set of qualities that can be found in an Bildungsroman, it also set an example to the type as well. Therefore, the process of stepping into maturity goes parallel to the worldview and understanding of reality of the Classical Age. The anti-mimetic view in the Bildungsromau Genre, which was detected primarily in romantic writers and than in modern writers, becomes more visible in postmodern Bildungsromane. Instead of relying on absolute reality but by putting an end to searching for meaning in life, the focus is on multiplicity in which everything is put together. By accepting the relativity of reality, we start seeing the questioning and problematization of world and artistic views that are apparent in Bildungsroman. Patrick Süskind, in his post-modern novel "Perfume", lays an ironic and parody based view by twisting the content and forms that are peculiar to this tradition. This grotesque twist shows us the end of the traditional view in avant-garde works. In such a situation, the place of traditional Bildungsroman is left to postmodern Bildungsroman in which multiplicity is sought through fictionalizing all forms and content of the traditional one.