A Post-Modernist Critique of Elif Shafak’s Novel “The Bastard of Istanbul”

Abstract

Postmodernism is a movement in architecture, arts and criticism which widens its domain also in the discipline of literature. Postmodern works are primarily a response against modernist perspectives towards literature and are also in opposition to Enlightenment movement. Numerous researches have been done in various genres of literature which incorporate postmodernism. This study focuses on the representation of postmodern elements in the novel “The Bastard of Istanbul” written by Elif Shafak. Postmodern elements present in the novel are investigated through the postmodern elements expounded by Ihab Hassan, Fredric Jameson, Jean Baudrillard and Linda Hutcheon. The findings reveal that Elif Shafak has employed numerous postmodern elements such as depthlessness, silence, pastiche, play, chance, ambiguity, desire, alienation, irony, pataphysics and pop culture through the depiction of her major characters and events. Thus, these postmodern elements observe the criteria listed in the theoretical framework for classifying this novel a postmodern text.