Invisibility and Disconnectedness in the Twentieth Century Novel: The Comparative Analysis of the Concept of Alienation in Oğuz Atay’s The Disconnected and Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man

Throughout history, the concRegardless of time, place and social differences, the concept of alienation, as a part of social life, has been regarded as a universal theme. As literature is inherently the reflection of social life, the concept of alienation has become an intersection point of literary works. In relation, Oğuz Atay’s The Disconnected (1972) and Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man (1952) address the concept of alienation through the portrayal of the spiritual journey of the universal lonely individual from the perspectives of Turkish and American cultures. In both works, in order to encounter and overcome their alienation, the main characters create a common space through the methods they develop. While, Atay sheds light upon the alienated individual via using disconnection as a motif, Ellison addresses the alienated individual in American society through invisibility. It is at this point that the characters of Atay, Turgut Özben and Selim Işık, who are sentenced to mental exile, literally coincide with the Invisible Man who is sentenced to a bodily exile. At the end of their stories, the characters, who reflect different geographies, manage to get out of their state of alienation from the society and their inner self’s thanks to the strategies they develop. Their stories might be read as a passive resistance and can be analyzed by focusing on the web of images; rebirth, alienation and the end of exile to illuminate the story of the alienated individual. In this study, the concept of alienation is analyzed in relation with the themes ‘disconnection’ and ‘invisibility’ in plural investigation method via comparative literature within the frame of Hegel’s concept of alienation and his master-slave dialectic. The study explores the commonalities and differences between the two texts considering the alienation processes of the protagonists and the strategies they construct in order to overcome their alienated bodies and identities. ept of alienation has been a part of social life. Regardless of time, place and social differences, it has been regarded as a universal theme. As literature is inherently the reflection of social life, the concept of alienation has become an intersection point of literary works. In relation, Oğuz Atay’s The Disconnected (1972) and Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man (1952) address the concept of alienation through the portrayal of the spiritual journey of the universal lonely individual from the perspectives of Turkish and American cultures. In this study, the concept of alienation is analyzed in relation with the themes ‘disconnection’ and ‘invisibility’ in plural investigation method via comparative literature within the frame of Hegel’s concept of alienation and his master-slave dialectic. The study explores the commonalities and differences between the two texts considering the alienation processes of the protagonists and the strategies they construct in order to overcome their alienated bodies and identities.

Keywords

Comparative Literature, The Disconnected, Invisible Man, Alienation, Master-Slave Dialectic, Oğuz Atay, Ralph Ellison