The Linguistic Pandemic and the Crisis of Subjectivity
A Metamodern Memory Analysis of the Novel Sıcak Kafa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20248035 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Engin Keflioğlu (0000-0002-2329-633X, MİLLİ EĞİTİM BAKANLIĞI, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 11 |
| Pages | 207 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-22 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Humanities (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2076-0787 • E-ISSN: 2076-0787 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/h14110207 |
| OpenAlex | W4415452188 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 3 |
This study positions Afşin Kum’s dystopian novel Sıcak Kafa [Hot Skull] within the contemporary cultural logic of metamodernism, addressing a critical lacuna in the scholarship concerning memory’s function after postmodernism. It asks how the novel engages with Alison Landsberg and Timotheus Vermeulen’s nascent theory of “metamodern memory,” which posits a shift toward a politically paralyzing obsession with authenticity, origin, and the proprietorship of lived experience. Using a methodology of close reading guided by this theoretical framework, the analysis first demonstrates how Sıcak Kafa serves as a powerful diagnostic tool, meticulously instantiating the pathologies of the metamodern condition: a fragile subjectivity defined by trauma, a fetishistic reliance on corporeal indexes, and the societal balkanization fostered by a centrally controlled information ecosystem. The study’s central finding, however, is that the novel stages a radical break from this bleak diagnosis. It charts the protagonist’s ultimate rejection of the rational, trauma-defined self in favor of a post-rational, post-linguistic consciousness, culminating in a speculative vision of collective liberation. The article concludes that Sıcak Kafa is not merely an example of metamodernism but a profound and transformative critique of its political pessimism, offering a speculative path beyond its contemporary impasse
Critical theory · Dystopia · Politics · Scholarship · Subjectivity · Transformative learning · Cultural and Sociopolitical Studies · Educational Methods and Analysis · Turkish Literature and Culture
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |