Dokuz Eylül University Journal of Humanities

Abstract

İnci Gürbüzatik, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story writer, deals with mainly the relations between the woman and the man and the problems women face in society. The aim of this paper is to discuss whether the writer's novel titled Misket can be regarded as an écriture feminine (a feminine novel). For the purpose of the study, the novel has been analyzed through close reading, and textual evidence has been discussed, referring to Hélène Cixous's ideas concerning écriture feminine in her works titled "The Laugh of the Medusa", “Sorties: Out and out: Attacks/ways out/forays" and "Castration or Decapitation?” The results of the discussions are as follows: the fact that Gürbüzatik has used various meanings of the word "misket" on different pages of the novel is congruent with Cixous's suggestion of using a myriad of meanings instead of a single, fixed meaning. Similarly, that the writer has adopted both the first-person narrative and the third-person narrative is concordant with Cixous's implication of ‘plurality against unity’ in écriture feminine. Writing the repressed memories coming to her consciousness while walking in the streets where she spent her childhood in the scenes in which she has used the first-person narrative, Gürbüzatik has fulfilled what Cixous desires women to talk about in their works. Besides narrating the stories of the women trying to stand on their own feet, Gürbüzatik has described women's bodies and depicted the scenes displaying that women have sexual desires. These are also the topics about which Cixous encourages women to write. Given the results of the discussions so far, it is possible to assert that Gürbüzatik’s Misket is an impressive example of écriture feminine.