Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in Nineteenth-Century Istanbul: Appropriation and Performance as Trauma Narrative/Cure in Çağan Irmak’s Creature (2023)

Özlem Karadağ

Article Details

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in Nineteenth-Century Istanbul: Appropriation and Performance as Trauma Narrative/Cure in Çağan Irmak’s Creature (2023)

Authors:

Özlem Karadağ

Publisher:

Istanbul University

Main Topics:

Dünya Dilleri | Edebiyatı ve Kültürü (Diğer)

Journal:

Litera: Dil Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi Vol.35 Issue Special Issue, pp.88-104

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

5/2025

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

2001358735

pISSN:

2602-2117

Keywords:

Abstract:

 Çağan Irmaks 2023 Netflix series Yaratılan Creature is an adaptation inspired by Mary Shelleys 1818 novel Frankenstein. Çağan Irmak reappropriates the novel into the nineteenth-century Ottoman context. The series presumably has the cholera outbreak 1840s or 1890s as the triggering point of one of the main characters, Ziyas Dr Frankensteins equivalent, search for immortality, and falls in line with the questions raised by the novel, as well as the traumatic history of not only the nineteenth century dynamics but also the human helplessness in the face of pandemicsepidemics, including COVID-19. Ihsan the creature as an unusual doctor, who quite extraordinarily becomes the monster of this adaptation, helps raise questions concerning bio-ethics as well as trauma and recovery. He is re-educated and regains his memory through his encounter with a theatre troupe and heals through his interactions with others who are social outcasts like him. Thus, performance acting and narrating functions as a way of facing and dealing with traumatic memories. In the context of cultural adaptation and appropriation of a classical novel, this paper aims to discuss how the act of adaptation itself and the choice of theatrical rehearsal, performance, and storytelling serve as a LaCapraesque acting out and working through to help deal with fictional and non-fictional traumas.

 Çağan Irmaks 2023 Netflix series Yaratılan Creature is an adaptation inspired by Mary Shelleys 1818 novel Frankenstein. Çağan Irmak reappropriates the novel into the nineteenth-century Ottoman context. The series presumably has the cholera outbreak 1840s or 1890s as the triggering point of one of the main characters, Ziyas Dr Frankensteins equivalent, search for immortality, and falls in line with the questions raised by the novel, as well as the traumatic history of not only the nineteenth century dynamics but also the human helplessness in the face of pandemicsepidemics, including COVID-19. Ihsan the creature as an unusual doctor, who quite extraordinarily becomes the monster of this adaptation, helps raise questions concerning bio-ethics as well as trauma and recovery. He is re-educated and regains his memory through his encounter with a theatre troupe and heals through his interactions with others who are social outcasts like him. Thus, performance acting and narrating functions as a way of facing and dealing with traumatic memories. In the context of cultural adaptation and appropriation of a classical novel, this paper aims to discuss how the act of adaptation itself and the choice of theatrical rehearsal, performance, and storytelling serve as a LaCapraesque acting out and working through to help deal with fictional and non-fictional traumas.

 Çağan Irmaks 2023 Netflix series Yaratılan Creature is an adaptation inspired by Mary Shelleys 1818 novel Frankenstein. Çağan Irmak reappropriates the novel into the nineteenth-century Ottoman context. The series presumably has the cholera outbreak 1840s or 1890s as the triggering point of one of the main characters, Ziyas Dr Frankensteins equivalent, search for immortality, and falls in line with the questions raised by the novel, as well as the traumatic history of not only the nineteenth century dynamics but also the human helplessness in the face of pandemicsepidemics, including COVID-19. Ihsan the creature as an unusual doctor, who quite extraordinarily becomes the monster of this adaptation, helps raise questions concerning bio-ethics as well as trauma and recovery. He is re-educated and regains his memory through his encounter with a theatre troupe and heals through his interactions with others who are social outcasts like him. Thus, performance acting and narrating functions as a way of facing and dealing with traumatic memories. In the context of cultural adaptation and appropriation of a classical novel, this paper aims to discuss how the act of adaptation itself and the choice of theatrical rehearsal, performance, and storytelling serve as a LaCapraesque acting out and working through to help deal with fictional and non-fictional traumas.

 Çağan Irmaks 2023 Netflix series Yaratılan Creature is an adaptation inspired by Mary Shelleys 1818 novel Frankenstein. Çağan Irmak reappropriates the novel into the nineteenth-century Ottoman context. The series presumably has the cholera outbreak 1840s or 1890s as the triggering point of one of the main characters, Ziyas Dr Frankensteins equivalent, search for immortality, and falls in line with the questions raised by the novel, as well as the traumatic history of not only the nineteenth century dynamics but also the human helplessness in the face of pandemicsepidemics, including COVID-19. Ihsan the creature as an unusual doctor, who quite extraordinarily becomes the monster of this adaptation, helps raise questions concerning bio-ethics as well as trauma and recovery. He is re-educated and regains his memory through his encounter with a theatre troupe and heals through his interactions with others who are social outcasts like him. Thus, performance acting and narrating functions as a way of facing and dealing with traumatic memories. In the context of cultural adaptation and appropriation of a classical novel, this paper aims to discuss how the act of adaptation itself and the choice of theatrical rehearsal, performance, and storytelling serve as a LaCapraesque acting out and working through to help deal with fictional and non-fictional traumas.

Article Details

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in Nineteenth-Century Istanbul: Appropriation and Performance as Trauma Narrative/Cure in Çağan Irmak’s Creature (2023)

Authors:

Özlem Karadağ

Publisher:

Istanbul University

Main Topics:

Dünya Dilleri | Edebiyatı ve Kültürü (Diğer)

Journal:

Litera: Dil Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi Vol.35 Issue Special Issue, pp.88-104

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

5/2025

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

2001358735

pISSN:

2602-2117

Çağan Irmak’s Creature

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

cultural appropriation

transcultural adaptation

trauma narratives

Issues

Article Details

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in Nineteenth-Century Istanbul: Appropriation and Performance as Trauma Narrative/Cure in Çağan Irmak’s Creature (2023)

Authors: Özlem Karadağ

Publisher: Istanbul University

Main Topics: Dünya Dilleri | Edebiyatı ve Kültürü (Diğer)

Journal: Litera: Dil Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi Vol.35 Issue Special Issue, pp.88-104

Document Type: Article

Publication Date: 5/2025

Document Language: English

Document ID (Org No.): 2001358735

pISSN: 2602-2117

Çağan Irmak’s Creature

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

cultural appropriation

transcultural adaptation

trauma narratives

Issues

Authors:

Özlem Karadağ

Publisher:

Istanbul University

Main Topics:

Dünya Dilleri | Edebiyatı ve Kültürü (Diğer)

Journal:

Litera: Dil Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi Vol.35 Issue Special Issue, pp.88-104

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

5/2025

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

2001358735

pISSN:

2602-2117