Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
A Comparative Journey to the Heart of World Literature , Özkan Kırmızı,Samet Güven, Editör, Nobel Yayınevi, Ankara, ss.123-148, 2024
This chapter provides a comprehensive biographical account of Alev Lytle Croutier’s life and authorship and delves into her work Taking the Waters through a comparative literary lens. Landmarks in Croutier’s life swayed her from side to side, eventually to the US, where she settled down and fused her childhood crush, writing, with her memories, passion for history, and well‐education. Therefore, the blend of her rich cultural heritagewith her passions is evident in many of her works. From this standpoint, Taking the Waters differs from her other works, standing out for its global exploration of water imagery. Pursuing the third thing that makes it water in her unique work, Croutier takes her readers on a temporal and spatial journey worldwide, traversing various cultures and historical periods to track and examine diverse symbolic meanings and significance attributed to water. Her exploration reveals a multi‐faceted imaginary harmonized with dualities. Water appears as a life‐ giving substance, a destructive force, a means of bodily cleansing, a spiritual purifier, a path to the unknown or home, a dwelling for monsters, a residence for charming beauties, a way of socialization, an abode of solitude, an art of sensuality, asexual nudity, an art object and a daily material used in everywhere. By comparing the depiction of water in Taking the Waters with similar motifs in other literary works across different cultures and epochs, this chapter aims to highlight diversity of water symbolism. Croutier’s intricate portrayal of water, harmonized with dualities, reflects a rich tapestry of meanings that resonate with various cultural narratives and mythologies. This comparative analysis underscores Croutier’s unique contribution to world literature and enriches our understanding of water as a powerful and versatile literary symbol.