Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
International Kent Symposium, İstanbul, Türkiye, 19 Nisan 2025, (Yayınlanmadı)
E.M Forster’s A Room with a View (1908) features the Grand
Tour of Lucy Honeychurch culminating in her evolution from a young Edwardian
lady to a Flâneuse. The concept of flâneur was conceptualized by Charles
Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin, describing privileged men roaming around the
city, absorbing the urban milieu. Flâneuse, on the other hand, emerged as its
female counterpart. Particularly, the notion of an Edwardian flaneuse remains
unexplored. This paper claims that Lucy’s idiosyncratic journey diverges from conventional
Grand Tour narratives featuring male, European flâneurs following standard
routes. Lucy’s initial reliance on guidebooks to navigate the chaos of Florence
epitomises her conformity to social norms. Nonetheless, her emancipation from
Baedeker and Ruskin marks her emergence as a flaneuse, her departure from the
guides mimics her break from conventions embracing her unique journey and
perception. This paper examines Lucy’s transformation form a young Edwardian woman
to an explorer analysing Forster’s satirical portrayal of her in the streets of
Italy, highlighting how her new identity as a flâneuse serve as a catalyst for her
self-discovery and liberation from the boundaries of the society and people’s
expectations.