Özet:

Ali Smith’s How to Be Both (2014) provides the reader with a unique reading experience through two interconnected narratives. The novel has two separate editions with the same words and the same cover; the only difference between these editions is the order of the sections it contains. Hence, the text challenges the reader’s comprehension and perception. Fluidity and simultaneity, which are indicated in the title of the novel is the focal point of this study. Throughout the novel, fiction and non-fiction, past and present, art and life, living human beings and ghosts, creation and destruction, eyes and camera intertwine. The aim of this article is to examine the narrative devices employed in this novel, whilst displaying the presentation of the characters in these interwoven stories. While discussing the structure of the novel as well as the relationship between the main characters (one of which is a Renaissance painter, whereas the other is a modern adolescent girl), theories on seeing, gaze, visibility and perception - with reference to Michel Foucault, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and John Berger - are employed. This study examines the relationship between seeing and the mind, the communication between perception and prejudice, and the reflection of concepts such as point of view and perspective in visual arts and literature. The analysis of certain incidents, characters and notions via close reading of the text makes it possible to consider concepts such as seeing, comprehension and point of view in light of both Renaissance and contemporary theories.