American Literature

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Sunday Reading: Eco-criticism

 

10 November 2020

What is Ecocriticism? 

Ecocriticism is the study of literature and environment from an interdisciplinary point of view where all sciences come together to analyze the environment and brainstorm possible solutions for the correction of the contemporary environmental situation. Ecocriticism was officially heralded by the publication of two seminal works, both published in the mid-1990s: 

• "The Ecocriticism Reader" edited by Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm

• "The Environmental Imagination" by Lawrence Buell.

Ecocritics ask questions such as:

(1) How is nature represented in the poem ?

(2) What role does the physical geographical structure of nature have relations with humans?

(3) How do our metaphors of the land influence the way we treat it? That is, what is the link between pedagogic or creative practice and actual political, sociocultural and ethical behaviour towards the land and other non-human life forms?

(4) How does poetry open to critical scrutiny in terms of the effects of science upon the land?

"TREE ONCE AGAIN"

BY

SITANSHU YASHASCHANDRA 

Devang Nanavati delivered an interesting online talk on ecocritical reading of Sitanshu Yashaschandra's poem 'Tree Once Again'. This Gujarati poem he talked about poet and his poem from the perspective of Ecocriticism like "Fari Pachhu Vruksh". He talked about poets and his poems from the perspective of Ecocriticism. As given below 

Sitanshu Yashaschandra is among contemporary Gujarati literature’s most eminent representatives. A poet, playwright, translator and academic, he has received several awards over the years from the Sahitya Akademi Award (1987) for his significant opus, Jatayu, to the Padma Shri (2006) from the Government of India. He has authored three books of poetry.

1. Odysseusnu-n Halesu (1974)

2. Jatayu (1986)

3. Vakhar

What is the right time to understand the importance of nature? As lots of trees cut down because of industrialisation and the expansion of the land. The poet who tries to say this in this poem. The stillness under the tree after returning home exhausted having had a full meal. While reading the latest issue of genitalia generally translates it. It is the welfare of the people. At  times of restive moments the poet imagines that if the tree hadn't been cut what would have been the picture of the tree as well as earth? Picture of the tree today? Or infect what I have destroyed from the arm of the chair on which the poet is sitting lying near this door blows himself violet coloured flowers. 

You see the color image? You must be learning in your style. How the poet is using the colours of the names of the magazines. He manages the rhythm between one and the other stand so that you know the appeal to preserve the tree in our mind. 

Ecocriticism and Human Relations 

Ecocriticism investigates the relation between humans and the natural world in literature. It deals with how environmental issues, cultural issues concerning the environment and attitudes towards nature are presented and analyzed. One of the main goals in ecocriticism is to study how individuals in society behave and react in relation to nature and ecological aspects. This form of criticism has gained a lot of attention during recent years due to higher social emphasis on environmental destruction and increased technology.

Postcolonial-Ecocriticism 

Jack Nelson  defines  postcolonial ecocriticism as, 

Postcolonial  ecocriticism  (…)  is  a  way  of  thinking  that  seeks  to understand how top-level, elite driven processes like (neo) colonialism, capitalism,  international  development,  interstate  alliances  or  the centralization  or  devolution  of  power  are  connected  to  the  spaces  in which people live and act, while at the same time recognizing that the reclamation of space, land, and resources is a key part of the process of people’s liberation. “Humanity in Action”. 

Nelson also points out that postcolonial ecocriticism puts into consideration “spaces” and their physical and metaphysical ramifications and what they hold for the humans as they interact in them.

The essential assumptions, ideas and methods of ecocritics may be summed up as follows.

(1) Ecocritics believe that human culture is related to the physical world.

(2) Ecocriticism assumes that all life forms are interlinked. Ecocriticism expands the notion of “the world” to include the entire ecosphere.

(3) Moreover, there is a definite link between nature and culture, where the literary treatment, representation and “thematization” of land and nature influence actions on the land.

Thank you....

Thinking Activity: Then and Now; Colonialism, Imperialism, postcolonialism, Globalization and Environmental studies

 

 Hello Readers,

Warmly welcomed to Blog. Here, I have discussed the marked for identification as diverse instances of cultural imperialism. Cultural imperialism is one of a number of oppressive relations that may hold between dominant and subordinate cultures. Whether or not conscious and intentional, it serves to extend the political power, secure the social control, and further the economic profit of the dominant culture. 

Ultimately, it facilitates a type of cultural acquisition via conceptual, even material, assimilation; the dominant culture seeks to establish itself in indigenous cultures by appropriating, mining, and redefining what is distinctive in, or constitutive of, them. The mechanism for this, as we will see, is an oft-repeated pattern of cultural subordination that turns vitally on legal and popular views of ownership and property, as formulated within the dominant culture.

Situating Colonial and postcolonial studies

Colonialism and imperialism are often used interchangeably. The word colonialism, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), comes from the Roman ‘colonia’ which meant ‘farm’ or ‘settlement’, and referred to Romans who settled in other lands but still retained their citizenship. Accordingly, the OED describes

it as a settlement in a new country … a body of people who settle in a new locality, forming a community subject to or connected with their

parent state; the community so formed, consisting of the original

settlers and their descendants and successors, as long as the connection with the parent state is kept up.

Then and Now: Colonialism, Imperialism, postcolonialism, globalization, Environmental studies 

The word ‘colonialism’ of any implication of an encounter between peoples, or of conquest and domination. There is no hint that the ‘new locality’ may not be so ‘new’ and that the process of ‘forming a community’ might be somewhat unfair.

colonialism can be defined as the conquest and control of other people’s land and goods. But colonialism in this sense did not begin with the expansion of various European powers into Asia, Africa or the Americas from the sixteenth century.

1. How can we understand these differences? 

2. Was it that Europeans established empires far away from their own shores? 

3. Were they more violent or more ruthless? Were they better organised? Or a superior race? 

All of these explanations have in fact been offered to account for the global power and drastic effects of European colonialisms. Marxist thinking on the subject locates a crucial distinction between the two: 

• Whereas earlier colonialisms were pre-capitalist, modern colonialism was established alongside capit- alism in Western Europe (see Bottomore 1983: 81–85). 

• Modern colonialism did more than extract tribute, goods and wealth from the countries that it conquered—it restructured the economies of the latter, drawing them into a complex relationship with their own, so that there was a flow of human and natural resources between colonised and colonial countries. 

This flow worked in both directions—slaves and indentured labour as well as raw materials were transported to manufacture goods in the metropolis, or in other locations for metropolitan consumption, but the colonies also provided captive markets for European goods. The economic imbalance that was necessary for the growth of European capitalism and industry. Thus we could say that colonialism was the midwife that assisted at the birth of European capitalism, or that without colonial expansion the transition to capitalism could not have taken place in Europe but the global connections established by modern colonialism were not entirely new. 

The trade routes that had connected Europe with Asia, and Asia with Africa since antiquity were reworked and expanded as the Americas were ‘discovered’ by Europeans.

Capitalism 

The distinction between pre-capitalist and capitalist colonialisms is often made by referring to the latter as imperialism. This is somewhat misleading, because imperialism, like colonialism, stretches back to a pre-capitalist past. Like ‘colonialism’, imperialism too is best understood not by trying to pin it down to a single semantic meaning but by relating its shifting meanings to historical processes. Early in its usage in the English language it simply means ‘command or superior power’ (Williams 1976: 131). The OED defines ‘imperial’ as ‘pertaining to empire’, and ‘imperialism’ as the 

 ‘rule of an emperor, espe- cially when despotic or arbitrary; the principle or spirit of empire; advocacy of what are held to be imperial interests’.

As a matter of fact, the connection of imperial with royal authority is highly variable. Lenin thus predicted that in due course the rest of the world would be absorbed by European finance capitalists. 

Globalization 

and 

Imperialism 

This global system was called ‘imperialism’ and constituted a particular stage of capitalist development—the ‘highest’ in Lenin’s understanding because rivalry between the various imperial wars would catalyse their destruction and the demise of capitalism. It is this Leninist definition that allows some people to argue that capitalism is the distinguishing feature between colonialism and imperialism.

Direct colonial rule is not necessary for imperialism in this sense, because the economic (and social) relations of dependency and control ensure both captive labour as well as markets for European industry as well as goods. Sometimes the words ‘neo-imperialism’or ‘neo-colonialism’ are used to describe these situations. In as much as the growth of European industry and finance-capital was achieved through colonial domination in the first place, we can also see that imperialism is the highest stage of colonialism.

In the early years of imperialism, There is was a description of a specific phase in history. In the last few decades of the 19th century, the European powers reversed their previous commitment to free trade and an enlightened colonial policy, erected tariff walls and began a new scramble for overseas territories. By the turn of the century, most of the Third World had been divided among the great powers and the growing rivalry, punctuated by periodic near-clashes over colonial interests, pointed to the outbreak of World War I.

The imperialism to a growing concentration of economic power within the capitalist countries. Giant capitalist monopolies, coordinated by banks, sought more profitable trade and investment opportunities overseas as well as sources for raw materials. Powerful capitalists forced their governments to secure foreign territories, ward off opposition from both Third World peoples and the other imperialist powers, and increase the pace of investment and exploitation.

CITATIONS 

• Loomba, Ania. Colonialism-Postcolonialism. Third Edition ed., Routledge, 2015.

• “Loomba, Ania. 

Colonialism/Postcolonialism.” OUP Academic, Oxford University Press, 27 Jan. 2016

• Whitt, Laurelyn. "Imperialism Then and Now." Science, Colonialism, and Indigenous Peoples: The Cultural Politics of Law and Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2009. 3-28. Print.

• Whitt, Laurelyn. Science, Colonialism, and Indigenous Peoples: The Cultural Politics of Law and Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2009. Print.

Thiong'o, Tharoor and films on colonial history

 

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Thiong'o, Tharoor and films on colonial history 

Shashi Tharoor  is an Indian politician, writer and a former career international diplomat  who is currently serving as Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, since 2009. 

Book: An Era of Darkness 

The full title of the book is An Era of Darkness: The British Empire In India. If we talk about how the idea of the book and book itself come to existence  it has its own story. Actually Tharoor went to Oxford Union in 2015 and took part in debate. The topic on which he gave a speech is

"Does Britain owe reparations to it's on former colonies?"

The speech went viral. Subsequently his publisher. Flores the idea to transform speech into a book. So, in this way the book An Era of Darkness comes. 

The book is the result of a speech which was given in Oxford Union. So let me first identify some of the key points from speech. The very first thing he talks about the economic condition of colonies was actually variant by the existence of British Colonialism. He takes the example of India and says that India shares the world economy of 23 present when Britain arrived. But by the time they left it was below 4 present.

The next he talks about that during their stay in India between 15 to 29 million Indian died because of starvation.  A great example of it is the great Bengal famine during the 2nd world war. Because the food is given to European as stoke by Winston Churchill. He further said that violence and racism was the reality of colonialism. Then he made a satire on the quote

“The sun never set on British Empire. "

He says that even god cannot trust English in the dark.

Key points from book: 

 The points we see in speech are incl The first point in book and in speech is common. He talked about the economic condition of India. But in the book we found examples from Indian textile market. According to hum three inderstree in India were doing good ; textile, still, and ship building all these three systematically, debratly, targeted and destroyed by British. In this book he also talks about the rules which are regressive. Some of which are still continuing today. He says that there are Darrin lows which are misused by the state government for tribal offence. 

Further he talk about the low on Homosexuality in section 377. According to him India was very liberal about self expression of sexuality. He says that this is Victorian morality which is imposed over India.

Thank you...

Thinking Activity: Waiting for Godot

 

Hello Readers,

Welcome to my blog. I hope you will get some knowledge about the topic "Waiting for Godot". 

About the play: Waiting For Godot 

Waiting for Godot, tragicomedy in two acts by Irish writer Samuel Beckett, published in 1952 in French as En attendant Godot and first produced in 1953. Waiting for Godot was a true innovation in drama and the Theatre of the Absurd first theatrical success.

The play consists of conversations between Vladimir and Estragon, who are waiting for the arrival of the mysterious Godot, who continually sends word that he will appear but who never does. They encounter Lucky and Pozzo, they discuss their miseries and their lots in life, they consider hanging themselves, and yet they wait. Often perceived as being tramps, Vladimir and Estragon are a pair of human beings who do not know why they were put on earth; they make the tenuous assumption that there must be some point to their existence, and they look to Godot for enlightenment. Because they hold out hope for meaning and direction, they acquire a kind of nobility that enables them to rise above their futile existence.

What connection do you see in the setting (“A country road. A tree.Evening.”) of the play and these paintings?

This painting may be the inspiration for the Play's  setting.  We found similar things in both. The painting is talking about Romantic longing. And also talk about nature having divine power. It says that whatever you want that you think you found in nature. But Beckett has talked about the nothingness of life. The setting has similarity but then the ideas are different.

The tree is the only important ‘thing’ in the setting. What is the importance of trees in both acts? Why does Beckett grow a few leaves in Act II on the barren tree - The tree has four or five leaves - ?

The second question is about the importance of trees. If we talk about the tree it stands for two reasons. First it is a device which helps Vladimir and Estragon to specify a place. Through their talk we come to know that this is Willow tree.

Second importance of the tree comes from the fact that the Willow tree is of great religious significance in Judeo-Christin tradition. It represents the promise of new life as well as chastity; also it iThe change in act 2 also becomes a question in the mind of Estragon. It appears to be projecting his own Fractured sense of self onto this a symbol of harmony, strength of rootness and stability.  tree, here it stands for contrast, lake of selfhood that he cannot find a place for himself.

Leaves on Tree - Waiting for Godot

In both Acts, evening falls into night and moon rises. How would you like to interpret this ‘coming of night and moon’ when actually they are waiting for Godot?

A tree is very important in the play. it is barren, in the first act, which suggests barrenness, hopelessness and despair. Whereas in the second act, few leaves grow to that tree. This symbolizes hope that Godot must come. We can take another meaning that suggests that they are waiting for a long time. it may be interpreted as a seasonal change. because leaves don’t come overnight.

Night and Moon - Waiting for Godot

Beckett has used one single tree in both the acts and makes slight changes by showing two three leaves in the second act. Even the day falls into night and moon rises, but their waiting for Godot never stops.

Beckett  wants to highlight the indifferent nature. As Nature never waits for anyone, it doesn't matter whether a person was sad or happy, nature never cares for them. The natural process of the environment never stops for anyone. Similarly in this play Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for Godot, and in this process of waiting they do various things to pass their time, sometimes they feel totally disappointed. But these all things make no change in nature, the day begins as it used to be and night came as it is, without any change. Beckett very cleverly highlights the indifference nature of human beings through this tree, as in real society also, when someone is suffering, then the other will be happy or celebrating their happy days, no one cares about the suffering. Humans  always remain indifferent towards the suffering of others.

The director feels the setting with some debris. Can you read any meaning in the contours of debris in the setting of the play?

Meaning of Debris in the setting it reflects like Beckett was a master in making meaning through his setting of the play. Whatever he used in the background carried some meaning and interpretation. Here again he used the contour of Debris consisting of rubbish and broken pieces of rocks signifying the meaninglessness of life and how the useless things if put together then create a huge structure. Similarly the world is full of useless things which create or makes the world. World consists of each and every thing whether it is good, bad or rubbish. Debris also signifies the ups and downs of life. In this play also both the characters Vladimir and Estragon climb the Debris whenever feels disappointment and think of committing suicide.

The play begins with the dialogue “Nothing to be done”. How does the theme of ‘nothingness’ recurs in the play?

Theme of Nothingness is the main theme of the play. Idea of nothingness came into the play more than any other idea. There is always a dialogue that says "Nothing to be done" as both the tramps become tired while Waiting for Godot and even they don't know when Godot will come. They do various activities in between to pass their time, but at last nothing came in their hand. They are filled with disappointment. They even tried of commit suicide but because of lack of practical tools they won't be able to commit suicide.

Do you agree: “The play (Waiting for Godot), we agreed, was a positive play, not negative, not pessimistic. As I saw it, with my blood and skin and eyes, the philosophy is: 'No matter what— atom bombs, hydrogen bombs, anything—life goes on. You can kill yourself, but you can't kill life." (E.G. Marshall who played Vladimir in the original Broadway production 1950s)?

I agree with the idea of 'Waiting for Godot' as a positive play. As it presents the true picture of human life. How human life goes on without any change, whether they wish to live or not but life never stops. If they want to end their life then they can and in this way can get rid of life, but death of any person doesn't affect the lifelong process of others. Other human beings keep on existing and live in this world, facing the same problem or suffering. Nothing changes in the routine of the life of others. On earth life will always remain in different forms. It reflects the positivity, positive change of life. It is a natural process which is never interrupted by others.

How are the props like hat and boots used in the play? What is the symbolic significance of these props?

The Symbolic meaning of Hat and Boots is aptly used here in the play Boots and Hat carries symbolic meaning. As Estragon keeps on wearing and putting off his boots. In the first act he feels that boots are not fitted in his foot, but in the second act it gets fit. It symbolizes the importance of things in human life.

 when one feels that someone is important in his life then he will make that thing  adjustable as per his need but when one feels no importance then he neglects that thing, it doesn't matter it is his own thing. Similarly boots also signifies the reputation of a person. We can make judgement over someone by looking at the boots. In this play Estragon also puts this worldly pleasure down in the form of boots and when Vladimir asks him to wear boots, he neglects and compares himself with Christ that he also goes barefoot.

Similarly Hat also signifies the smartness of a person, as whatever man thinks, and the thought which he  expresses is totally different. By putting hat over head, man covers his intellect power and never allows someone to peep in his thought process, but when it takes out then he starts revealing his thoughts and it becomes unbearable for someone to listen to all these thoughts of mind. So it's better to wear a hat, which means that in the form of a hat, one needs to control his thoughts to express in front of others.

Do you think that the obedience of Lucky is extremely irritating and nauseated? Even when the master Pozzo is blind, he obediently hands the whip in his hand. Do you think that such a capacity for slavishness is unbelievable?

Yes, the obedience of Lucky is extremely irritating and nauseated. But our society is full of Lucky type people. We all are Lucky in one and another way. In this play when Estragon tries to help Lucky then he kicks him badly. Similar things happen in society also, when someone tries to help us or tries to make us aware we start blaming them and hate to listen to any advice, even if that advice was beneficial for us. 

We never allow ourselves to come out from the bond of relations, whether it is with relatives or whether it is with God. We know that we are not tied by anyone but still we can't escape or can't think of living our ideas, beliefs, or we can say superstitions also. Lucky also does this same thing in the play, even when Pozzo becomes blind, he never feels to make himself free from the chains and give it to the hand of his master Pozzo.

Who according to you is Godot? God? An object of desire? Death? Goal? Success? Or  . . .

“The subject of the play is not Godot but ‘Waiting’” (Esslin, A Search for the Self). Do you agree? How can you justify your answer?

Yes, the obedience of Lucky is extremely irritating and nauseated. But our society is full of Lucky type people. We all are Lucky in one and another way. In this play when Estragon tries to help Lucky then he kicks him badly. Similar things happen in society also, when someone tries to help us or tries to make us aware we start blaming them and hate to listen to any advice, even if that advice was beneficial for us.

We never allow ourselves to come out from the bond of relations, whether it is with relatives or whether it is with God. We know that we are not tied by anyone but still we can't escape or can't think of living our ideas, beliefs, or we can say superstitions also. Lucky also does this same thing in the play, even when Pozzo becomes blind, he never feels to make himself free from the chains and give it to the hand of his master Pozzo.

Do you think that plays like this can better be ‘read’ than ‘viewed’ as it requires a lot of thinking on the part of readers, while viewing, the torrent of dialogues does not give ample time and space to ‘think’? Or is it that the audio-visuals help in better understanding of the play?

Yes, the play requires a lot of thinking on the part of readers, therefore it can be better 'read' than 'viewed'. Absurd play can never be understood by viewing only. It requires lots of understanding, otherwise we won't be able to get the idea  of what was going on. These types of plays are better to read than watching. The audience will get bored  by looking at the philosophical meaning of the play. But when it is read it throws more light into the mind and will be understood well without getting bore and easy to get the torrent of dialogues, as it can never be caught in film version or in any theatre act.

Which of the following sequence you liked the most 

Vladimir – Estragon killing time in questions and conversations while waiting 

Vladimir and Estragon: The Had and the Boot 

Pozzo – Lucky episode in both acts o   Conversion of Vladimir with the boy

I like the conversational scene between Vladimir and Estragon. They pass many humorous dialogues while waiting to kill their time. As they make the audience burst out in laughter with their silly activities or silly questions over each other.

Did you feel the effect of existential crisis or meaninglessness of human existence in the irrational and indifference Universe during screening of the movie? Where and when exactly that feeling was felt, if ever it was?.

Existential crisis or meaninglessness of human existence in the irrational and indifference Universe during screening of the movie. When the messenger boy came and Vladimir conversed with him then I felt that how human is helpless over the situation, how human was unable to do anything to change his situation. Vladimir will ask the Boy, When Godot will come? but get another answer which makes him disappoint that Godot won't be able to come today, but he will come tomorrow. In the second act also Vladimir asks the same question and gets the same reply. This makes me feel so meaningless to exist in this world or to wait for someone who will never come.

Vladimir and Estragon talks about ‘hanging’ themselves and commit suicide, but they do not do so. How do you read this idea of suicide in Existentialism?

The act of Suicide is always significant in the idea of existentialism. The question of our existence in this world always makes us think that  Why are we living in this world? for what reason? and when we get no answer in reply to this question we think to committing suicide, when we find everything in the world useless and meaningless, then we think of suicide. In this play also When Vladimir and Estragon tired of their work of waiting they think of committing suicide by hanging themselves on tree. But they won't be able to do this because they lack tools.

Can we do any political reading of the play if we see European nations represented by the 'names' of the characters (Vladimir - Russia; Estragon - France; Pozzo - Italy and Lucky - England)? What interpretation can be inferred from the play written just after World War II? Which country stands for 'Godot'?

So far as Pozzo and Lucky [master and slave] are concerned, we have to remember that Beckett was a disciple of Joyce and that Joyce hated England. Beckett meant Pozzo to be England, and Lucky to be Ireland." (Bert Lahr who played Estragon in a Broadway production). Does this reading make any sense? Why? How? What?

of the characters. Vladimir represents Russia and Estragon represents France. There is a history of power politics between France and Russia. Many Russian are in favor of France and many against and vice versa. But still they are together just like Estragon and Vladimir. 

Pozzo represents Italy and Lucky represents England, as in political reading Italy tries to impose their ideas and rule over England. Germany stands for Godot. As Hitler was ruling in Germany, and the way he excommunicated the Jews from his country is very much significant and relevant to the play. Both the tramps one or another way thrown by their nations. The way they wait for Godot is similar to the way Jews wait for Hitler to accept them.

The more the things change, the more it remains similar. There seems to have been no change in Act I and Act II of the play. Even the conversation between Vladimir and the Boy sounds almost similar. But there is one major change. In Act I, in reply to Boy;s question, Vladimir says: 

"BOY: What am I to tell Mr. Godot, Sir?

VLADIMIR: Tell him . . . (he hesitates) . . . tell him you saw us. (Pause.) You did see us, didn't you?

How does this conversation go in Act II? Is there any change in seeming similar situations and conversation? If so, what is it? What does it signify?

The change in Act II between the conversation of Vladimir and messenger boy is very much significant. Vladimir tells the boy to tell Godot that you saw us. In a way Vladimir wants the boy to describe their situation. How they are suffering and how they eagerly want to get rid of it. In human life also, we want that God will look at our situation and will do something to make our pain less. We always hope that God will change our fortune and will turn our sad days into happy days but this will never happen.

Thank you. ...