Reflections

Like every start to a new academic year, I was hopeful, motivated and keen to learn. I voluntarily opted to choose the ‘Writing and the Environmental Crisis’ module. The first seminar involved trying to define the term ‘environmental crisis’ and according to my notes there was a jargon of words and other phrases such as ‘your voice’, ‘interconnectedness’ and ‘its not all about recycling’. To say the very least, I was very confused, and really wanted a structured definition.

                  As a requirement of the course, we were told to read Timothy Morton’s ‘The Ecological Thought’, to help us understand the wider purpose of this course and to further avoid narrowing it down to ‘polar bears are going to be extinct’. Morton argues that to understand the ecological thought we must realise that we are all interconnected. This idea was introduced in conjunction in with the term ‘mesh’ and my understanding developed from all the texts we have read so far in the course. They are so different to each other from style, format or even language, but one thing they hold in common is how we are interconnected with each other. The authors have all brought this idea of ‘interconnectedness’ whereby the more we know about our environment the more we have to lose. Morton succinctly says  ‘the scope of our problem becomes clearer and clearer and more and more open and outrageous’[1]. The whole concept for me has developed to become a sinister feeling and I felt Jean Sprackland has helped me understand this idea more broadly.

                  Strands by Jean Sprackland, neatly puts how we neglect objects that once served a purpose in our life; from the very moment it is produced till the object is washed into the sea and contains no relevance to the owner anymore.  Everything is worth something and Sprackland extends this notion of how to incorporate the idea that we are all interdependent is a crucial fact to understanding the ecological thought. Morton argues how the word ‘world’ is now just a location, we can no longer pin things down to a certain meaning because we are all connected to each other and have relevance to each other whether we want the responsibility or not.

                  Personally, I think I understand the meaning of ‘ecological thought’ a little bit better and understand how the texts have imparted a new wider significant meaning to our knowledge and perhaps ask crucial questions relevant to our future sustainability.

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[1] Morton, Timothy The Ecological Thought. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2010, p. 33.

Is our love of nature writing bourgeois escapism?

After reading Steven Poole’s article ‘Is our love of nature writing bourgeois escapism? I felt quite defensive about eco-literature regardless of the range of which it has been delivered or the time it was published. Poole makes a bold acclaim of how nature writing is a literary equivalent of ‘nostalgie de la boue’, which when translated means a ‘kind of rustic-fancying inverted snobbery’. 

I don’t disregard that authors and poets can present an idealised version of nature or that humans can be described as faultless or innocent beings. This can be presented in the form of travel writing featured in newspapers or blogs. They portray a scenic landscape of what they ‘see’ and create this vision of sublime for 5 minutes. Subconsciously when we read these texts we know it is not true and when we have finished reading the text we go back to reality. 

Personally I believe that Poole fails to see that these romanticised depictions of the world, could evoke a sense of realisation of what the world could be. The image of an unflawed world in contrast to our reality should technically be the biggest wake up call to mankind. Surely the intention behind travel writing is to escape to this imaginary world, or to seduce the reader or to even promote tourism. Regardless of the purpose, why is it wrong to escape for five minutes and is it really for the middle class?

Poole’s assertion that nature writing is for the bourgeois is a notion that is difficult to contest in regards to eco-poetry. For example the form of found poetry in Dorothy Alexandra’s poem, Final Warning evokes the readers sense of environmental responsibility, but what has to be questioned is the text’s form and presentation. It can certainly be argued that the aesthetic nature of the poem is presented in a pretentious manner. The haphazard and deconstructive formation of the poem visibly signifies the ‘fancy inverted snoberry’ which may only captivate the bourgeois and the academics.

Personally literature, regardless of what form, should be enchanting. However, it is evident that nature writing may be unintentionally or intentionally captivating to a particular set of audience, but nor should it be berated for allowing the reader or the writer to forget their woes.

[1] Poole, Stephen ‘Is our love of nature writing bourgeois escapism?’ The Guardian, 6^th July 2013.

The Road as a Blockbuster

Any book that turns into a film has to compromise and adapt from the original narrative to make an appealing screenplay as they are targeting a different set of audience. The book itself received a Pulitzer Prize and McCarthy was recognised globally for his epic novel. To have already gained so much attention, an adaption of a film would no doubt be a success as their was already a fan base, therefore the question would be is how to turn it into a blockbuster?

            The imagery of a bleak and hopelessness world was translated well in the movie and makes a strong impact on the audience. The film fundamentally acts as an visual aid that the reader may not want to see, but it also falls in the blockbuster category as it created such sublime images of an dystopian world.

            The relentlessness of such a despondent world with such a spectacle of the world can also be described as ‘disaster porn’. Horror films are commonly associated with disaster porn and it is suggested how it is used as a technique to dramatise media. Michael Chabon argues how The Road can be read as a horror narrative and a strong element that supports this is how the narrative centres on moral conflict[1]. The man and child both struggle with the meaning of life and how they as humans should live up to the moral codes[2]. Thus this element of humanity worst fear and shattered ideologies all make an entertaining blockbuster.

            By omitting certain sub-plots or key scenes in the film; it can reveal a lot. A key scene that would could have emphasised the ‘disaster porn’ element is the omission of when the travellers consume the wife’s baby. Obviously this scene raises such direct issues of cannibalism and something the audience may not want to see but it questions the reader of how far humans would act in a situation like this. The means of survival has resorted to animal behaviour, which is something so ugly and uncharacteristic of human actions. Although the producers convey McCarthy's main concerns their adaption excludes a vital scene which I believe hinders the overarching message of the novel.

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[1] Pizzino, Christopher ‘Utopia At Last: Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” as Science Fiction. Extrapolation (University of Texas at Brownsville), 51 (3), 2010, pp358-375.

[2] Graulund, Rune ‘A Desert Reading of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road’. Orbis Litterarum, 65 (1), 2010, pp51-78.

Draft 71: Headlines, with Spoils

Perhaps I may have been a bit dismissive when reading Du Plessis’s poem Draft 71: Headlines, with Spoils. On a surface level, I found it difficult to immerse myself into the poem, due to the incoherent and serious imagery that was presented. The way it was structured and the format of the essay also disengaged me compared to the traditional style I’m so accustom too.

            After dissecting the poem in class, I respect the different approach to poetry. The use of recycling text (found poetry) is a clever way to manipulate language and in terms of eco poetry provides a different stance and evokes the reader to assess their environmental surroundings. Aesthetically Plessis makes a statement with the use of taking critical phrases from articles and highlighting it in bold. Distracting the reader at first gaze, her methodology obviously mocks the media rhetoric. Something I realised through this method was that perhaps she was commenting on our transparency regarding the articles we read everyday.

            We read articles that catch our attention, we ‘umm’ and ‘ahh’ about the issues raised but we never seem to get around to actually doing something about it. In this specific case, the articles in the previous months about the torrential rain and flooding was something that caught Englands attention, but now the spring days have dawned it seems less of a problem and here we come back to this cycle. In about 10 months time (or less) we will see the return of serious articles about how the climate change will cause global warfare but as Plessis states in her poem we will remain to ‘eat the sugared salt’.

Eco – A marketing tool?

My best friend sent me a link a week ago, suggesting we should try this specific restaurant in London. After having a quick peruse I asked my friend why she wanted to go and her answer was ‘because it’s eco-friendly’. Underneath the title of the restaurant name, it said ‘Eco-cuisine & bar’. This made me think how businesses use the word ‘eco’ so freely, making them believe that they are doing good.

After hearing her response I did some more research and found out that they offered an unlimited buffet for the price of £14.90. The aim of the buffet is to eat your moneys worth plus more, thus you try and exceed the average amount of food you should typically eat. The customer for this specific establishment is led to believe that they can eat more, as they think it is acceptable to have second helping to an ‘exotic sprouted chickpea coconut curry’. I don’t deny that it is probably a healthier option than an all you can eat buffet at Jimmy Spices, but I firmly believe using the word ‘eco’ should be considered more carefully.

It is inevitable that there will be a surplus of food, as I would imagine they would have to cook more food than they anticipated. So does this really fit in the bill of being ‘eco’? Yes, the food is healthy but what about the wastage?

 

In addition, to sell the idea of eating raw aubergines, they wrote about how many famous people achieved great success because they were either vegan or vegetarian. Then they proceeded with the name-dropping technique and used examples such as Mahatma Ghandi, Albert Einstein and Brigitte Bardot. Subconsciously, to some degree this will have registered our brains and made us think ‘why not become the next Einstein? Lets eat more steamed broccoli to achieve this. It should not be forgotten that there are always characters who defy such examples (e.g. Steve Jobs who was on a fruitarian diet, which aided his death).

So, by having the word ‘eco’ really does seem to make the difference. How does the restaurant make themselves different to others, especially in central London? Having the word ‘eco’ instantly has positive connotations to the reference it is being made to, and the combination of the notorious celebrities work in conjunction with the ‘eco’ mantra.  

Facts versus value?

Jane Bennett shares the same ideology as theorist Max Weber on how the domination of science has been translated in modern day writing. Through Weber’s writing he sees bureaucracy producing increasingly rationalised systems that will eventually entrap individuals into several controlled systems -the Iron Cage. She argues that as the world becomes more understood through the use of scientific laws, the personalised touch in writing has diminished. The ultimate question here is facts versus value.

Even though I acknowledge that we are ruled by facts and figures, I firmly believe that we have lost our voice in writing. The genre of popular science is intended to promote science however the author only acts as mediator. By relaying information is the author imparting an inspiring piece of work that will affect the reader? I firmly believe this has created a crisis of inspiration and questions the integrity of the author. This has come about through the use of disenchantment, as some books are solely reliant on empirical values.

Scientific writing is somewhat alienating to me. We are seduced by the scientific terminology that we disregard the aesthetic association. In order to write scientifically, one must essentially transform them into the object. The lack of emotion is quite clearly recognised and personally the value of the writing decreases. I do not object in the idea of disregarding the scientific understanding but the power of author should be able to express their understanding and interpretation, which should inspire the reader. This can be seen through the different techniques of presenting data. Qualitative methods of writing provide us with rich description and understanding, creating validity amongst the reader. Quantitative methods merely represent the data. Perhaps we can draw similarities on the scientific research methods, whilst discussing such writing practices.

The institution of science is ruled by formulaic laws and terminology, which, causes us as humans to steer away from social problem, such as, structural inequality and concentrate on the environmental problems. Unaware, we are slowly backing up against a corner, whilst a matrix of rational systems, calculable means and impersonal outcomes increasingly descend around us. Blocking our escape, perhaps before we know it we have been trapped and Weberain ideals of the Iron cage has ensnared us in through the use of glorified language.