The interdependence of humans and nature is a fascinating takeaway from the works of American writer Earnest Hemingway. “Most of his books depict man in a hostile environment and nature is invariably against him or he is fighting a battle with nature. The idea is that man usually wins, but not without a cost,” said Vaishna Roy, Editor of The Hindu’s Frontline magazine.
Speaking at the launch of the book “Hemingway and Ecocriticism”, authored by the head of the English Department of P. B. Siddhartha College of Arts and Science, G. Srilatha, on Wednesday, she said Hemingway’s focus was usually on humanism, the strength of the human being in the face of adversity. “Therefore, it is fascinating to study Hemingway from the perspective of ecocriticism,” she said.
Ms. Roy said ecocriticism was a new genre. “It belongs to our times, our anxieties and worries because we live in a world which is on the verge of being completely destroyed, our air and rivers are polluted,” she said, adding that in this context, the idea of ecocriticism has become very important. “It looks at the interdependence of man with nature,” she added.
She said in the book, the author took out strands from Hemingway’s writings and thoughts and tried to place him in a certain location in the history of the novel’s engagement, the written word’s engagement with nature.
Referring to Hemingway’s most popular book ‘The Old Man and the Sea’, she points to the fact that it is about an old man who had not been able to catch a fish for 84 days and he is considered a bad omen in the fishing community. People don’t want to associate with him and so he goes alone into the sea and finally lands a giant marlin. He battles for days while the marlin drags him deeper into the sea.
Speaking about the dramatic end, she says it does not end with a defeat for either side — neither the man nor the nature. Both triumph equally. “The takeaway is that man and nature are interdependent,” she says.
Citing examples of different writers in the past, Ms. Roy said each of them engaged with nature very deeply “though we may not have looked at them from the point of ecocriticism. The connection with an empathy for nature has a long history in literature. It is for us to look at it afresh with new eyes to take away new learnings from it,” she said.
The author Ms. Srilatha said the main take away from her work is the message that a hero can be destroyed but not defeated. It speaks about the need for man to live every day with new hope. “Ecocriticism is all about inter-dependence of our lives, we are all connected to one another and that there is an imperative need for us to protect ourselves and the nature.
Joint Secretary of Siddhartha Academy of General and Technical Education Lalitha Prasad, the college Principal M. Ramesh and others were present.
