The Wild Animal’s Story: Nonhuman Protagonists in Twentieth-Century Canadian Literature through the Lens of Practical Zoocriticism
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Allmark-KentC
White as the Waves
Considering his expertise in sperm whale behaviour, it is useful to open analysis of Alison Baird’s White as the Waves with a reminder of Hal Whitehead’s interpretation of the text. He observes that in this “remarkable” novel, the depictions of “elaborate societies, cultures, and cognitive abilities” seem to “ring true” and “may well come closer to the nature of these animals than the coarse numerical abstractions” of the scientist (370). We must keep in mind his research on whale language and culture, when we consider the following statement: Sperm whale culture may be restricted to coda types and movement patterns. But it could also include whole suites of techniques for making a living from an unpredictable ocean and relating to other sperms. It might encompass abstract concepts, perhaps even religion. (370-1) Allmark-Kent 230 Placing White as the Waves and The White Bone within a post-Nature Fakers context increases the profound significance of Whitehead’s validation of their work. Most importantly, he suggests that biologists could use these representations “as hypotheses to guide our work,” and that “the next phase of sperm whale research should include the possibility that these animals possess elaborate and multi-layered social relationships, societies, and cultures ” (371, 373, emphasis added). Indeed of all the authors covered in this thesis, Baird is the one to declare most overtly the “speculative” nature of her work and that it is not “a fantasy, like Bambi or Black Beauty” (275, emphasis added). With the statements of Whitehead and Baird in mind, we can see that White as the Waves holds the most obvious potential for interdisciplinary communication. As such, I will use this section to consider the text in relation to: the wild animal story and other zoocentric texts addressed in this thesis; implications for zoocentric representation in a post-Nature Fakers context; the text’s potential for facilitating productive, reciprocal engagement between literature, advocacy, and science. Considering the unique qualities of the text, it seems curious that White as the Waves is currently out-of-print. Apart from a few reviews and Whitehead’s comments above, no scholarship has been published on this book. Although a thorough, close analysis of the text is needed, it is not the priority of my work here. White as the Waves and the other marginalized books in this thesis deserve sustained, committed interpretation that would distract from my overall argument. As I have stated previously, these six twentieth-century texts provide a further method of re-contextualizing the wild animal story and Nature Fakers controversy. Thus, due to the constraints of Allmark-Kent 231 the current project, I will have to reserve a more comprehensive analysis of White as the Waves for future publications. As Grove and Gowdy did, Baird prioritizes her commitment to producing a speculative, zoocentric representation over ‘realism’ or plausibility. This is the fundamental divergence these authors have taken from the original realistic wild animal story. All three use their unique, species-specific perspectives to defamiliarize anthropocentric language and behaviour. They challenge perceptions of animals as useful dead objects by depicting an intimate, zoocentric experience of human violence. By representing their protagonists and their companions as complex, individual, subjects of a life they help to challenge the speciesist labels that legitimize exploitation. For Grove, the nonhuman perspective is used to criticize the casual, unthinking ways in which the majority of violence against animals is committed. Gowdy and Baird, on the other hand, convey species-specific conservation messages by using their protagonists as witnesses to the ravages of hunting on both individuals and Download 3.36 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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