The article looks back on Alan Paton’s 1948 best-selling work of fiction, which, in spite of its cool and even harsh local reception in the decades marked by a major shift towards political radicalism, still represents a milestone in the history of South African literature in English. “Cry, the Beloved Country: A Story of Comfort in Desolation” invites closer consideration from the perspective of environmental crisis and the “ecologically-sensitive” mind of a variety of figures, from Zulu parson Stephen Kumalo to the Jarvis family and Napoleon Letsitsi, the agricultural demonstrator. Paton, a writer, teacher, reformatory principal and well-known anti-apartheid activist born in present-day KwaZulu-Natal, created his fictional universe by drawing on the rural and urban areas of a wounded territory for whose exploitation European colonial history and segregation policies were largely to blame. Hence the compelling relevance of the land-degradation motif and the image of an abused landscape located at the lowest point of the Western world, waiting for a revitalisation of its natural resources: for a redressing of the ecosystem balance to be enacted by replacing spoiling with care, with an ethics of sustainability inspired by the ideals of a healthy biological interdependence, preservation and continuity in a half-forgotten corner of the Empire.
Il contributo intende analizzare da un’angolatura meno consueta il celebre romanzo di Alan Paton pubblicato nel 1948, opera che, nonostante una ricezione locale più ostile nei decenni contrassegnati da un inasprimento delle politiche radicali, rappresenta tuttora una pietra miliare nella storia della letteratura sudafricana in inglese. “Cry, the Beloved Country: A Story of Comfort in Desolation” offre nuovi orizzonti di indagine se lo si collega alla prospettiva dell’ambientalismo e della “sensibilità ecologica” che affiora in vari personaggi raffigurati nel testo, da Stephen Kumalo (il parroco Zulu) alla famiglia Jarvis e Napoleon Letsitsi (l’agronomo Xhosa). Paton, scrittore, insegnante, direttore di riformatorio e noto attivista anti-apartheid originario dell’odierno KwaZulu-Natal, modellò il proprio universo narrativo intrecciando un dialogo profondo con le realtà rurali e urbane del territorio sudafricano, saccheggiato dai progetti coloniali europei e dalle politiche segregazioniste. Di qui la rilevanza, nel romanzo esaminato, del motivo della degradazione dell’ambiente e dello sfruttamento selvaggio delle risorse in una delle punte estreme del mondo occidentale, all’epoca un angolo semi-dimenticato dell’Impero. Precorrendo la “eco-narrative”, “Cry, the Beloved Country” spinge a riflettere sulla necessità di ripristinare un equilibrio ecosistemico che richiede un cambiamento di mentalità e approccio, oltre a misure operative immediate: il risanamento prenderà avvio grazie a un’etica della sostenibilità ispirata ai principi dell’interdipendenza biologica, della conservazione e della continuità.
"Keep it, Guard it, Care for it": Alan Paton's "Cry, the Beloved Country" and Environmental Conscience
GIOVANNELLI, LAURA
2016-01-01
Abstract
The article looks back on Alan Paton’s 1948 best-selling work of fiction, which, in spite of its cool and even harsh local reception in the decades marked by a major shift towards political radicalism, still represents a milestone in the history of South African literature in English. “Cry, the Beloved Country: A Story of Comfort in Desolation” invites closer consideration from the perspective of environmental crisis and the “ecologically-sensitive” mind of a variety of figures, from Zulu parson Stephen Kumalo to the Jarvis family and Napoleon Letsitsi, the agricultural demonstrator. Paton, a writer, teacher, reformatory principal and well-known anti-apartheid activist born in present-day KwaZulu-Natal, created his fictional universe by drawing on the rural and urban areas of a wounded territory for whose exploitation European colonial history and segregation policies were largely to blame. Hence the compelling relevance of the land-degradation motif and the image of an abused landscape located at the lowest point of the Western world, waiting for a revitalisation of its natural resources: for a redressing of the ecosystem balance to be enacted by replacing spoiling with care, with an ethics of sustainability inspired by the ideals of a healthy biological interdependence, preservation and continuity in a half-forgotten corner of the Empire.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
