Maris Sõrmus | Tallinn University (original) (raw)
Papers by Maris Sõrmus
Ecozon@: European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment, May 2015
The article takes a material ecocritical view on contemporary Estonian literature—Andrus Kivirähk... more The article takes a material ecocritical view on contemporary Estonian literature—Andrus Kivirähk’s The Man Who Spoke Snakish. The canonical novel, which focuses on the forest life being replaced with village life as well as the extinction of snakish, or, snake language, has importantly been classified as “the first Estonian eco-novel” (Hasselblatt 1262). In this light, I discuss the ways that nature emerges in new materialist terms as a subject, tangled with culture, challenging normative understandings of humanity. Particularly interesting is the fluid border of nature and culture, which suggests their reciprocal becoming. First, naturalcultural hybridity becomes manifest in the blurring of voices. Snakes emerge as the ancient brothers of humans, speaking with the last forest dwellers, while the protagonist speaks snakish and resembles a snake. The hybridity is further represented through the grandfather, human apes, and the protagonist’s sister. Above all, a hybrid “natureculture” is portrayed through Meeme, who resembles human “turf” and dissolves in nature, foregrounding the trans-corporeal naturalcultural entanglement. As Meeme becomes the earth, the novel suggests the intra-active becoming of the natural and the cultural, confirming the new materialist idea that there is no solid ground on which to stand but a dynamic world, where nature and culture finally still retreat into their own worlds.
The issue of the environment has been never more topical than at present, with environmental prob... more The issue of the environment has been never more topical than at present, with environmental problems being an urgent 21st century concern. This topic, otherwise characteristic to natural sciences, has also found its way into literary studies in the form of ecocriticism, which affords an interesting insight into the representation of place and nature in literary texts. This article proposes to take an ecocritical stance, focusing on the aspect of nature in the work of contemporary British and Estonian writers, Graham Swift and Andrus Kivirähk; of special interest is the representation of nature, nature-culture interactions, and a possibility of a new way for seeing the world, that is, through the eyes of nonhumans. It is the nonhuman beings and green environment that constitute a presence in the novels and suggest questioning of such debate-spurning issues as anthropocentrism, nature’s voice(lessness) and agency. Challenging established ideas of humanism and directing attention to topical environmental issues, the contemporary novels highlight a unique ecocentric direction in literature.
Books by Maris Sõrmus
Ecozon@: European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment, May 2015
The article takes a material ecocritical view on contemporary Estonian literature—Andrus Kivirähk... more The article takes a material ecocritical view on contemporary Estonian literature—Andrus Kivirähk’s The Man Who Spoke Snakish. The canonical novel, which focuses on the forest life being replaced with village life as well as the extinction of snakish, or, snake language, has importantly been classified as “the first Estonian eco-novel” (Hasselblatt 1262). In this light, I discuss the ways that nature emerges in new materialist terms as a subject, tangled with culture, challenging normative understandings of humanity. Particularly interesting is the fluid border of nature and culture, which suggests their reciprocal becoming. First, naturalcultural hybridity becomes manifest in the blurring of voices. Snakes emerge as the ancient brothers of humans, speaking with the last forest dwellers, while the protagonist speaks snakish and resembles a snake. The hybridity is further represented through the grandfather, human apes, and the protagonist’s sister. Above all, a hybrid “natureculture” is portrayed through Meeme, who resembles human “turf” and dissolves in nature, foregrounding the trans-corporeal naturalcultural entanglement. As Meeme becomes the earth, the novel suggests the intra-active becoming of the natural and the cultural, confirming the new materialist idea that there is no solid ground on which to stand but a dynamic world, where nature and culture finally still retreat into their own worlds.
The issue of the environment has been never more topical than at present, with environmental prob... more The issue of the environment has been never more topical than at present, with environmental problems being an urgent 21st century concern. This topic, otherwise characteristic to natural sciences, has also found its way into literary studies in the form of ecocriticism, which affords an interesting insight into the representation of place and nature in literary texts. This article proposes to take an ecocritical stance, focusing on the aspect of nature in the work of contemporary British and Estonian writers, Graham Swift and Andrus Kivirähk; of special interest is the representation of nature, nature-culture interactions, and a possibility of a new way for seeing the world, that is, through the eyes of nonhumans. It is the nonhuman beings and green environment that constitute a presence in the novels and suggest questioning of such debate-spurning issues as anthropocentrism, nature’s voice(lessness) and agency. Challenging established ideas of humanism and directing attention to topical environmental issues, the contemporary novels highlight a unique ecocentric direction in literature.