“Where are you going?”: Investigating Spatiality from a Translocal Perspective in Forrest Gander’s Core Samples from the World


Abstract views: 152 / PDF downloads: 117

Authors

  • Sudesna Som Assistant Professor of English (W.B.E.S) Government General Degree College, Kalna-I, West Bengal Ph. D Research Scholar, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal, India,Visva-Bharati University image/svg+xml https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1077-781X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53032/tcl.2023.8.2.01

Keywords:

Ecopoetry, Haibun, Spatiality, Translocal space, Anthropocene, Heterogeneity, Environmental crisis, Fluidity, Inclusiveness, Plurality

Abstract

Abstract

An illustrious poet, editor and translator Forrest Gander probes into the conditions of modern human existence with a remarkable sensitivity towards the contemporary environmental challenges. The finalist for Pulitzer Prize 2012, Gander’s Core Samples from the World (2011) recounts his experience of distant, exotic places like China, Mexico, and Bosnia-Herzegovina from the perspective of an ecopoet writing in the Anthropocene. Composed from the objective viewpoint of a traveller the book exploits the Japanese Haibun form to juxtapose poetry, essays and photographs taken by his collaborators— Raymond Meeks, Graciela Iturbide and Lucas Foglia. Together the detached prose pieces, the disorienting poetry and the evocative photographs shed light on the severity of current ecological crisis and raise critical questions regarding one’s ecological self and identity. The present study aims to explore how Gander’s singular conception of space simultaneously instigates the readers to open dialogue regarding such pivotal questions and plays a seminal role in the evolution of his ecopoetic vision. This paper further aspires to analyse the ways in which Gander exploits his inclusive spatial engagement as a traveller to portray the world as a shared, connected space permanently altered by the reckless exploitation of nature and natural resources. It also intends to enquire the subsequent deterioration of the bond between human beings and their surroundings which ultimately results in a sense of fragmentation along with a loss of identity. The present study also scrutinizes how Gander’s unconventional imagination and delineation of translocal space which is essentially an open-ended, mobile and multilateral concept rather than a static geographical locale influence his engagement with contemporary environmental issues on various levels.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Barla, Josef, and Franziska Von Verschuer. “Almanac: Anthropocene.” Matter: Journal of New Materialist Research, vol. 3, no. 2, 2022, pp. 137–43.

www.researchgate.net/publication/362359421_Anthropocene. Accessed 31 Jan. 2023.

Basso, Keith H. Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language among the Western Apache. University of New Mexico Press, 1996.

Brickell, Katherine, and Ayona Datta, editors. Translocal Geographies: Spaces, Places, Connections. Ashgate Publishing, 2011.

Buell, Lawrence. The Future of Environmental Criticism: Environmental Crisis and Literary Imagination. Wiley-Blackwell, 2005.

Gander, Forrest, et al. Core Samples from the World. New Directions, 2011.

Greiner, Clemens, and Patrick Sakdapolrak. “Translocality: Concepts, Applications and Emerging Research Perspectives.” Geography Compass, vol. 7, no. 5, Wiley, May 2013, pp. 373–84. https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12048. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12048

Keller, Lynn. Recomposing Ecopoetics: North American Poetry of the Self-Conscious Anthropocene. University of Virginia Press, 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv6sj6qg

Massey, Doreen. Space, Place, and Gender. University of Minnesota Press, 1994.

Scigaj, Leonard M. Sustainable Poetry: Four American Ecopoets. University Press of Kentucky, 1999.

Tally, Robert, Jr. The Routledge Handbook of Literature and Space. Taylor and Francis, 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315745978

Tuan, Yi-Fu. Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience. Reprint, University of Minnesota Press, 2001.

Downloads

Published

2023-04-30

How to Cite

Sudesna Som. “‘Where Are You going?’: Investigating Spatiality from a Translocal Perspective in Forrest Gander’s Core Samples from the World”. The Creative Launcher, vol. 8, no. 2, Apr. 2023, pp. 1-11, doi:10.53032/tcl.2023.8.2.01.

Issue

Section

Research Articles

ARK