Countering “the anesthesia of destruction”: Information and Pathos in the Work of J.M.G. Le Clézio, Barry Lopez, and Vandana Shiva

Authors

  • Scott Slovic Universidad de Idaho

Keywords:

“the anesthesia of destruction”, information, suffering, responsibility, engagement

Abstract

This article studies a type of numbness, a dulling of sensitivity that occurs when the human mind receives particular kinds of information concerning accidents, tragic events or large-scale calamities. It particularly explores the causes and the social and environmental results of this numbness. The latter has been called “the anesthesia of destruction” by Indian social and environmental activist Vandana Shiva, referring to the human tendency to turn off our feelings and become anesthetized by information about destruction. The research into this reaction, or lack of reaction, matters a great deal since how the information about these issues is presented to us, whether we are talking about human suffering or what is happening in the natural world, has everything to do with how we think and act in the world. The article uses Shiva’s descriptor of the feeling of indifference and numbness, “the anesthesia of destruction”, to examine stories in The Round and Other Cold Hard Facts by J.M.G. Le Cle?zio and Light Action in the Caribbean: Stories by Barry Lopez. These are literary examples from authors deeply involved in the effort to use fiction as a way of making readers think more seriously about social responsibility and the psychology of engagement.

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Author Biography

  • Scott Slovic, Universidad de Idaho

    Es profesor de Literature and Environment y director del Departamento de Inglés de la Universidad de Idaho, Estados Unidos. Fue presidente fundador de la Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) entre 1992 y 1995, y desde 1995 ha editado la revista ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies of Literature and Environment, la revista de mayor importancia dentro del campo de la ecocrítica. Entre sus publicaciones más recientes se encuentran Ecocriticism of the Global South (2015) y Currents of the Universal Being: Explorations in the Literature of Energy (2015). Su artículo para esta revista se basa en la entrevista sostenida en septiembre de 2006 con la autora y activista india Vandana Shiva. Esta entrevista aparece en el libro Numbers and Nerves:
    Information, Emotion, and Meaning in a World of Data (2015), el cual publicó con su padre, el psicólogo Paul Slovic.

References

Le Clézio, J.M.G. The Round and Other Cold Hard Facts. 1982. Trans. C. Dickson. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2002. Print.

Lifton, Robert Jay, and Greg Mitchell. “The Age of Numbing.” Technological Review (August/September 1995): 58-59. Print.

Lopez, Barry. Light Action in the Caribbean: Stories. New York: Vintage, 2000. Print.

Murphy, Patrick D. Farther Afield in the Study of Nature-Oriented Literature. Charlottesville: U of Virginia P, 2000. Print.

Nixon, Rob. Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2011. Print.

Slovic, Scott. “Countering ‘the anesthesia of destruction’: An Interview with Vandana Shiva.” Numbers and Nerves: Information, Emotion, and Meaning in a World

of Data . Ed. Scott Slovic and Paul Slovic. Corvallis: Oregon State UP, 2015. Print.

---. Seeking Awareness in American Nature Writing: Henry Thoreau, Annie Dillard, Edward Abbey, Wendell Berry, Barry Lopez . Salt Lake City: U of Utah P, 1992. Print.

Published

2015-12-01

How to Cite

Countering “the anesthesia of destruction”: Information and Pathos in the Work of J.M.G. Le Clézio, Barry Lopez, and Vandana Shiva. (2015). Revista De Culturas Y Literaturas Comparadas, 5. https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/CultyLit/article/view/13227