Teksto ekologija arba mėginimai skaityti aplinką

LTAgrarinės kultūros ženklas, žymintis gyvenančiųjų Lietuvoje dvasią, vis dar įžiūrimas, bet sunkiai apibūdinamas. Ar šis ženklas - tam tikros emocinės būsenos, specifinis elgesys, savitos reakcijos susiklosčius atitinkamoms aplinkybėms, ar nuojautų ir menamų archetipų pavidalu smegenų vingiuose kirbanti informacija, galinti taip ir likti neatkoduota? Tikriausiai galima pateisinti abi prielaidas - susidomėjus lietuvių nacionalinio charakterio ypatumais, etninių regionų skirtumai vis dar aiškinami būdingų kraštovaizdžių skirtybėmis, o miesto centre augantys sužaloti kaštonai gali tapti svarbiausia dienos naujienų žinia. Gal dėl šio ženklo Lietuvoje ekokritikos idėjos netapo literatūrologų masalu, teikiančiu vilčių sučiupti dar nematytą laimikį. [Iš straipsnio, p. 168]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Literatūra; Egzodo literatūra; Grožinė literatūra; Rašytojai; Poetai; Albinas Baranauskas; Kūryba; Ekotekstai; Gamta; Ekologija; Teksto analizė; Ekokritika; Kritika; Lithuanian literature; Exodus literature; Fiction; Writers; Poets; Albinas Baranauskas; Creation; Ecotexts; Ecology; Text analysis; Ecocriticism; Criticism.

ENThe peculiar sign of agrarian culture, which marks the spirit of those, living in Lithuania, is still discernible, though rather hazy to describe. This sign could be treated as specific emotional state, specific behaviour or reaction to particular circumstances, or as certain information, hidden in our minds in the form of archetypes. We are too close to the earth to look at it objectively, to contemplate it and to feel the dependence on it. We are a part of the ecosystem and it seems, that it's enough for us to grasp it and to imagine, that we are the rightful owners of our territory. The status of the owner is changing menacingly; we turn into tenants, who hadn't managed to preserve the merits of the former status. The decline of the villages and various crafts, determined by the villages, stipulates the specific situation of the new generation of "displaced persons". So we do feel like having this particular mark of the earth, but at the same time we are displaced of our own free will - our body obeys the laws of "globalization", but our spirit is still longing for the lost Arcadia. The aim of this entry is to reveal the new possibilities of interdisciplinary studies and to ponder upon possible contribution of the researchers of arts into the work of environmentalists and ecologists while seeking effective solutions, concerning the whole biosphere and ecosystem. Ecocriticism as a new branch of literary research could be treated as a link between "eco" and "ego", between our ecosystem and it's literary representations and interpretations. The first time literature was observed from the ecological point of view was in 1974, when Joseph Meeker's book "The Comedy of Survival: Studies in Literary Ecology" appeared.According to J. Meeker, a human being is a specific "literary creature"; the capacity to create (to write and to read) distinguishes h im from other species: "Human beings are the earths only literary creatures... If the creation of literature is an important characteristic of the human species, it should be examined carefully and honestly to discover its influence upon human behaviour and the natural environment. (...) Is it an activity which adapts us better to the world or one which estranges us from it?"50 Such questions could seem hopeless - is it possible to answer them unambiguously? Ecocritics find an excuse: the answer is not the main thing; the most urgent task is to cease ignoring ecological problems, which have the influence on human beings (a significant part of ecosystem) too. During two decades those questions of J. Meeker were concentrated into simple statements, indicating the main focusi of ecocriticism: 1) "the relationship of the human race to other forms of life, particularly to the higher animals; 2) the study of interrelationships in the natural world, almost universally known today as ecology; 3) the transformation of nature by human agency, interpretations that have been made of it, and the ideas it has engendered; 4) subjective, emotional, and aesthetic reactions to nature"51. These important issues stipulate other branches of the research - Ecopsychology, Ecophilosophy, Ecofeminism, Cultural studies, etc. - and make us think over the meaning of (non)dualism of culture and nature, the parallels of nature and language systems, the treatment of the anthrophocentric point of view, the problems of place and identity.While interpreting the truths of R. Barthes, M. Foucault, J. Derrida, J. Lacano and others, the ecocritics (T. Hughes, W. Rueckert, L. Buell, T. Gifford, G. A. Love, C. J . Glacken, W. Howarth, etc.) try to embed a new point of view, based on the issues beneficial to ecology, "...what we are depends on all kinds of influences outside ourselves; (...) we are part of vast networks, texts written by larger and stronger forces. But surely one of the most important of these forces is the rest of natural world. How close we are "the land as we are growing up and when we are grown, how we learn to see our relationship with it - these things must matter enormously. Our choices depend on the shape of our lives - where we live, how we spend our days, how we've been taught..."52 So everything is deeply connected, there are no isolated phenomena, therefore we can make a conclusion, that literary research and ecological studies could be related as well. Ecology analyzes correlations of unanimated and organized nature, the interrelations of different organisms and the environment they inhabit. The most important problem of modern ecology - the research of harmoniously organized nature, of various opposite processes, of the laws of the balance, which determine the formation and stability of that balance.53 So harmony and so called spiritual stability is not the aim of literary research in general: various kinds of correlations do interest the researches. Ecology and literary research emphasize the process, trace various changes of environment or in the realm of culture, therefore the suggestions of ecocritics not to separate nature and culture seem reasonable and acceptable. So culture is identified with "civilized nation", which is equated to any community; as we see the threshold between culture and nature is eliminated, the vitally important dependence is highlighted. [From the publication]