Nature, Empathy and Concern: Colin Thiele’s Storm Boy in the Perspective of Ecological Humanitie Cover Image

Natura, empatia i troska. Chłopiec z burzy Colina Thiele’a w perspektywie humanistyki ekologicznej
Nature, Empathy and Concern: Colin Thiele’s Storm Boy in the Perspective of Ecological Humanitie

Author(s): Dorota Michułka
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: ecological humanities; ecocritical reading; images of nature; empathy; concern; pro-ecological activities

Summary/Abstract: This article Nature, empathy and concern. Colin Thiele’s “Storm Boy” refers to the issues of ecological humanities. Asshown in the analysis and interpretation of the work, Thiele’s short story, as a text representative of the post-anthropoceneera, fits perfectly into discussions on building environmental consciousness in a young audience, organizes thecontemporary imagination and stimulates action. The individualization of the feelings of the child hero untainted bycivilization, his sincere, naïve and innocent understanding of the world, the aestheticization of descriptions of natureand the fixation of its images present in the narrative paradoxically somewhere “between” the two points of reference:on the borderline of the extraordinary power, horror, dynamism and strength of nature and its delicacy, fragility andsubtlety, as well as its “humanization” (the pelican thinks and feels like a human), provokes the reader to a kind of“intervention” in the text and encourages empathetic reading. Thiele’s story, due to the involvement and “causality”of the protagonists (the boy and his father) present in the story, as well as a peculiar intersubjective reality of thepolysensory narrative, can build an ecocentric vision of the world, accentuate the formation of values and habits,attitudes of a pro-ecological worldview oriented towards solidarity between different forms of life, and influence theconstruction of conceptual structures necessary for the realization of an ecocentric future.

  • Issue Year: 32/2023
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 1-16
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Polish
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