Nadine Gordimer‟S the Ultimate Safari
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UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI PISA Facoltà di Lingue e Letterature Straniere Scuola di Dottorato in Discipline Umanistiche Programma in Letterature Straniere Moderne Curriculum di Anglistica (L-LIN/10) Tesi per il conseguimento del titolo: Theoretical and Textual Approaches to Contemporary Humanitarian Narrative The Cases of Roberto Saviano‟s Gomorra, Aung San Suu Kyi‟s Letters from Burma, Jerry Piasecki‟s Marie in the Shadow of the Lion and Nadine Gordimer‟s The Ultimate Safari Candidata: Tutor: Belinda Giannessi Prof.ssa Laura Giovannelli Anno Accademico: 2010-2011 I A mio nonno Primo II ABSTRACT III The purpose of this thesis is to describe how some forms of fictional and non-fictional texts can be configured as and within the framework of humanitarian practices. In exploring the definitions and features of humanitarianism and humanitarian literature, the thesis attempts to answer the question of what purpose these texts try to serve. In examining the works Marie in the Shadow of the Lion (2000) by Jerry Piasecki, The Ultimate Safari (1989) by Nadine Gordimer, Gomorra (2006) by Roberto Saviano and Letters from Burma (1996) by Aung San Suu Kyi, we will argue that the scope of these books can be located by analogy to social and political humanitarian practices. Beyond their differences in genre, style and subject matter, these texts share a common feature: they are performative, namely they strive to do things with words. The humanitarian texts discussed in this thesis can be shown to act in the world in order to implement the values proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... III LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ................................................................................... VIII INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... IX 0.0 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 10 0.1 Thesis Organization ............................................................................................. 21 0.2 Methodology ......................................................................................................... 23 0.2.1 Primary Sources ......................................................................................... 23 0.2.2 Secondary Sources ..................................................................................... 24 0.3 My Own Personal Reasons ................................................................................. 27 CHAPTER 1 – Improving People‟s Lives: Humanitarianism, Human Rights and Humanitarian Practices ............................................................................................................. 31 1.0 Humanitarianism .................................................................................................. 32 1.0.1 Putative Origins ......................................................................................... 32 1.0.2 Definitions and Meaning .......................................................................... 38 1.1 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights ................................................... 41 1.2 Humanitarian Practice and Human Rights ....................................................... 46 1.3 Humanitarianism and the Law ............................................................................ 52 CHAPTER 2 - An Investigation of Humanitarian Narrative .............................. 54 2.0 Preliminary Remarks ............................................................................................ 55 2.1 Towards a Humanitarian Narrative Theory? .................................................... 56 2.2 A General Overview of Aung San Suu Kyi‟s Letters from Burma ..................... 60 2.2.1 The Letter: a Powerful Literary Means ................................................... 63 V 2.2.2 The Letters‟ Style and Structure .............................................................. 73 2.2.3 A Humanitarian Analysis of Letters from Burma ...................................... 77 2.3 A General Overview of Roberto Saviano‟s Gomorra: Viaggio nell‟impero economico e nel sogno di dominio della camorra ................................................................................ 89 2.3.1 Fictional vs. non-fictional? ....................................................................... 92 2.3.2 Gomorra: Style and Structure ..................................................................... 95 2.3.3 A Humanitarian Analysis of Gomorra .................................................... 103 2.4 A General Overview of Jerry Piasecki‟s Marie in the Shadow of the Lion ........ 114 2.4.1 A Humanitarian Analysis of Marie ........................................................ 119 2.5 A General Overview of Nadine Gordimer‟s The Ultimate Safari................... 124 2.5.1 A Humanitarian Analysis of The Ultimate Safari ................................... 133 CHAPTER 3 - The Political and Social Impact of Humanitarian Narrative Practice ...................................................................................................................................... 137 3.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 138 3.1 “Fearing” Literature ........................................................................................... 145 3.2 An Approach to the Idea of “Doing with Words” ........................................ 153 3.3 The Role of Empathy ........................................................................................ 157 3.4 The Power of Words in Aung San Suu Kyi‟s Letters from Burma ...................... 163 3.4.1 The Making of Letters from Burma .......................................................... 163 3.4.2 The Socio-Historical Background ......................................................... 165 3.4.3 The Author‟s “Humanitarian Literary Machine” ................................ 169 3.4.5 The Objectives of the Text .................................................................... 171 3.4.6 Potential Readers and Targets ............................................................... 173 3.4.7 First Conclusions ..................................................................................... 174 VI 3.4.8 Letter 22: „The Beautiful and the Ugly‟ ................................................ 175 3.4.9 What Happened to ASSK after her Weekly Column was Over? ...... 188 3.5 The Power of Words in Gomorra ...................................................................... 190 3.6 The Power of Words in Gordimer‟s The Ultimate Safari ................................ 202 3.6.1 Leaving a permanent mark: boycotting the image of Kruger Park? . 208 3.7 The Power of Words in Piasecki‟s Marie in the Shadow of the Lion ................. 212 CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................... 218 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 226 Primary Sources: Nadine Gordimer .......................................................................... 227 Primary Sources: Jerry Piasecki .................................................................................. 227 Primary Sources: Roberto Saviano ............................................................................. 228 Primary Sources: Aung San Suu Kyi .......................................................................... 228 Web Sites and Other Electronic Media ..................................................................... 241 Appendix 1. The Authors‟ Brief Biographies and a Filing of the Texts ............... 242 Appendix 2 An Interview with Jerry Piasecki .......................................................... 256 Appendix 3 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights ..................................... 258 VII LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1 Front cover of Marie in the Shadow of the Lion (2000) by Jerry Piasecki ..... 14 Figure 2 Kruger Park and its website page, accessed by thousands of Western tourists every year. ..................................................................................................................... 20 Figure 3 From text to reality: the word “Gomorra” and its widespread use in current press language. ............................................................................................................ 196 Figure 4 „Adolescent boys wearing civilian clothes walk away from the weapons they once carried as child soldiers after being evacuated from a combat zone in Sudan‟ (From: http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/childsoldiers/webquest/index.asp). ................... 214 VIII INTRODUCTION IX 0.0 Introduction La parola come concretezza, materia aggregata di atomi per intervenire nei meccanismi delle cose, come malta per costruire, come punta di piccone. Roberto Saviano To observe businessmen who come to Burma with the intention of enriching themselves is somewhat like watching passers-by in an orchard roughly stripping off blossoms for their fragile beauty, blind to the ugliness of despoiled branches, oblivious of the fact that by their action they are imperilling future fruitfulness and committing an injustice against the rightful owners of the trees. Among