Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu by Andrus Kivirähk

En primer lugar, se manifiesta el hibridismo naturocultural en la mezcla de las voces. Es particularmente interesante el borroso límite entre naturaleza y cultura, haciendo hincapié en su transformación recíproca. Teniendo esto en cuenta, observo cómo aparece la naturaleza como un sujeto entrelazado con la cultura, desafiando de esta manera el concepto normativo de ser humano. Esta novela de culto, que se centra en la desaparición de la vida en el bosque y en la extinción del idioma de las serpientes, ha sido llamada “la primera econovela estonia” (Hasselblatt 1262). Resumen Este artículo analiza la obra The Man Who Spoke Snakish de Andrus Kivirähk, escritor estonio contemporáneo, desde una perspectiva ecocrítica materialista. As Meeme becomes the earth, the novel suggests the intra-active becoming of the natural and the cultural, confirming the new materialist idea that there is no solid ground on which to stand but a dynamic world, where nature and culture finally still retreat into their own worlds. Above all, a hybrid “natureculture” is portrayed through Meeme, who resembles human “turf” and dissolves in nature, foregrounding the trans-corporeal naturalcultural entanglement.

The hybridity is further represented through the grandfather, human apes, and the protagonist’s sister. Snakes emerge as the ancient brothers of humans, speaking with the last forest dwellers, while the protagonist speaks snakish and resembles a snake. First, naturalcultural hybridity becomes manifest in the blurring of voices. Particularly interesting is the fluid border of nature and culture, which suggests their reciprocal becoming. In this light, I discuss the ways that nature emerges in new materialist terms as a subject, tangled with culture, challenging normative understandings of humanity. The canonical novel, which focuses on the forest life being replaced with village life as well as the extinction of snakish, or, snake language, has importantly been classified as “the first Estonian eco-novel” (Hasselblatt 1262). The article takes a material ecocritical view on contemporary Estonian literature-Andrus Kivirähk’s The Man Who Spoke Snakish.

Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu by Andrus Kivirähk