Keywords
intertextuality
ecocriticism
pandemic
motif of nature in literature
How to Cite
Abstract
The Decameron 2020 started in Croatia as an online literary event in the time of the first quarantine caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and resulted in an e-book of fifty-two selected short stories. Its initiators and editors, Ana Cerovac, Vesna Kurilić and Antonija Mežnarić, recognized the peculiarity of the experience of living in the end times, as well as the potential for comparison of the e-book with Boccaccio’s classic, and set up an online space where authors from Croatia and the region could ( re )create or transform their experiences, or reflect upon them. This paper focuses on four stories from the collection in which nature is given
special significance: Algernonova osveta (Algernon’s Revenge) by Nataša Milić, Zaražena (Infected) bySunčica Mamula, Redukcije(Reductions) byAnaKutleša and 2030 byRadmila Rakas. It investigates the range of feelings and attitudes towards
nature in the time of pandemic and quarantine, as reflected in these four stories.
References
Bloch, E. ( 1988 ). The Utopian Function of Art and Literature: Selected Essays. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Boccaccio, G. ( 2018 ). Dekameron. Trans. J. Belan, M. Maras. Koprivnica: Šareni dućan.
Butler, J., Yancy, G. ( 2020 ). Interview: Mourning Is a Political Act Amid the Pandemic and Its Disparities ( Republication). “Bioethical Inquiry” 17, pp. 483–487. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-020-10043-6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-020-10043-6
Cerovac, A., Kurilić, V., Mežnarić, A. ( Eds. ) ( 2020 ). Decameron 2020: Priče iz karantene. https://decameron2020price.wordpress.com/e-zbirka/ (30.05.2021).
Diffenbaugh, N. S., Field, C. B., Appel, E. A. et al. ( 2020 ). The COVID-19 lockdowns: a window into the Earth System. “Nat Rev Earth Environ” 1, pp. 470–481. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017–020–0079–1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-020-0079-1
Garrard, G. ( 2004 ). Ecocriticism. New York–London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203644843 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203644843
Konare, O. ( 2011 ). Humanity’s Attachment to Mother Earth. “Our World.” https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/humanitys-attachment-to-mother-earth (15.11.2021).
Latour, B. ( 2017 ). Facing Gaia. Eight Lectures on the New Climatic Regime. Trans. C. Porter. Cambridge, UK–Malden, MA: Polity Press.
Marcus, M. ( 2020 ). Reading the Decameron through the Lens of COVID-19. “The Yale Review.” https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv17bt3gt.21 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv17bt3gt.21
Nayar, P. K. ( 2019 ). Ecoprecarity. Vulnerable Lives in Literature and Culture. New York–London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429294815 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429294815
Power, K. ( 2020 ). The Decameron Project: Fevered Covid tales convey a strange feeling of a Reassurance. “Independent.ie.” https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/book-reviews/the-decameron-projectfevered-covid-tales-convey-a-strange-feeling-of-reassurance-39797029.html (5.12.2021).
San Diego Decameron Project. ( 2021 ). “La Jolla Historical Society.” https://lajollahistory.org/education/san-diego-decameron-project/ (5.12.2021).
Sumpor, S. ( 2021 ). Ironijske strategije distopije. Zagreb: Leykam international.
T. Ba. / Hina. ( 2020 ). Stotinu priča iz karantene: Pišu ih autori od 15 do 87 godina iz cijele Hrvatske, javljaju se i iz dijaspore. “Tportal.hr.” https://www.tportal.hr/kultura/clanak/stotinu-prica-iz-karantene-pisu-ih-autori-od-15-do-87-godina-iz-cijele -hrvatske-javljaju-se-i-iz-dijaspore-20200421 (5.12.2021).
The Decameron Project: 29 New Stories from the Pandemic. ( 2020 ). “The New York Times Magazine.” https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/07/magazine/decameron-project-short-story-collection.html (15.11.2021).
Tsing, A. et al. ( Eds. ) ( 2017 ). Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet: Ghosts of the Anthropocene. Minneapolis–London: University of Minnesota Press.
Vieira, F. ( 2010 ). The concept of utopia. In: The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature. Ed. G. Claeys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 3–27. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL9780521886659.001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL9780521886659.001
Watts, J. ( 2020 ). Could Covid lockdown have helped save the planet? “The Guardian.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/29/could-covid-lockdown-have-helped-save-the-planet (15.11.2021).
Žižek, S. ( 2010 ). Living in the End Times. London: Verso. Ајдачић, Д. ( 1999 ). Тајно и јавно у топографији словенских антиутопија. In: Антиутопије у словенским књижевностима. Ed. Д. Ајдачић. Београд: Научно друштво за словенске уметности и културе Јанус, pp. 91–110.
[ Aјdačić, D. (1999). Taјno i јavno u topografiјi slovenskih antiutopiјa. In: Antiutopiјe u slovenskim kn̂ iževnostima. Ed. D. Aјdačić. Beograd: Naučno društvo za slovenske umetnosti i kulture Јanus, pp. 91–110 ].
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Svjetlana Sumpor
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.