"Symbiosis or Death": - Rhodes University

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Both science and poetry constitute very hard work towards the truth. The truth is very difficult to get at, but everybody carries it with him. It is not that people are walking around foxing themselves, it’s just that there’s a lot of imprecision attached to expressing the truth. Language civilises. One is writing poetry because one has to; it is a terrible obsession, one would rather not do it; but there’s always the faint hope that you are sending the signal out that a fellow soul will say ‘OK, that spoke to me’. – Douglas Livingstone 42
Chapter Two Douglas Livingstone: His Life, Work and the Critical Response to His Earlier Work The aim of this chapter is to explore the depth and diversity of Douglas Livingstone’s thought and work. It contains a brief biography, an outline of his published work and awards in both the literary and scientific fields, and an attempt to contextualise his work within the traditions of South African poetry. The chapter closes with a review of the critical response to Livingstone’s first five poetry collections (which I have called his earlier work). This review unabashedly uses an ecologically informed approach. The critical response to A Littoral Zone is examined in chapter four. After his death Livingstone was hailed as South Africa’s first 21 st Century poet by Michael Chapman at an evening of tributes to the poet. This phrase was repeated in newspaper obituaries. 11 Chapman’s tribute was later published in The English Academy Review along with tributes by Lionel Abrahams and Don Maclennan. He writes: I spoke of his exploration – in his last collection, A Littoral Zone – of the uneasy divide between humanity’s physical and psychic selves. The poems pose key questions, after apartheid, about ecologies of destruction and creation, and I concluded that Livingstone could well come to be regarded as this country’s first twenty-first century poet. (1995: 6) Chapman’s phrase “ecologies of destruction and creation” appositely sums up the tension in Livingstone’s poetry and points to what he calls “a universalising approach” (ibid.). In the published joint article “Remembering Douglas Livingstone” Abrahams, too, pays tribute to Livingstone’s ecological awareness and “his dedication to embattled causes like poetry and the health of the earth” (5). In his tribute titled “The Princely Poet”, Abrahams beautifully summarises the “great themes” of Livingstone’s work as “the celebration of life, of passion, courage and creativity, of nature and beauty”. He says that the poet’s grief over the results of cruelty and stupidity is the negative side of these great themes and the source of some of his most powerful poems (ibid.). Maclennan notes that Livingstone’s writing “deconstructs the world of appearances to show that we have a 11 Three press clippings – two obituaries and one review of A Littoral Zone – were kindly given to me by Don Maclennan. Two are undated and without reference to the newspaper in which they appeared. I therefore include photocopies of the articles for reference purposes (as Appendix B). 43
Page 1 and 2: "Symbiosis or Death": An Ecocritica
Page 3 and 4: Swallow) and so obviate its certain
Page 5 and 6: Contents Abstract .................
Page 7 and 8: Acknowledgements To Andrew Stevens
Page 9 and 10: ix Humankind’s abuse of nature an
Page 11 and 12: Introduction It was a Hogsback poet
Page 13 and 14: 3 USA and was the first to apply th
Page 15 and 16: 5 cilia, spirochaetes, mitochondria
Page 17 and 18: 7 Durban in 1964 to take up the pos
Page 19 and 20: 9 as the Earth. The poetry demands
Page 21 and 22: Perhaps in moments of - shall we sa
Page 23 and 24: 13 married? This chapter will explo
Page 25 and 26: 15 This is an idealistic position b
Page 27 and 28: 17 Here, the “planet” and “a
Page 29 and 30: value. Julia Martin repeatedly stre
Page 31 and 32: 21 The puzzle of ecology, then, is
Page 33 and 34: 23 historic social conflicts. Langu
Page 35 and 36: 25 ‘There remains,’ wrote Heide
Page 37 and 38: 27 discourse, but as a fundamental
Page 39 and 40: the contradictions of consciousness
Page 41 and 42: 31 Shelley refers to imagination an
Page 43 and 44: 33 The freedom of birds - Keats’
Page 45 and 46: 35 universe as mere mechanism” bu
Page 47 and 48: 37 My 1963 comically chivalrous res
Page 49 and 50: 39 research has followed two main p
Page 51: 41 is definitive, not only for its
Page 55 and 56: 45 admired by poets of all poetical
Page 57 and 58: 47 in the publication of Sjambok an
Page 59 and 60: 49 conflict: “I don’t think any
Page 61 and 62: 51 long-term implications of this t
Page 63 and 64: 53 urbanisation. He adds that in th
Page 65 and 66: 55 be seen as a stylistic pastorali
Page 67 and 68: 57 (173). Livingstone, too, speaks
Page 69 and 70: 59 to find a closer identification
Page 71 and 72: 61 notes the “universality” of
Page 73 and 74: 63 The first chapter of Chapman’s
Page 75 and 76: 65 It should be mentioned, however,
Page 77 and 78: the stones, slaked battles, seas; t
Page 79 and 80: 69 while I claim the undertone is a
Page 81 and 82: 71 conjuring up a bizarre psycholog
Page 83 and 84: Yet the overriding relationship we
Page 85 and 86: 75 The next collection, Sjambok and
Page 87 and 88: 77 reflects the major variations of
Page 89 and 90: 79 This new idea-system… I shall
Page 91 and 92: 81 … we are the architects of our
Page 93 and 94: 83 our anthropocentrism. This deepe
Page 95 and 96: The first sputnik blipped above me
Page 97 and 98: 87 way of finding our sense of plac
Page 99 and 100: 89 poem, indicates that overcoming
Page 101 and 102: 91 constancy” where living things
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93 dissolves” (line 46). He is le
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95 / their daily crust on farm and
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97 lightning” (line 14). The fig
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99 life-forms. The poem ends on an
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101 nature. As demonstrated in the
Page 113 and 114:
103 planting and regeneration. In
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105 inhabitants, also cleansed and
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107 The poem is divided into four p
Page 119 and 120:
109 position. Wilson defines biophi
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111 humanity has no future place on
Page 123 and 124:
113 omnipotent power is disastrous
Page 125 and 126:
115 Because he suffers from, or is,
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We are an animal that needs to use
Page 129 and 130:
119 his scientific work lies in the
Page 131 and 132:
121 "metallic man" (line 6) who com
Page 133 and 134:
123 It [A Littoral Zone] might with
Page 135 and 136:
125 Livingstone” (1997). David Le
Page 137 and 138:
127 and decreases the pressure on p
Page 139 and 140:
129 suggests that much of Livingsto
Page 141 and 142:
Chapter Five From Darwinism to Desp
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133 conundrum also plagues Livingst
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135 anything Livingstone has writte
Page 147 and 148:
137 The sestet explores the result
Page 149 and 150:
139 [W]hile human survival may be c
Page 151 and 152:
141 The poem uses the coelacanth, a
Page 153 and 154:
143 examines evolution at cellular
Page 155 and 156:
145 (Dennett 86) which “propel”
Page 157 and 158:
147 reconnecting with the Earth and
Page 159 and 160:
149 ignorant or arrogant to see thi
Page 161 and 162:
151 This densely layered poem explo
Page 163 and 164:
153 is best to leave nature to do i
Page 165 and 166:
155 this reverence is an even great
Page 167 and 168:
157 continuation of a species. The
Page 169 and 170:
159 The remnants of the San people
Page 171 and 172:
161 In the third stanza he sees the
Page 173 and 174:
163 implication is that the San sha
Page 175 and 176:
165 is his anger extended to humank
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167 “Carnivores” and social des
Page 179 and 180:
Chapter Six “Seeking life, seekin
Page 181 and 182:
171 symbolise cosmic evil, but rath
Page 183 and 184:
173 The snake here symbolises self-
Page 185 and 186:
175 of Looking at a Black Snake”
Page 187 and 188:
177 The dead snake lies on the beac
Page 189 and 190:
[A] constant image is that of the c
Page 191 and 192:
181 with a duiker doe - the visitor
Page 193 and 194:
183 life force (signified by the su
Page 195 and 196:
185 This poem describes the first s
Page 197 and 198:
187 The poem works with the idea of
Page 199 and 200:
189 itself and so managed to captur
Page 201 and 202:
191 The title of the poem alludes t
Page 203 and 204:
193 resolve humankind’s psychomac
Page 205 and 206:
195 The above ‘conventional’ lo
Page 207 and 208:
197 opera, Lohengrin so that the po
Page 209 and 210:
199 redolent of the happier moments
Page 211 and 212:
I conclude this chapter with an exa
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203 perceived by my senses, but not
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205 resolution through atonement, w
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207 they “meld / in manic songs o
Page 219 and 220:
209 A brief review will be useful.
Page 221 and 222:
211 appears as thanatos” (207). T
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Conclusion The coming together of t
Page 225 and 226:
“An appraisal of sewage pollution
Page 227 and 228:
Appendix B continued 217
Page 229 and 230:
Primary Texts Bibliography Livingst
Page 231 and 232:
Clouts, Sidney. "The Violent Arcadi
Page 233 and 234:
Hillman, James. Dream Animals. San
Page 235 and 236:
One’s Reality: A study of the wor
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