Hello everyone,
At this point I am quite interested in a short story called 'The Crocodile', by Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky.
The story is about a man who is eaten by a crocodile that is visiting St Petersburg in a kind of traveling sideshow run by two Germans. Instead of being swallowed up and digested by the beast, the character, Ivan Matveitch remains very much alive inside him, and from his new home, delivers plans and tasks to his friend Semyon Semyonitch (also the narrater). These plans rotate around Matveitchs' belief that his newly found perspective (that of being in the gut of a crocodile) can enhance his government career and social standings.
This is the general gist of the story, however there are other elements that I believe could be interesting to portray from a colonialist perspective, including the reactions of the public to the incident, the main characters wife using this as a chance to seek divorce from her pompous husband and especially the idea that cutting open the crocodile and thus killing him in order to save the man was in this time a choice that was purely decided on the grounds of finance - not ethics or law.
It would be interesting to think about how this situation might have been dealt with in 19th century New Zealand rather than in the19th century Russian Empire stilled governed by the Tsar.
Thanks,
Natalie
Sounds interesting!
ReplyDeleteCrocodiles have an interesting history/symbolism in literature.
I.e. at once 'indigenous' and threatening.
I'm reminded of Vincent Eru's novel: 'The Crocodile' which was the first novel by an indigenous writer from PNG - deriving from the university there.
You approach to this tale is a bit reminiscent of the themes and atmosphere surrounding Herman Melville's classic tale 'Moby Dick' in terms of settings, inspiration and decade-based evets; only that Melville's tale is more from the point of view of a person who sees how others view the Whale in the story and here how a person swallowed by a Crocodile is trying to cope with life the best he can despite being swallowed by an animal. I am a little confused though (Hope it's alright if I said that) I thought Crocodiles were not found within New Zealand so a suggestion I do have is that probably have the Crocodile introduced from somewhere else and upon its escape make it the villian of the tale as it was meant to be
ReplyDeleteHi Vikram, thanks for your in-depth and well constructed reply.
ReplyDeleteI will look into the themes of Moby Dick that you have just touched on, I must confess I have not read Moby Dick but these parallels sound interesting.
My plan for the crocodile is metaphorical. The crocodile is in fact the colony, the character who is inside of him has been sent there after teasing it, and after this I will focus on the reactions of the people around him, their point of view on his life there - pulling ideas from their emperialistic russian base.
Thanks for your time and suggestions!
Hey Natalie,
ReplyDeleteDon't have any suggestions to make at this point but the idea sounds really good. Can't wait to see how it unfolds, looking forward to seeing a draft or something!
James.
Hi Natalie,
ReplyDeleteLike James, I don't have any suggestions for your rewrite either, but it looks very interesting. It reminds me of the biblical story about Jonah who was swallowed by the whale though it has nothing with political stuff its funny to see how being inside an animal can change people and their views.
Cant wait for the draft! All the best.