Okay, so I have been thinking about how to pull a new perspective out of 'The Crocodile' by Fyodor Dostoevsky and I think I have figured it out.
My re-write is going to be a collection of 6 or 7 letters between the main character who was eaten by the crocodile and his friends at home. I am basing the letters on the perceptions of Ivan, who is inside the crocodile (my metaphorical colony) and the people left behind. I am quite interested in how the common empirical person perceived people in the colony and the colony itself and how the people in the new colony described it to the former.
Because it took so long for a letter to be deliver from NZ to Europe (about 2 months) it will hopefully be interesting to show that between those delivery times, the characters at first loathing for his new home turns into a kind of enjoyment as he is exposed to a different kind of society, freedom and belief in a radical new start, if only he can convince the others!
I hope this makes sense!
Hi Natalie
ReplyDeleteAfter much research on the original tale, I can see how you have tried to sucesfully make it simpler by turning the Crocodile into a kind of concentration camp rather than a real reptile (Because it is actually hard to imagine one trying to communicate with the outside world when swallowed by a Crocodile!). With the communication happening between NZ and Europe, it would indeed give (In probable/presumable terms of 'ethnic tension') a sense of connection between here (NZ) and Europe because (Which year is the original story as well as your rewritten version of it set?) it will be interesting to see the communications that these nations had at the time
Good luck!
Vikram