“Om ʼn tamatie te kan vertrou”: plantpolitiek in Jeanne Goosen se Vrydag-rubrieke (1996-1999) en Plante kan praat (2010)

Abstract

The post-humanist intellectual rush to promote the interests of non-human communities has given rise to the establishment of critical plant studies, a new transdisciplinary field of study which has so far received little attention in South African literary criticism. Pollan (2002, 2013), Hall (2011), Chamovitz (2012), Marder (2013) and Mabey (2014) criticise the zoocentric favouring of human and nonhuman animals as subjects in the Western tradition and argue that this historic preference has resulted in the exclusion of plants as category for moral consideration. Matthew Hall’s model of plant personhood and biospheric integrity, based on the inclusion of, and care and respect for plants as autonomous, complex life forms, is employed here to develop a terminology for revisiting selected texts by Jeanne Goosen. Hitherto unacknowledged newspaper columns (1996-1999) from the regional newspaper, Vrydag, as well as the short story, ’’Plante kan praat” (in the collection of short stories by the same name) will be considered in this ecocritical reading of said texts within the contours of contemporary plant studies.

 Opsomming

Die post-humanistiese intellektuele drang om die belange van nie-menslike gemeenskappe te bevorder, het aanleiding gegee tot die vestiging van ʼn betreklik nuwe transdissiplinêre studieterrein wat nog weinig aandag in die Suid-Afrikaanse literatuurkritiek ontvang het, naamlik kritiese plantstudie. Kritici soos Pollan (2002, 2013), Hall (2011), Chamovitz (2012), Marder (2013) en Mabey (2014) wys op die historiese, soösentriese bevoorregting van menslike (en veel later) nie-menslike diere as subjekte in die Westerse tradisie met ʼn gevolglike uitsluiting van plante as kategorie vir morele oorweging. Matthew Hall se konsep van plantpersoonskap en biosferiese integriteit, wat berus op die insluiting van, asook sorg en respek vir plante as outonome, komplekse lewensvorme word hier benut om ʼn terminologie te ontwikkel waarmee die skryfwerk van Jeanne Goosen herbesoek kan word. Verborge rubrieke (1996-1999) uit die streekskoerant Vrydag asook die kortverhaal “Plante kan praat” (2010) in die gelyknamige kortverhaalbundel dien as voorbeeldmateriaal vir hierdie ekokritiese ondersoek waar Goosen se tekste binne die kontoere van kontemporêre plantstudie oorweeg word.