the man with the
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Kev Reynolds meets Françoise Besson, who writes to save the world
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Wordsmith
best job
www.kevreynolds.co.uk
aving left school at the age of fifteen without
claims that ‘any form of writing, any literary genre can
a single qualification, the world of academia
become a way of fighting for the planet.’
passed me by, so it came as a surprise when,
Françoise Besson herself is a fighter. Sensitive
many years later, I was invited to give a lecture at an
and empathetic, at times she can appear physically
international conference on mountain literature at the
fragile and undernourished, but she will readily man
University of Toulouse. Meeting other writers, poets
the barricades or confront those bureaucrats and
and academics there who viewed the written word
individuals who act against her principles. I once
from a different angle from my own was something of
saw her go head-to-head with a group of farmers
an eye-opener, and that difference was reinforced a
and shepherds loudly protesting against plans to
few years later when I was called back to give a second
reintroduce the European brown bear to the Pyrenean
lecture - this one with a focus on mountain travel and
foothills. Fearless and defiant, she stood her ground
nature writing.
and countered every argument with passion and logic.
Masterminding those two conferences was
She would not be moved.
Françoise Besson, poet, author, editor, translator
It is not surprising then, that Writing to Save the
and Professor of English Literature; a woman with
Planet is a persuasive document in which she gathers
extraordinary energy and a passion for nature in all
an army of writers, past and present, and cherry-picks
its forms who has since become a family friend with
some of their most powerful arguments as weapons
whom my wife and I have walked in the Pyrenees as
to protect the environment and all forms of natural
well as on our home patch in Kent.
life. Not content to limit her research to the obvious
Her latest book arrived recently. A weighty tome
promoters of conservation, she trawls through every
entitled Ecology and Literatures in English, but with the
conceivable genre to bolster her armoury. There’s a
rather more enticing sub-title of Writing to Save the
chapter devoted to the theatre, with some surprising
Planet, it introduced me to
results; others in which she
the world of ecocriticism.
at the work of poets; at
The question I ask myself – and put looks
Until I read this book,
travel writing, children’s fiction
ecocriticism was an
to you, as fellow OWPG members - is and even one which includes
unfamiliar concept and not
comics that contain warnings
something I’d considered,
this: How many layers are concealed of ecological disaster through
but now - 500-odd pages
a combination of simple text
in your written work?
later – I’m beginning to
and visual imagery. No literary
see the point! Or at least, to
stone has been left unturned,
understand the reasoning behind what I’d previously
and the copious footnotes and bibliography not
considered the quickest way to destroy a love of
only betray the fact that this is a work created by an
reading – the academic exercise of analysing specific
academic mind, but tempt the general reader with the
texts in an almost forensic attempt to expose hidden
promise of more books to explore.
layers of meaning.
In this respect, Writing to Save the Planet is a
The question I ask myself – and put to you, as
dangerous seduction for one whose overloaded
fellow OWPG members - is this: How many layers are
shelves are already groaning with much-loved works
concealed in your written work? Perhaps, like me, you
I couldn’t bear to be without, but which need culling
will be unaware of any unintended sub-text – but if
to make way for new titles! My copy of her book is
there is one, would it stand academic scrutiny when
now defaced with annotations and underlining as time
even a simple review can be bad enough? That is a
and again a passage would make me stop, re-read and
conundrum I find myself being confronted with here.
absorb before moving on. In a sub-chapter in which
My friend Françoise has spent a lifetime peeling
she looks at the poems of Ann McCrary Sullivan,
away the layers of novelists, poets, travellers and the
Françoise claims that ‘Walking is the best way of
authors of a wide range of non-fiction works in her
feeling nature through all one’s senses…’ A few pages
role as a teacher of English-language literature to
further on, she quotes from N Scott Momaday’s In the
students in her native France. Well-read? I’ll say! And
Presence of the Sun where he looks back over a long list
at a time when the environment is under pressure
of historical events to conclude that: ‘human beings,
like never before, it is the non-human world that has
for all their assumed superiority over the plants and
become her focus. It appears then that Writing to Save
animals of the Earth, have inflicted wounds over the
the Planet is a summary of her studies in the realm of
environment that are surely much more serious than
nature writing in its widest sense. It’s a fascinating
we have realized…’
work that covers everything from the Bible and
So, what degree of responsibility does the writer
Shakespeare to Rachel Carson’s 1962 environmental
have in alerting others to the vulnerability of this
wake-up call in Silent Spring, and more recent works
world we inhabit? If my friend is to be believed,
by such powerful communicators as Peter Matthiessen
‘literature guides us on the way to awareness and
and the poet-novelist, Linda Hogan.
can even save the planet.’ And those whose modest
‘The aim of this book’, says Françoise,’ is to lead
output is devoted to travel writing and the production
people to realize that literature reveals a fundamental
of guidebooks, she suggests ‘hold a key to our
idea that everything is connected and that it is only
understanding of the world … [for] we must be able to
when most people are aware of that connection that
see the world to protect it.’
the world can change.’ In this she echoes the words of
If ‘travel literature and art are essential in the
John Muir and Aldo Leopold, among others, and with
preservation of the world’ then we’d better peel back
an urgency that betrays her campaigning zeal, she
the layers and let our words ring loud and clear!
spring 2019 | Outdoor focus 7