Professor Dan Wylie presented his inaugural lecture, titled “Elephants, compassion and the largesse of literature” on Tuesday 17 May, in Rhodes' Eden Grove Blue lecture theatre.
Professor Dan Wylie presented his inaugural lecture, titled “Elephants, compassion and the largesse of literature” on Tuesday 17 May, in Rhodes' Eden Grove Blue lecture theatre.
Wylie, a lecturer in the English Department published the book Elephant in 2008, and his lecture was principally concerned with the field of eco-criticism – the study of the relationship between literature and the environment. He focussed on how literature represents elephants and how our imagining of these creatures can affect our treatment of them.
In his opening remarks, he questioned why we don’t raise a monument to the death of every elephant, as we do for humans – essentially highlighting the way that humans consider themselves as separate from the Earth's ecosystem.
Wylie pointed out that literature can be used to encourage empathy towards other living creatures and contribute to promoting the value of compassion in the world.
