Rivista | Lagoonscapes
Fascicolo monografico | 2 | 2 | 2022
Articolo | The Healing Mathematics of Life in a Gesture: Jean Giono’s The Man Who Planted Trees

The Healing Mathematics of Life in a Gesture: Jean Giono’s The Man Who Planted Trees

Abstract

Jean Giono’s The Man Who Planted Trees gives a key to the awareness of connections between trees, the land, and all life. It shows the weight of a gesture in the revival of an apparently hostile desert, the role of an individual’s action for the community, either local or global, and also the healing power of that gesture. The tree-planting performed by the fictional shepherd has echoes in reality through Wangari Maathai’s action and the Greenbelt Movement and other individual or collective actions. The article tackles the importance of both a simple physical gesture and literature; it shows how one person’s behaviour can make a difference and change the world.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Presentato: 07 Giugno 2022 | Accettato: 24 Novembre 2022 | Pubblicato 15 Dicembre 2022 | Lingua: en

Keywords Wangari MaathaiLand revivalPlanting treesConnectionsJean Giono


Leggi questo articolo