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영어

From his practice of Zen meditation Peter Matthiessen learned how to see things as they really are. His Zen way of seeing is reflected in his use of spareness in Far Tortuga. First, Matthiessen tries to present things directly, using simple sentences and avoiding any figurative language in his effort to capture reality as it is. Furthermore, he tries to bring the novel's setting into life through his creative use of spare, empty space, even using white spaces on the printed page. Second, he introduces an idea of spareness into his effort to simplify and clarify the complex issues surrounding the ecological crisis in the Cayman Islands. Third, while his criticism is directed against America as the real cause of the ecological disaster in the region, it is never dealt directly in the novel. Instead, he focuses on its destructive impact on the region, rather effectively leaving it out in the empty and spare space of the text. This helps the reader to see the source of the disaster in a fresh way, to call into question it. In Far Tortuga, Matthiessen successfully shows how spareness helps eliminate any inessential element in his effort to let things speak for themselves.