The Self and the Other

Waste and Wasted Lives in Anglophone Literatures

Abstract

The aim of this contribution is to show how Literature can fruitfully explore the relationship between Self and Other through an analysis of the interconnection between waste and wasted lives (Bauman, 2004). The first case study takes into consideration Katherine Boo’s 2012 reportage Beautiful Forevers, set in the Mumbai slum of Annawadi. The American journalist describes the lives of the outcasts and the untouchables on the edge of the megalopolis. Similarly, the second case study analyses a selection of poems by the Northern Irish writer Derek Mahon, which show his concern for both material and human waste, through a parallel with the Italian poet and film director Pier Paolo Pasolini. Offering some critical tools which combine literary analysis with anthropology and sociology, we will show how to organize a teaching module to training the younger generations to diversity as a source of mutual relational inclusion.