Indledning
‘This is history’ Alexander reminded me in one of his florid communications. ‘Do history justice, Dimitri, and this assignment will be the making of you’ . But did Dimitri do history justice?
The short story ‘Survivor Syndrome’ by Liz Jensen follows a Greek photographer, Dimitri, who is sent to London by his boss Alexander.
London has been flooded over a couple of months which has caused a water-pox epidemic. Looking for the perfect picture to capture and describe the disaster, Dimitri describes what he sees in London, how the people try to cope and how they have been affected.
Optimer dit sprog - Læs vores guide og scor topkarakter
Uddrag
Though Dimitri seems like someone who has a lot of sympathy with others, it is not the case. On one hand Dimitri is determined to capture the ‘perfect’ picture of the disaster
on the other it makes him blind to the suffering of others - as the following quote suggests “I noticed, for example, that although I cared about people less, my aesthetic appreciation of them was becoming keener.
And my head cooler. Surely this was no bad thing? As I photographed drowning vistas and bedraggled families, old Alexander’s words sank in deeper, and I began to hanker after the one image that would encapsulate the essence of the catastrophe[..] .”
The rhetorical question might indicate that Dimitri does not perceive his actions wrong. Instead, he is focused on the task that he has been given.
At a point in the story Dimitri realises that he is ‘stuck’ in London with the rest of the population as the sickness is taking over the capital. As the catastrophe gets worse, we encounter the main problem for Dimitri.
We meet some of the other characters such as Mr. McLaverty, the blond boy and a few other Londoners who are trying to adjust to the new reality.
Skriv et svar