The dead lay motionless in Nyarubuye – their bodies bent in “uninterpretable” forms (Gourevitch 449). One would be horrified by the sight and most would probably cringe and look away. But Phillip Gourevitch called this scene “beautiful” (Gourevitch 449), marveling at the “randomness of the fallen forms”, noting the “strange tranquility of their rude exposure” (Gourevitch 449). He did not flinch like many of us would after seeing this image at first sight. Instead, he looked closely and carefully and clicked photographs.
In mid-April of 1994, on a hill called Nyarubuye in Eastern Rwanda, the Hutu people committed genocide on the Tutsi people. The killers went on a relentless killing spree, killing “day after day, minute to minute, Tutsi by …show more content…
According to classical language, the word “beautiful” is only associated with objects that are generally considered pleasant or enjoyable. Dead bodies are not conventionally described as beautiful. However, Gourevitch defies this whole convention. In order to break the stringent barrier that denies people a closer look at the important truths of the genocide, Gourevitch turns himself into a poetic thinker. In his essay, “Cree Poetic Discourse”, Neal McLeod tells us that “a poetic way of thinking urges us to radically rethink the surface of things, like a dreamer” (McLeod, 661). He says that “good and evil are not binary opposites but exist in all possibilities, all moments, and all beings” (McLeod 667). With this statement, we enter a new paradigm – the paradigm adopted by Gourevitch for the sake of digging up the truth. This is a paradigm where objects are not strictly bound to single definitions or descriptions. In this paradigm, there is always an openness; there is no strict guideline that has to be followed. It can be compared to Helen Frankenthaler’s painting “Mountains and Sea”. Some of the key qualities of this painting are its spontaneity of colors and the random quality of staining. These aspects sort of give the painting an element of movement and metaphoricity. The painting has the potential to turn out many different ways, without any strict boundaries. The thought process adopted by Gourevitch is similar to this painting in its metaphoricity. His use of the word “beautiful” is metaphorical; it is not bound to just objects that are pleasant or enjoyable. By calling the dead bodies beautiful, Gourevitch normalizes their conventional repulsiveness, so that the imaginary barrier made of horror and revulsion is destroyed. By describing the bodies in that way, he is tries to bring the negative intensity of
In mid-April of 1994, on a hill called Nyarubuye in Eastern Rwanda, the Hutu people committed genocide on the Tutsi people. The killers went on a relentless killing spree, killing “day after day, minute to minute, Tutsi by …show more content…
According to classical language, the word “beautiful” is only associated with objects that are generally considered pleasant or enjoyable. Dead bodies are not conventionally described as beautiful. However, Gourevitch defies this whole convention. In order to break the stringent barrier that denies people a closer look at the important truths of the genocide, Gourevitch turns himself into a poetic thinker. In his essay, “Cree Poetic Discourse”, Neal McLeod tells us that “a poetic way of thinking urges us to radically rethink the surface of things, like a dreamer” (McLeod, 661). He says that “good and evil are not binary opposites but exist in all possibilities, all moments, and all beings” (McLeod 667). With this statement, we enter a new paradigm – the paradigm adopted by Gourevitch for the sake of digging up the truth. This is a paradigm where objects are not strictly bound to single definitions or descriptions. In this paradigm, there is always an openness; there is no strict guideline that has to be followed. It can be compared to Helen Frankenthaler’s painting “Mountains and Sea”. Some of the key qualities of this painting are its spontaneity of colors and the random quality of staining. These aspects sort of give the painting an element of movement and metaphoricity. The painting has the potential to turn out many different ways, without any strict boundaries. The thought process adopted by Gourevitch is similar to this painting in its metaphoricity. His use of the word “beautiful” is metaphorical; it is not bound to just objects that are pleasant or enjoyable. By calling the dead bodies beautiful, Gourevitch normalizes their conventional repulsiveness, so that the imaginary barrier made of horror and revulsion is destroyed. By describing the bodies in that way, he is tries to bring the negative intensity of