„I do object, passionately, to being made eternal“: Vegetabiles Wissen nach Ursula K. Le GuinsDirection of the Road

Abstract

Id oo bject, passionately,t ob eingm ade eternal":V egetal Knowledge accordingt o Direction of the Road by UrsulaK.LeGuin Drawing on Ursula K. Le Guin'ss hort story Directiono ft he Road (1974), the following essay traces how the narrating oak tree produces alternatives of narrativetime,space, and focalization, i. e.,anarboreal poetics. By presenting itself as an ever-moving living being, the oak not only reworks anarrative "Order of Things," but also exposes the production of knowledgewith plantsand their representations as afundamental component of knowledgeorders. As Iwill argue, the arboreal poeticsthat arises in Le Guin'sshort story thereby challengesatradition of epistemology that immobilizes plants and creates fixed taxonomies.Consequently, Le Guin'sever-moving oak tree questions any theory that assumes the immobility of trees in time and space -trees of knowledge as well as tree representations in theoretical works by Ferdinand de SaussureorGilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari.