forests, woods, plains…

There is an important distinction that can be made between the British and European feeling, understanding of going into the woods, in Britain we find the idea of woods as places of refuge and safety, of escape, not just of Robin Hood but also the Arcadian moments, the Arts and Crafts movement, whereas. Europe we can see a vast array of danger and supernatural terror. (CR in Australia lives on the edge of a rain forest, if he walks a mile or so to the East the forest has no paths….the terror of being lost forever…) (plagiarised from Michael Coveney Forests Programme…) This difference in sensibility explains why Deleuze and Guattari’s understanding of rhizomes and trees rests uneasily on the British sensibility, ’nomad’ is something entirely different for someone whose imaginary thinks of hiding in the woods with Robin Hood than for someone who dreams of the steppes and nomads as a means of flight. “You love the grass rather than the trees and forest…. power is arborescent….” (Dialogues) But this is an alien tradition to someone who understands the steppes, the grassy planes as oppressive, full of murderous nomads, slavers and oriental despots. In an English wood the most dangerous thing is a tree falling on your head, the wolves and bears were killed long ago and the steppes are where the genocides live… (after the theatre)