AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
Anna´s attempt to change the world for the better may inspire
more people and that was probably Jostein Gaarder´s intention.
4 Conclusion
Gaarder´s book acts as a warning from the future for the current
generation, and although it was first published in 2013, it can
still be an inspiration to improve the environment at various
levels. The motivation for writing this article were some
moments of the book, which already concern the life of the
present, for example when the numbers of bees decrease every
year: ´In the garden her mom and dad are both on step-ladders
hand-pollinating the fruit trees. Bees are a thing of the past.
Their numbers started to fall a hundred years ago for a variety
of reasons. Then, all of a sudden, they died out completely. Now
people have to do by hand the painstaking work performed by
billions of bees´ (Gaarder, 2016, p. 82).
The purpose of Anna´s dream was to give the world a new
chance, and that was probably the point of the book. Gaarder
does not underestimate reader of this book, in addition to
philosophical elements, he also inserts love and mystery into the
story, he encourages to think more deeply, but at the same time it
is written in an understandable and clear language. Although we
focused on environmental issues in the interpretation, the book
also contains a storyline about love, common school and family
problems, so we think the story is suitable not only for readers
who are primarily interested in nature. We cogitate the opinion
of Pelikán (2011) who considers maintaining sustainable
development as a serious problem in today´s society. The
mentioned author deals with the difficulty of finding a balance
between economic development and at the same the protection
of natural resources. He considers the fight for sustainable
development to be one of the global trends in social changes,
influencing new reflections about the character of education.
Literary stories of similar nature are not probably aiming to
change the whole world, but they can change the whole world,
but they can change the view and behaviour of individuals in
relation to our planet, in an education environment all the more
if the teacher cares about this issue. The book The World
According to Anna provides a space for philosophical inquiry on
environmental issues and also fulfils the aesthetic function of an
artistic text, so the teacher may have several options for working
with this specific text. One opportunity may be to spark a
discussion about a defined issue. The discussion could be
conducted according to the methodology of the Philosophy for
Children program. In this program, participants read a
philosophical literary text with philosophical topics, ask
philosophical questions and then discuss according to
established rules. A significant element of the story is a letter
written by the main character Anna, so the teacher could include
the activity ´Letter for my grandson or granddaughter´ in which
pupils could address the following points: 1. Write what you like
on our Earth and what you want your grandchildren should see
or experience. 2. Write down what you are doing for nature
protection and sustainability now (even the minimum) and what
could you improve.
Zapf (2016) in connection with sustainable development
expresses the idea that literature and art can comprehensively
support the concept of sustainable development. This author
argues that artistic literary texts in relation to sustainability are
rarely published, but represent the potential for improving the
future of ecological thinking. We hope that similar contributions
to raising awareness of sustainable development will attract the
attention of scientists and teachers and inspire them to educate
pupils to understand the problems of our planet, lead them to
become critical thinkers and people who experience social,
emotional and economic well-being, but also they are aware of
how ecology can affect their lives and the lives of their
descendants.
Literature:
1. Gaarder, J. Anna. Príbeh o klíme a životnom prostredí.
Bratislava: Albatros. 2014. 192 p. ISBN 9788000036625.
2. Gaarder, J. The World According to Anna. London: The Orion
Publishing. 2016. 224 p. ISBN 9781780229188.
3. Huba, M. Trvalo udržateľná ekonomika II. In SLOVO.
[online]. 2004. [cit. 2020-12-17]. Available at: http://www.nov
eslovo.sk/node/26685
4. Kollárová, D., Karasová, L., Nagyová, A. Literary Text and its
Integration into the Educational Content of the Subjects of
Elementary Realia. In AD ALTA: Journal of Interdisciplinary
Research. 9 (2), 2019. p. 114-120. ISSN 246-6733.
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Paradoxní štěstí. Esej o hyperkonzumní společnosti.
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literacy – The Way to Transform the Economy onto Sustainable.
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7. Pelikán, J.
Hledání těžiště výchovy. Praha: Univerzita Karlova
v Praze, Nakladatelství Karolinum, 175 s. ISBN 978-80-246-
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Špirko, D.
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9781474274654.
Primary Paper Section: A
Secondary Paper Section: AM
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