“The Fifth Sacred Thing” by Starhawk презентация

“The Fifth Sacred Thing” by Starhawk Artamonova Kseniya

The Fifth Sacred Thing is a 1993 post-apocalyptic novel written by Starhawk. The title refers to the classical elements of fire, earth, air, and water, plus the fifth element, spirit, accessible when one has balanced the other four.

Starhawk (born Miriam Simos on June 17, 1951) is an American writer and activist. She is known as a theorist of feminist Neopaganism and ecofeminism. Ecofeminism is a term that links feminism with ecology. Its advocates say that paternalistic/capitalistic society has led to a harmful split between nature and culture.

The novel describes a world set in the year 2048 after a catastrophe which has fractured the United States into several nations. The protagonists live in San Francisco and have evolved in the direction of Ecotopia, reverting to a sustainable economy, using wind power, local agriculture, and the like. San Francisco is presented as a mostly pagan city where the streets have been torn up for gardens and streams, no one starves or is homeless, and the city's defense council consists primarily of nine elderly women who "listen and dream"

The story is told from the points of view of 98-year-old Maya, her nominal granddaughter Madrone, and her grandson Bird. Through these and other characters, the story explores many elements from ecofeminism and ecotopian fiction.

In this utopia the streets have been dug up and are replaced with gardens and fruit trees. Every house is equipped with a small garden plot. The food is available to everyone and access to food is not limited by money, power, or ownership. The only remnants of the pavement that once existed are narrow paths for walking, cycling, or rollerblading. The city is depicted as a beautiful town where everything is shared yet nothing is lacking.