392 EURAMERICA village farmers, and he punishes the “criminals” by sending them to zoos. Durrell does not intentionally capture an animal because it is considered “a pest” though some of his first captures are of animals that local people were happy to be rid of. He rarely expresses animus toward any animal, retrospectively expressing fascination even for horseflies and sweatbees that torment him in camp. Though he confesses finding some animals unattractive, they are never criminals, nor deserving of death. Buck anthropomorphizes animal behavior to bring it into the scope of his public’s limited understanding by reinforcing cultural stereotypes of human social roles. Durrell, on the other hand, imaginatively empathizes with an animal, and strives to expand his reader’s knowledge beyond stereotypes, while still remaining within the realm of human affection. VI. The Cinematic Narrative While their written memoirs evocatively recreate large and varied worlds of human and nonhuman individuals, environments and situations, Buck and Durrell’s visual media representations are linguistically simplified because they depend on images directly perceived by viewers rather than through the imaginative descriptions of the two interlocutors.8 In addition, the complexity of their experiences are further reduced by the public relations announcements and commercial campaigns used to promote them. After the successes of their books, both Buck and Durrell became media personalities, performing the identities they had created in the books. Both men aver that their chief motivation was again financial—Buck because trading animals was increasingly less lucrative, and Durrell to fund his zoo. 8 Both Buck and Durrell also made radio programs which relied on, and, in turn, increased the popularity of their books.
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