A Study Of Western Ecocriticism

Ecocriticism is the product of literary studies and the contemporary ecological thought, the greening of literary studies, and the comprehensive responses to the present global ecological crisis. It is an immensely complex and open system of literary criticism with the characteristics of both literary criticism and cultural criticism. Ecocriticism might succinctly be defined as study of the relation between literature and physical environment conducted in a spirit of commitment to environment praxis. It takes an earth-centered approach to literary studies, and expands the notion of anthropocentric literary studies to include the entire ecosphere.All ecological criticism, based on holism and inter-relatedness of ecophilosophy, shares the premise that both human culture and human society are connected to physical world, affecting it and affected by it. Ecocriticism convincingly reveals that the ecological crisis in nature is the crisis of human civilization, human nature and imagination. Therefore, more science and more technology are not going to get us out of the present ecological crisis until we conscientiously involve the humanities and the social sciences in guiding them and solving ecological crisis in a big way. To root out the ecological crisis, we must go out of vicious circle of anthropocentrism, and dismantle the barriers between the modern sciences based on the mechanistic-reductionist character and Cartesiandualism. So ecocritics take the inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural, even cross-civilization approach to track down the fundamental causes of ecological crisis, and explore the effective strategies to cope with the ecological crisis. Both "interdisciplinarity" and "cross-culturality" are the two most distinct features of ecocriticism.Ecocriticism as a distinct critical school or movement originated in the United States of America, and is the product of the complicated social, academic and philosophical context. The direct cause of its birth is the increasingly deteriorating contemporary ecological crisis, the academic background of its birth the reaction to the contemporary literary criticism retreating from realistic ecological crisis, and the theoretical foundation of its birth the developing ecophilosophy.The dissertation consists of three parts. Its first part, that is, its first chapter, gives an overview of the social, academic and philosophical background of ecocriticism, its development, and its main contents as well as its theoretical foundation. It also points out the objective necessity that the anthropocentric paradigm must be replaced by ecocentric paradigm. Its second part can be divided into four chapters (chapter two, chapter three, chapter four and chapter five), and chiefly gives a systematic and profound study of the contents of Western ecocriticism. Chapter two focuses on the cultural criticism dimension in Western ecocriticism, and diagnoses the historical and cultural causes of the ecological crisis in a comprehensive and profound way. It points out that in the final analysis the ecological crisis is a crisis of Western culture, a crisis of human domination of nature, a crisis of developmental patterns, a crisis of social institutions as well as a crisis of human life-styles. Thus, ecocritics expose the nature of anthropocentrism and subvert it from interdisciplinary perspective. Lynn White opens up the cultural criticism dimension by criticizing anthropocentrism inherent in Christianity. Western Renaissance and Enlightenment humanism elevates man to the sole speaking subject and rational sovereign of natural order by overemphasizing human "reason". Since then, voluble nature has become not only a mute object, but also a conquered.dominated and raped object. Modern Western science and technology pervaded by anthropocentrism further intensifies and expands man's domination of nature. The picturesque aesthetic strengthens man's domination in the name of natural beauty. In short, ecocentric philosophy constitutes a serious challenge to anthropocentrism. Its idea of holism and relatedness urges that on the one hand we must dig the ecological wisdom out of cultural traditions and bring out the inseparable kindredship between man and nature, on the other we must diagnose the complex cultural causes of the ecological crisis, so as to reform and green human cultures.Chapter three is about ecocritical reading of literary ecology, and its purpose is to eliminate the anti-ecological elements in it according to the ecological yardstick. First of all, the ecocritics attack the contemporary literary theories that repel and banish nature. Then the ecocritics also deconstruct and subvert the literary classics, even rewrite them. In the meantime, the ecocritics also try to expand and deepen the field of ecocriticism by integrating itself with other literary theories and drawing on a variety of theories, such as feminist, Marxist, poststructuralist theories. For example, ecofeminist literary theory sees the important connections between the domination of women and the domination of nonhuman nature, and both are the result of an oppressive patriarchal conceptual framework. Thus it opens up a new dimension of ecocriticism.Chapter four focuses on the regular forms of literary ecocentrism. Literary ecocentrism rejects the anthropocentric literary vision, and regards natural world, including man, as the subject of literary representation. Human subjects are only a species of natural world, and nature is far more than the stage of "the little human morality play", the resources to be consumed, and the objects to be conquered. In the chapter the author first deals with the "aesthetics of relinquishment", that is, giving up conquering and possessing nature, even giving up individual autonomy, centrality and the illusion of mental and even bodily apartness from one's environment. Then the author switches to the ascription of subjectiveness to the nonhuman world. The nonhuman world entities such as the framework of seasons, the place, the animalsand plants become the subjects of literary representation. What's more, the author will study the writing of environmental apocalypticism. The ecological writers create master metaphors of ecocatastrophe to inspire man's ecological conscience and cultivate man's ecological sensibility so as to avert doom.Chapter five is concerned with the cross-cultural expansion of ecocriticism. The cultural diversity is the physical manifestations of ecological diversity, and ecological multiculturality urges that ecocriticism must explore the complexity of ecological issues and corresponding strategies from cross-cultural, even cross-civilization perspective. Ecocriticism rejects globalism and cultural hegemony that replace and devour the local knowledge and indigenous cultures, and calls for ecological democracy and cross-cultural ecological dialogues.Third part, that is, the last chapter of the dissertation, chapter six, gives a brief survey of the rise, development and present situation of Chinese ecocriticism (Chinese mainland). The author also points out its shortcomings from his own view, that is, both its awareness of comparative literature as discipline and its sense of theoretical building up are thin.The main academic values of the dissertation could be summarized as follows:1. The result of the research is the first PhD dissertation in Chinese mainland which deals with Western ecocriticism in a comprehensive and profound way, so it is a pioneer job. After having read a number of Western ecocritical classics, the author gives a systematic survey of Western ecotheory. In the meantime, the author also clearly defines the boundaries of Western ecocriticism, and its main features in general terms, and point out that both interdisciplinarity and cross-culturality are its two distinct features pervasive throughout the ecocritical academic activities.2. Western ecocriticism has developed a comprehensive and open ecotheory with a solid ecophilosophical foundation, wide academic vision and rich academic practices, whereas Chinese ecocriticism is just in its infancy, with thin awareness of comparative literature as a discipline and theoretical building up at the initial stage. In the mean time, Chinese ecocritics have a very limited knowledge of Westernecocriticism. So the dissertation is of vital significance to Chinese ecocritical circle. What's more, what the author used in the thesis is almost first-hand latest original materials. To have a comprehensive grasp of Western ecocriticism, the author collected a large number of ecocritical classics and related materials from England and America. Until now, the mainland China's libraries have no these books or publications quoted in the dissertation, let alone their Chinese translation. Many ecocritical terms have been for the first time introduced into Chinese ecocritical circle by the author. So the dissertation could for sure contribute to having a good command of the development of Western ecocriticism, promote the communication and dialogue on ecological issues between China and the West, enhance the ecological vision and ecological thinking of Chinese ecoeritics, and expand their academic vision.3. The dissertation could make great contribution to promoting the development of comparative literature of China and expanding the field of its research. Ecocriticism may shift the foundation of thought of comparative literature from anthropocentrism to ecocentrism. The interdisciplinary and cross-cultural features of ecocriticism will open up new academic dimension of comparative literature, promote its greening tendency, and involve itself in the global ecological academic movement. Its interdisciplinary and cross-cultural studies are to promote not only the communication, the exchanges and the understanding between peoples, nations, and cultures, but also the reconciliation and harmony between man and nature; not only to eliminate the racism, cultural hegemony, but also to eradicate speciesism and species hegemony. If so, the existence of the Eurocentrism of comparative literature, cultural hegemonism, cultural isolationism as well as all the other isms based on prejudices, alienation, enmity and self-centeredness is unfounded, because they run counter not only to human cultures but also to ecological democracy. Both the interdisciplinary and cross-cultural features of ecocriticism expand the field of comparative literature to include the entire ecosphere.To sum up, the dissertation can promote the progress of ecocriticism in Chinesemainland, the construction of Chinese ecological discourse as well as the dialogue on ecological issues between China and the West for sure. In the meantime, it can contribute to the greening of comparative literature studies and expand further its field of research.