An Ecofeminist Interpretation Of John Fowles's The Collector

John Fowles was a master writer of the second half of the 20th century. His works have been popular with the literary critics and readers. Best known for his fiction and short stories, Fowles was also a poet, a respected translator, and a prolific essayist. In addition, he had written many monographs, literary criticisms, screenplays and many introductions, forewords to books of fiction and non-fiction. Fowles was an internationally acclaimed novelist and his books had been translated into a variety of languages other than English. He was the recipient of many awards, including the nomination of Nobel Literature Prize nominee. His masterpieces include The Collector, The Magus, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Daniel Martin etc. In his artistic creation, nature is his inevitable symbolic topic and woman is his unceasing and extremely important inspiration.The Collector is Fowles's maiden work, which gained a huge success and since its publication Fowles devoted himself entirely to writing. The thesis interprets it in the light of ecofeminism. It aims to explore the ecofeminist consciousness revealed in the fiction and help the readers to understand the fiction from a newer angle. The study proves that the fiction encourages people to improve the ecological awareness and to concern about women's freedom. The rational elements of Fowles's views on nature and women are highlighted. This thesis consists of four parts. Introduction first introduces the ecofeminist theory, based on which this study is conducted, and then states the research findings home and abroad about John Fowles and The Collector. The author devotes the first chapter to Fowles's view of nature and woman, functioning as the basis of the research, for authors'lives, including their views of certain things, contribute a lot to their creation. The same is true with Fowles. His ecological awareness and complex attitudes to women have a noticeable effect on The Collector. The next chapter focuses on Ecofeminist interpretation of Miranda's tragedy. This chapter includes two sections. The first section analyzes the figure of Miranda, the incarnation of butterfly. The relation between Miranda and nature are emphasized. Meantime, Miranda's feminist sensibility is dug out. Women's figure changes from the marginal one with dumb language to visible with their own voices. The cause of Miranda's tragedy is delved in the second section. Clegg and G.P. are two agents for her death. They cause Miranda's death physically and spiritually. Clegg imprisons Miranda to death. G.P., as a representative of androcentrism, never treats Miranda in an equal status. He often imposes his patriarchal ideas of life and art on Miranda. Both of them mirror the crimes the society at that time committed against women. The root cause, the social reality of 1950s-1960s is tracked down. Development, hierarchal thinking and patriarchal hypocrisy are responsible for the tragedy. Identifying the root cause of the domination of nature and women is the significance of ecofeminist literary criticism. The last part is a conclusion. The Collector implies ecofeminist awareness and the fiction manifests that John Fowles is a writer with ecofeminist sensibility.