On The Plant-time In The Overstory

The Overstory,the twelfth novel of American contemporary Novelist Richard Powers,was published in 2018 and received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction of the next year.It recounts eight stories between men and trees.Plants in the novel are not the background of the human stories but are shaped as the protagonists on equal terms with human characters.Though scholars have already discussed the work from the ecocritical perspective,they have not rendered sufficient attention to the ontological value of plants.This thesis argues that,to highlight the ontological value of plants,Powers weaves the concept of plant-time into the novel.Contemporary philosopher Michael Marder introduces plant-time to ecocriticism,contending that plant-time,the movement of plant growth with its peculiar modes and rhythms,is different from the time of human society.But in the anthropocentric knowledge system,it is ignored and even assimilated into human time.Therefore,exploring plant-time means the acknowledgment of the ontological existence of plants.With the theories of plant-time proposed by Marder and some other scholars,this thesis focuses on the characteristics of plant-time in the novel.The thesis firstly explores heterogeneous plant-time from two aspects in the novel.On the one hand,running through the novel are diverse representational modes of plant-time,such as the color change of leaves and the growth of trunks and annual rings,which are echoed by eight juxtaposed stories of people from different genders,ages,works,and races.On the other hand,the rhythm of plant growth in the novel is non-homogenized.Accordingly,different stories of human characters such as Patricia and Neelay,who are considered abnormal by others,are presented with respect.In heterogeneous plant-time,the author constructs a non-hierarchical world,in which differences are preserved.Secondly,the thesis focuses on cyclical plant-time.Cyclicity in the novel is demonstrated in two ways.For one thing,within plant seasonal growth and life cycles,stories of human characters are unfolded in a cyclical and repetitive narrative.For another thing,such repetition is not mechanical.In the repetition,new features are emerging.Younger generations return to the career of their ancestors,but in the inheritance,new insights are found.In cyclical plant-time,Powers attaches great importance to history.Finally,this thesis addresses the correlation of plant-time with human time.Plant-time in the novel does not exist in isolation but is correlated with the time of human characters.Specifically,it lies in the shared emotion and life experience with human protagonists.Plants in the novel share the same emotional experiences like pleasure and pain with human observers.Moreover,while trees live their own lives,their time is also being lived by human partners,echoing Heidegger’s famous saying that being is being in the world—namely in connection with other things.Through the research above,a conclusion is drawn that in heterogeneous,cyclical,and correlated plant-time,The Overstory constructs a non-hierarchical,history-oriented,and symbiotic plant-human world.The acknowledgment of plant ontological value emphasizes that plants should neither be destroyed nor commercialized randomly,but be worthy of equal treatment and respect.