Study On The "Material Turn" Of Ecocriticism

Material is the most basic concept that controls the human and non-human natural world.In the development of ecocriticism,"material",as a repeatedly written content,has become an important topic of ecocriticism scholars.At the beginning of the 21 st century,with the increasing ecological crisis,the increasingly severe contradiction between human and non-human nature,as well as the superimposed influence of the theoretical and practical context of "material turn" and other comprehensive factors,ecoccritical also ushered in the trend and tide of "material turn".This dissertation takes the human and non-human natural material agents involved in ecocriticism "material turn" theory as the research object.This dissertation analyzes the "material turn" of ecocriticism from four dimensions: the mechanism of the "material turn" of ecocriticism,the agency of non-human natural material and its representation and practice in literature,the commonality of human and non-human natural material,and the theoretical construction of material ecological poetics.The exploration of the mechanism of "material turn" theory of Ecocriticism cannot be separated from the "presence" of "non-human natural material" in several development waves of ecocriticism.Ecocriticism has experienced from the subjective expression and objective representation of non-human natural matter in the early ecocentric criticism,to the expression of the just relationship between non-human natural matter and human society in the stage of environmental justice ecocriticism,and to the comprehensive exploration of material experience in the stage of global and trans-cultural ecocriticism,ushering in the fourth wave of ecocriticism,"material turn".The "material turn" of Ecocriticism not only inherits and focuses on the "non-human natural material" factors in the development waves of ecocriticism,but also responds to the possibility of realizing the equal interconnection and ecological coexistence of human and non-human nature by exploring the relationship between human and non-human nature through the research of non-human natural material in the period of ecocriticism."Agency" is the core concept of traditional humanism to distinguish human and non-human natural material.Inspired by the ideas of material agency such as new materialism and ecological postmodernism,the theory of "material turn" of ecocriticism actively advocates the idea that non-human natural material has it’s agency.Serenella Iovino,Serpil Oppermann,David Abrams,Jane Bennett and other researchers of material ecocriticism believe that material agency has various implications.The agency of non-human natural material is represented by the five characteristic dimensions of storied,narrative,textuality,eventness and performativity.These five agency characteristics are manifested in the text practice of ecological literature,which interweave and connect with each other,making the non-human natural material embodied in ecological literature,such as animals and plants,poisons and climate,have a dynamic narrative presentation of agency.The mutual proof of the commonality between human and non-human material has become the legitimate concern of ecocriticism "material turn".The "material commonality" of human and non-human nature means the co-existence of materiality,which is confirmed by the materiality of body,language,consciousness and so on.Human beings and the non-human natural material world are connected through the symbolized materialization phenomenon."Material-semiotic" representation has become an important form connecting the human-non-human material world,and has the characteristics of hybrid co-existence.To explore the material commonality of human and non-human nature and the connection between human and non-human nature is of positive significance to reconstruct the existence of the new relationship between human and non-human nature,and to establish the symbiotic relationship between human and non-human nature.The material commonality between human and non-human is characterized by three aspects: differentially intelligible,materialized commensurability and homogeneity isomorphism of affinity.The "material turn" of ecocriticism is influenced by the theoretical factors of ecopoetics,material poetics,the biosemiotic,Cultural ecology and so on.It further moves towards the construction of a kind of theoretical discourse of poetics and forms a possible paradigm of "material ecopoetics"."Material ecopoetics" has several theoretical dimensions,such as material-imagine-dialogue,material-vital-narration,material-affective-value,and shows the significance characteristics of material ecopoetics in the aspects of materiality,inter generative,dialogicality,confluent and naturalistic culture,which lays the foundation for the construction and interpretation of material ecopoetics theory.The "material turn" theory of ecocriticism not only absorbs and draws on the dynamic concepts of new materialism and post-ecological humanism externally,but also deepens and actively seeks the intrinsic connection between the "material turn" theory of ecocriticism and poetics and art,trying to promote the systemization of the theory of "material turn" of ecocriticism,thus deconstructing the world view of the binary opposition between human and non-human.It alleviates the contradiction between human and non-human natural material and contributes to the construction of a new ecology of harmonious coexistence between human and non-human nature.