Ecological SELF And The Construction Of Ecocriticism

Since its birth in1978, ecocriticism has witnessed wide and deep development. This dissertation is based on the following three concerns: the current weak ecocritcal theoretical basis; the plight faced by Deep Ecology; and a reflection on the altered ways of modern spatial and temporal perception. This dissertation takes Ecological SELF as the theoretical foundation to analyse the common theoretical pattern of four representative American ecocritics, draws on the related research findings from ecological psychoanalysis, literary rhetoric, and adopts a methodology of close reading. My dissertation will attempt to trace the relationship between Ecological SELF and ecocriticism, is particularly concerned with the influence of Ecological SELF on ecocriticism, trying to prove that Ecological SELF can be a solid philosophical basis for integrating the current confusing themes in ecocriticism and promoting the wholesome development of ecocrticism. On the other hand, this dissertation also intends to enrich and deepen the concept of the Ecological SELF of Deep Ecology by incorporating some sound elements from ecocriticcal practice. The first chapter discusses the working definition of Ecological SELF which stems from Deep Ecology. It was first proposed by Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess in1973. Ecological SELF intends to transcend individual self, and reaches a greater self realm which can accommodate the whole Universe. After that, many other deep ecologists develop and revise the concept of Ecological SELF. This dissertation holds that Ecological SELF is a paradigm of identification between self and others which includes "the other" in both nature and society. Ecological SELF should reach both depth and width in its identification, i.e. to be both "near-sighted" and "far-sighted". Thus, Ecological SELF also has close connections with Feng Yu-Lan’s "conceptual realm of life", Maslow’s "Self-realization theory" and Tu Wei-ming’s "concentric mode of identicication". Authentic Ecological SELF should present itself in the width, depth and heights of identification.Chapter two tries to trace the idea of Ecological SELF in American ecocritic Scott Slovic’s Seeking Awareness in American Nature Writing, whose theme is that nature writers are not merely or even primarily, analysts of nature or appreciators nature. Rather, they are students of the human mind, literary psychologists, concerned with the phenomenon of "awareness" which is presented in the unique narrative of nature writing. This chapter intends to abstract the connotation of Ecological SELF from this "awareness":Intense awareness of the existence of the other.The third chapter concentrates on the mode of Ecological SELF in the ecocritical trilogy by American ecocritic Lawrence Buell:The Environmental Imagination, Writing for an Endangered World and The Future of Environmental Criticism. In the trilogy, Buell proposes Aesthetics of Relinquishment, Watershed Aesthetics, five dimensional spatiotemporal phenomenology of place-attachment; strives to extend the objects of identification, and meditates the schism between ecocentricism and anthropocentricism. Buell’s ecocriticism points to the width and dynamic nature of Ecological identification.The fourth chapter focuses on American ecocritic Ian Marshall. This dissertation holds that Marshall consciously analyzes the personality traits presented by self-realizing people of Ecological SELF. In his Peak Experiences, Marshall adopts psychologist A. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory and his later years’ theory to read nature writings, maintaining that nature plays an important role in self-realization. Through such self-realizing moments, or Haiku moments, Marshall analyzes and summarizes some qualitative traits of Ecological SELF: spatiotemporal transcendentality, gratitude spirit and the beginner’s mind.The fifth chapter analyzes ecocosmopolitanism proposed by American ecocritic Ursula K. Heise. Heise crtitically reviewed the traditional pastoralism and wilderness ideology in the new context of globosity and multiculturalism. Based on this criticism of the old paradigm of place-attachment, Heise proposes a new paradigm of place-attachment:"ecocosmopolitanism" which was derived from analyzing some modern forms of art other than the traditional nature writing:modern scientific novels, documentary and installment art etc. These texts utilize some modernistic cinemanic techniques like zooming, collage, montage and fragmentation. Ecocosmopolitanism is a new place-attachment mode in the new global context. It is a bolder version of thought experiment based on Buell’s five dimensions of place-attachment. This thought experiment points to the infinity of identification, and the quality of far-sightedness of Ecological SELF.The conclusion proposes that the future of interaction between ecocriticism and Ecological SELF is promising. Ecological SELF will highlight the theme of ecocritism, strenghthen its therotical base, and at the same time deepen the research on the Ecological SELF of Deep Ecology. Both Ecocriticism and Ecological SELF will integrate this effort to pursue the highest realm of human nature, to name a new self through ecological discourse, to construct a maturer self. Hopefully, a more profound and sensible solution out of ecological crisis will be found.