Resacralization Of Nature: An Ecocritical Reading Of The Rainbow

D. H. Lawrence (David Herbert Lawrence, 1885-1930) is one of the greatest, yet at the same time one of the most controversial writers in the twentieth century. He is also an assiduous and a prolific writer, his literary corpus including novels, poetry, critical essays, prose works, travel notes, not to mention his bountiful personal correspondence. However, Lawrence is first and foremost a novelist, with his fame firmly established in his novels. Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love and Lady Chatterley's Lover have been regarded as classic works in the history of English literature. People's attitudes towards Lawrence and his works vary wildly, but his fame has been ever on the rise. Lawrence's attack upon industrial civilization is so fierce and keen that through his works the readers often perceive the morbidity in modern society. The Rainbow, Lawrence's longest novel, is regarded as an exemplary work by him, which presents a careful chronology of the progression of three generations of the Brangwens'family, with marital relationship as its central theme.The author of this dissertation attempts to explore The Rainbow through the angle of Ecocriticism. Ecocriticism as a critical approach belongs both to literary criticism and to culture study. It appeared in the late 1980s and later spread to other countries. During the 1990s it attracted many scholars'attention and became an important critical approach. Though it still remains a marginal school of criticism, its theoretical and practical orientation concerning environment (nature in general) has exerted great influence upon modern society. Ecocriticism borrows all forms of discourse from the current critical approaches as long as they can be fruitfully applied to discover the representation of nature and the cultural roots for ecological crisis. Ecocritics challenge the traditional anthropocentric vision and the mechanical logic of industrial civilization. They insist on the integrity of the whole ecosystem and the philosophical idea of"organic community".Lawrence keenly reflects upon the sharp changes in English society resulting from industrial revolution."Nature"is a marked label in The Rainbow. Due to the development of industrial civilization, however, nature has lost its beauty and glory; modern men have lost their glorious nature. Through an ecocritical reading of The Rainbow, this dissertation reveals Lawrence's attack upon environmental pollution and spirit pollution in industrial society. Lawrence also tries to preach a sacred world where man lives in harmony with the circumambient universe. His belief foretells the appearance of Ecocriticism and displays his insightful ecological awareness.This dissertation is composed of 6 chapters: Chapter One introduces Lawrence's philosophy of life and his high valuation of novel. Chapter Two conducts a brief literature review of The Rainbow and introduces the critical school of Ecocriticism. Chapter Three analyzes the poetical representation of nature in the novel. Nature embraces not only its beauty and divinity, but also a healing power for people's psychological wounds. Man, as a part of nature, should strive to live in harmony with the natural world. Chapter Four minutely decodes the dialectic between the development of consciousness and the exploration of relationships. The development of self-consciousness can help man establish his ontological existence and secure his individuality. Man, living in both nature and society, must seek to live in harmony with the natural world and other people. Chapter Five sums up Lawrence's ecological thought in The Rainbow. Lawrence challenges the traditional view of rationalism and anthropocentrism, and calls for a return to nature. He tries to explore man's ecological existence in both nature and the society. Only through a balanced relationship with nature, other people and one's self can man realize the ideal ecological existence and his individual being.Modern man must reconsider his relationship with nature and his traditional view about nature in the face of the deterioration of environment in order to propel the exploration of an ecological existence for mankind. Lawrence's insightful ecological thought manifested in The Rainbow remains especially significant for the people in twenty-first century.