A Study Of Thoreau's Prose From The Perspective Of Ecological Aesthetics

Henry David Thoreau(1817-1862)is a great writer,philosopher and political commentator in American history.In Western society,he is also acclaimed as "the first nature interpreter" and "the first environmental saint" in the 19th-century America.In Thoreau's brief life,he created many works such as Walden,The Maine Forest and a large number of diaries.Poetic,scientific and profound as his works are,they failed to arouse public attention in his lifetime since the inner aesthetic implications and the rich philosophical ideas embedded in these works went far beyond the era in which he lived.There is a gradual process of appreciation and understanding of Thoreau and his works.Thoreau devoted his life to closeness to nature and the wilderness practice with an unprecedentedly profound understanding of nature in the literary history of America.Since the 1960s,with the increasing deterioration of the environment,the research enthusiasm for Thoreau's thoughts on nature has been evoked in America and the image of "the green Thoreau" revived.From then on,Thoreau's unique view of nature and his ecological ideas came into people's sight and were regarded as the origin of American environmental awareness.In the mid-1990s,ecological aesthetics,a brand-new aesthetic theoretical paradigm,took its shape in China.This aesthetic theory,deriving from organic integration of ecology and aesthetics,immediately becomes a distinguished school and hot topic at home after its emergence.Overturning the traditional conception of anthropocentrism,ecological aesthetics extends the traditional aesthetic contemplation to the ecological aesthetic aspects,laying emphasis on a state of dynamic balance and harmonious coexistence between man and nature,man and society,and man and his own spirit.As a new type of philosophical response to the on-going deterioration of the ecological environment throughout the world,undoubtedly,ecological aesthetics provides an important thinking method and a totally new perspective and is bound to open up a new vista for further appreciation of Thoreau and his works.In recent years,the eco-critical study of Thoreau in China has chiefly centered on Walden,with other works rarely involved.There are fewer papers on the study of Thoreau from the perspective of ecological aesthetics and there still lacks a systematic study of his works.The current thesis covers some of the important works of Thoreau,including A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers,Walden,The Maine Woods,Cape Cod,Wild Fruits,Autumnal Tints,Walking,A Walk to Wachusetts and Thoreau 's Diaries.By exploring the ecological aesthetic implications of Thoreau's works through close textual reading,the thesis aims at enriching the study of Thoreau's ecological thoughts,seeking the new methods of literary criticism and providing cultural references and theoretical enlightenment for the construction of an ecological civilization and a harmonious society.This thesis consists of four chapters.Chapter One outlines ecological aesthetics and introduces its research objects,principles,background,development,theoretical breakthrough and significance.The following three chapters make up the body of the thesis and try to elaborate the ecological aesthetic implications in Thoreau's prose in accordance with the three dimensions of the ecological aesthetic contemplation under dialectical thinking of the unity of opposites.Chapter Two dwells on natural ecology in Thoreau's prose in three aspects,namely the existence of the grand beauty of nature,the beauty of the natural images and the harmonious beauty of complementation and coexistence.Chapter Three focuses on social ecology in Thoreau's prose by analyzing the contradictions between seclusion and secularity,conflicts and balance.Chapter Four probes into spiritual ecology in Thoreau's prose,involving the issues of gain and loss,sublime and sinking,truth and clarification,and so forth.Furthermore,this part analyses Thoreau's unique phenomenological modes in pursuit of ultimate truth in the methodology of ecological aesthetics.The concluding part lays emphasis on the significance of the study of Thoreau and his works from the perspective of ecological aesthetics.That is,such a study can enhance the in-depth excavation on the aesthetic implications of literature and ecology in Thoreau's works.Besides,it is of great practical significance for us to improve individual cultivation and maintain the ecological balance,and the like.The thesis points out the fact that there exists a hidden red line which runs through the ecological aesthetic interpretation of Thoreau's works,namely an organic combination of Thoreau's innate affinity with truth and the unity of knowledge and action.Last but not the least,the thesis holds that with traditional Chinese culture,which is rich in ecological aesthetic implications,as the background,ecological aesthetics,both in theory and in practice,will make great progress in the future to come.