Environment And Anxiety: John Ruskin In Ecological Perspective

Eco-criticism, as an integral part of culture studies, comes into the vision of Ruskinian scholars as Ruskin Studies abroad begins its cultural turn. Objectively speaking, John Ruskin, together with his environmental sensitivity and contributions to the environmental protection drive, deserves due attention in ecological studies though his environmental consciousness has by and large been ignored by common readers.By putting Ruskin's critical thoughts in an ecological perspective, this dissertation aims to show that Ruskin's environmental consciousness runs through his art criticism and social criticism, and shares affinities with 20th-century ecological criticism. What is more, this consciousness originated from a universal concern in the Victorian era, which was to rethink the relation between nature and civilization, and granted a new perspective of eco-criticism to the Victorian tradition of cultural criticism by endowing the concept of Culture with the considerations of mankind's relation to his environment. So it is undeniable that Ruskin's environmental concern, by its nature, represents the "cultural concern" of Victorian society in its social transformation period. The present dissertation consists of six parts.The Introduction provides a brief history of Ruskin Studies both at home and abroad, including the innovations of the present dissertation, and the rationale of choosing ecological criticism as its research perspective. It points out that the present-day China, which still undergoes its modernization and urbanization, also witnesses similar environmental concerns and anxieties as the 19th-century England did. What is more, it also faces the challenge of how to restructure itself into an ecological society. Thus, the research of the present dissertation could help us to reflect on the current condition of China by reviewing the "Condition of England" in the Victorian era.Chapter One seeks to show that Ruskin's environmental consciousness didn't appear out of the blue; instead, it stemmed from a universal concern in the Victorian era, which was to rethink the relation between nature and civilization. But it differentiated itself from the latter because it concerned not only the natural environment but also the urban environment. Thus Ruskin's discussion of "Environment" was more comprehensive, and to a certain extent, more tallied with the eco-criticism nowadays.Chapter Two deals with' Ruskin's life experience and his environmental practices, which, in a certain sense, were closely related to his love of nature and his environmental consciousness. Together with Chapter One, this chapter attempts to prove that Ruskin's environmental concern is a product of his personal as well as social history.Chapter Three takes the classic aesthetic concept of "Picturesque" as the break-through to analyze the environmental consciousness in Ruskin's art criticism. By unveiling the "environmental truth" and the moral truth, Ruskin pointed out that the classic "Picturesque" is an aesthetic product of the "unnatural" culture in the Victorian era, which represented itself as the alienation between man and nature. Thus, he called for the painters to go back to "the landscapes" themselves, and to take their "environmental obligations" in the journey of "Re-enchantment". In addition, this chapter attempts to show that the environmental concern in Ruskin's art criticism is actually a reflection of his concern over the "unnatural" culture at that time.By discussing Ruskin's environmental sensitivity, Chapter Four argues that it is the above-mentioned sensitivity that urges Ruskin to extend his art concern to social concern, in which he hoped to analyze modern people's discomforts and uneasiness in the process of urbanization from the perspective of environmental problems. As a matter of fact, he thought the pollution and defilement of that time was not simply environmental issues; instead, the "environmental disorder" exhibited the "cultural disorder" in the Victorian era. To solve those problems, as a recommendation, Ruskin suggested that the pattern of economy and the concept of "wealth" should be changed since the disease of "illth" plays the largest role in shaping the "cultural disorder" and its by-product—the environmental problems. In general, this chapter echoes the third chapter to further dwell on this argument:the environmental concern in Ruskin's social criticism is actually a representation of his cultural concern, which is an integral part of 19th-century Modernization.The Conclusion of the dissertation points out that Ruskin, both in his art criticism and social criticism, further directed and developed his discussion of "Environment" to his criticism of the 19th-century Victorian Culture, whose "unnatural" and disorderly tendency was his object of analysis and condemnation. Therefore, Ruskin's environmental consciousness remains as an integral part of his view of Culture, and should be understood with reference to the tradition of cultural criticism in the 19th century. Finally, it is concluded that Ruskin's environmental consciousness, together with Thomas Carlyle and William Morris'environmental concern, grants a new perspective to the Victorian tradition of cultural criticism. This perspective not only corresponds to the universal concern in that era, but it also endows the concept of Culture with the considerations of mankind's relation with his environment. So it is undeniable that Ruskin's environmental concern, by its nature, represents the "cultural concern" of the Victorian society in its social transformation period.