A Study Of Nature-text In Gary Snyder's Writings

With nature being the center of gravity in his life,Gary Snyder is devoted to the study of ecological issues about the relationship between man and nature,the focus theme of his works.Nature for him,for one thing,is a social construction in that the concept of nature is a cultural projection shaped upon human cognition and social values.For another,nature per se is an objective reality as the natural world is one that is composed of signs,characterized by textuality.In Snyder's writings,nature is semioticized and textualized,by which he forms his idea of nature.This work takes ecosemiotics proposed by Kalevi Kull and other ecosemioticians as the theoretical foundation.On the basis of the semiotic definition of the relevant concepts pertaining to “nature-text” in Snyder's work,it aims to examine the “nature-text” in Snyder's writings respectively from the semantical,syntactical,and pragmatical dimensions.“Nature-text” within this context refers to two parties interwoven by meaning relations,namely Snyder's literary text about nature,and the natural text presented in his work.The major investigation of the work will be done from the dynamic relations between nature and text,as well as between culture and nature reflected in Snyder's seminal works.Snyder's idea of texts and signs will be discussed so as to reveal his idea of nature.Rooted in Peircean semiotics,Kull's ecosemiotic theory is mainly concerned with the semiotics of relationships between nature and culture.Ecosemiotics is the study of nature's meaning for man from the perspective of semantics,of nature's structure and classification from the syntactical dimension,and of man's participation in nature from the pragmatical perspective.Snyder has barely been influenced by any theory of signs.He,however,perceives nature to be a textual world and contends that the natural world is replete with signs and texts.His view on signs,in a way,coincides with Peirce's pansemiotic view of nature,which has become the fundamental prerequisite for this work to take semiotics as a theoretical method.In terms of semantic dimension,the dissertation maintains that the natural text and the literary text about nature are mutually reflected.Snyder highlights the signifying function of the natural text and sees the textuality of nature as the premise of interaction and communication conducted between human and nature.The natural text tells the story and records the history of the natural world,and even maps the history of mankind.As a poet,Snyder then acts as the interpreter and translator of the natural text.By virtue of literary iconicity,he reproduces the objective natural world in his literary text,conveying the voice from the wild nature.Syntactically,Snyder's trackable publication indicates a shift in his view of nature,and meanwhile,his written text embodies the multi-layered structure of nature.With the formation of his thought on Deep Ecology,his ideal nature transforms from “absolute virgin forest” into the “wild garden,” with the latter being characterized by harmonious coexistence between man and nature.On account of the process of different degrees of culturalization,nature is presented in different forms—first nature,second nature,and third nature.In his works,nature is incarnated in such mythical images as “Mountain Spirit;” nature develops into the “wild garden” because of human participation;after being depicted as landscape painting,nature is metamorphosed by Snyder from image of natural sign picture into a mimicry image via the arbitrary signs of poetic language and is ultimately presented in his ekphrastic poetry.Nature is,therefore,given different meanings and transformed into “different nature” due to the disparate sign processes.From the perspective of pragmatics,Snyder maintains that the interaction between culture and nature should be built on “place.” He regards “practice” as the way of the semiotic interaction in the hope of achieving a status of semiotic fitness,that is,“reinhabitation” in his terms.“Place” is a community of life composed of man and nature.Snyder calls on our human beings to know the place where we live,and to develop a sense of place and a sense of nativeness so that we can understand the interactions within the natural world and between man and nature.He considers “practice” as a way of bridging the gap between nature and humanity in that “practice,” including walking,dancing,singing,chanting,and poetry-making,functions as “interspecies communication”.It provides a channel for human beings to communicate with nonhuman beings.Furthermore,Snyder develops a posthumanist view of Panhumanism,articulating that nature is humanized,and all beings in the natural world are classified into the category of “people.” Hence,both voice and rights should be endowed for all beings.Reinhabitation,in Snyder's mind,means to rebuild the interconnections between people and nature and to restore culture.For Snyder,this is the telos of semiotic interaction.Snyder's work indicates a non-traditional view of nature-text by representing the intertwined meaning relations between written texts portraying nature and the natural text.His effort on the construction of a model of semiotic interaction between culture and nature suggests a new view of culture,that is,the establishment of what he calls “a culture of nature” or “nature-related cultures.” His understandings of both nature-text and culture coalesce to shape his unique idea of nature,which becomes one of the essential elements in his ecopoetics.It is hoped that the vision of “nature-text” discussed within this dissertation serves as one historic model for addressing the current environmental crisis and provides valuable ideas for cultural construction as well.