Existential Predicament Of Contemporary Human Beings

Graham Swift is one of the most outstanding British writers in the 20th century. In his writing career, he put most of his enthusiasm into exploring history. He achieved prominence with Waterland since it was born, which was chosen as the best English novel in 1983 by the Guardian, and was short-listed for that year's Booker Prize. Waterland is considered as a masterpiece, which has received much publicity from critics. In the thesis, the theory of eco-criticism is utilized to analyze the three relations in the novel Waterland:between man and nature, between man and man or man and society, between man and himself. The thesis discloses the existential predicament that people living in the waterland of northeast of England are facing and warns the people who live in the civilized world the existential predicament.The thesis can be divided into five parts. Part one introduces Graham Swift and the novel Waterland, as well as the critical reviews on Graham Swift and Waterland both abroad and at home. At the same time, the theory of eco-criticism is mentioned in this part.Part Two mainly introduces the alienation of man from nature, that is, the crisis of natural ecology. After the Industrial Revolution, environment has been seriously polluted and ecology has been seriously destructed. In addition, human beings neglect the natural law and attempt to alter the nature. So they are sure to suffer the revenge of nature. Floods and flu always attack the waterland. Human beings have no power to conquer the nature.Part Three recounts the relationship between man and man or man and society in the novel. Because of serious crisis of natural ecology, the relationship between a man and another becomes indifferent. The vile practices, such as incest, jealousy and maltreatment of women exist in the waterland, especially in the Crick family and the Atkinson family. These vile practices show that the alienation of man from man or man from society appears. It is shown that natural ecological crisis leads to the crisis of social ecology.Part Four discusses the spiritual ecological crisis that appears in the novel. Because of the alienation of man from nature, the scene in the waterland is nearly "nothing". In the waterland, melancholy and self-murder are not unknown. Heavy drinking, madness and sudden violence are not uncommon. The destruction of natural ecology results in the imbalance of sensibility and rationality of human beings and makes human beings suffer the miserable separation of spirit and body. People have difficulty in achieving themselves, so they lose themselves in their lives. With the appearance of natural ecological crisis, the crisis of spiritual ecology comes into being. Part Five is the conclusion. This part reviews the eco-critical study of Swift's novel Waterland and discusses the contradiction between man and nature, man and man or man and society, man and himself in the novel. The thesis discloses that people who live in the waterland have difficulty in breaking away from predicament, through which Swift warns human beings to protect natural environment and get through the existential predicament.