Ecocriticism Vision Of "wessex World

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) was a brilliant English novelist. By his excellent poems and novels, he had inherited the past and forged ahead in English literature. Hardy had constructed a unique world named"Wessex"in his famous"Character and Environment"series novels, which includes"Tess of the d'Urbervilles","Jude the Obscure"and some others. In these novels, Hardy had displayed us the transmutation of the ancient patriarchal society from pastorals to pastoral elegy on the background of the wave of the modern industrial civilization. Facing the ecological problems such as global warming, human beings are rethinking the relationship between themselves and nature. Through the perspective of Ecocriticism, this thesis is trying to make a reunderstand on the"Wessex world"and find the practical significance of Hardy′s harmonious and benevolent ecology.There are three parts in this thesis: an introduction, a text which includes three chapters, and a conclusion.Introduction: A general introduction of the research status of Thomas Hardy's Wessex novels, the origin and main points of Ecocriticism, and the feasibility and innovativeness of applying the theory of Ecocriticism to Hardy's novels.ChapterⅠ: A comparison between the unique territorial of Wessex and the"sense of place"of the Ecocriticism. Through the comparison, we can find the differences between the two, and clarify furtherly the status of Wessex novels in Hardy's work and even the English literature.ChapterⅡ: An analysis of the change of Wessex, which had invaded by the modern industrial civilization, with the theory of Lu Shuyuan (鲁枢元), a famous Chinese ecologist whose ecological trichotomy consists of natural ecology, social ecology, and spiritual ecology. Through the analysis, we can find that there is no harmony between human and nature, there is only indifference which is ever growing. So it is showed up to us the harm of modern industrial civilization to nature, society and mankind themselves. By the description of the change of Wessex, Hardy had expressed the criticism to the industrial civilization and the deeply attachment to the idyllic rural life.ChapterⅢ: A summary of Hardy's ecological thought which includes human should live in harmony with nature, and there should be a harmonious development in human's society. We will also analyze the causes of Hardy's ecological thought through his life experiences, the affects of English Romantic Literature, and the affects of those modern thoughts such as Darwin's Evolution, Schopenhauer's Voluntarism and so on. By comparing Hardy's ecology to some modern ecology, we will also point out the limitation of Hardy's ecology which was forged by some specific historical reasons.Conclusion: A summary of the content of the whole thesis . In the 21st century, facing ecological environment which has been suffered great damage, it has a great practical significance to set up some good ecological concepts and build a harmonious ecological environment by the reunderstanding of the ecological thought which is contained in Hardy's Wessex novels.