Inter-subjectivity And Poetic In-habitation-An Interpretation Of Life Of Pi With Ecological Aesthetics

Yann Martel(1963—) is one of the most distinguished writers in Canadian literary circle. He wrote several literary works such as Self, Beatrice and Virgil and so on, and Life of Pi is his most successful novel. Since the novel was published in2001, it has got a roaring reputation. Life of Pi was awarded Man Booker Prize in2002 along with German National Book Prize and another four international honors.Besides, the novel was recommended as the best book of the year by New York Times. Life of Pi was adapted to the screen by Ang Lee as well in 2012, which started an upsurge of discussion again.Life of Pi tells a story about a young boy and a tiger in a boat drifting on sea for227 days. Domestic and foreign scholars interpret the novel from different perspectives such as humanity, growth, metaphor, ethics, religions, psychoanalysis,ecology, post-colonialism, and the relations between man and animals and so on.This thesis aims to interpret Life of Pi with inter-subjectivity and Heidegger’s poetic in-habitation in ecological aesthetics. The author tries to dissect the relations between man and society, man and self, and man and nature, exploring the harmony among nature, man and society.This thesis consists of five chapters.Chapter one briefly introduces Yann Martel’s literary achievements, the main plot of Life of Pi, literature review of the novel at home and abroad and the significance of this thesis.Chapter two interprets ecological aesthetics, mainly focusing on inter-subjectivity and Heidegger’s poetic in-habitation, which provides a new perspective for interpreting Life of Pi.Chapter three makes an analysis of inter-subjectivity embodied in the novel Life of Pi. It tries to reveal the inter-subjective relations between man and society, man and self, exploring imbalanced coexistence and harmonious coexistence between them.Chapter four explores poetic in-habitation embodied in the novel Life of Pi,attempting to dissect the relations between man and nature and pursue harmony and integrity between them.Chapter five draws a conclusion of this thesis and shows Yann Martel’s desire and wish for the harmony among nature, man and society, hoping to arouse mankind’s environmental consciousness so as to rebuild harmonious relations between man and nature.