A Study Of You Are In The Highlands From The Ecocritical Perspective

Since the first endeavors in the literary world in the 1970 s, Zhang Wei has focused his creating energy on the poetic eulogy of the Earth, the retrospection of the agricultural civilization and the criticism of the modern industrial civilization. His ecological consciousness continues to permeate in the 2010 novel You are in the Highlands, which has won wide public acclaim for being a book of Nature, a century-old documentary of a nation, and a spiritual epic. Through the lens of ecocritical perspective, more specifically,the three parts of ecological criticism(Natural Ecological Criticism, Social Ecological Criticism and Psychological Ecological Criticism) put forward by Chinese ecological theorist Lu Shu yuan, this thesis aims to explore the ecological ideas in You are in the Highlands in aspects of nature, society and psyche.The first chapter is the introductory part which gives a literature review of the research background, the research status of related topics and the relevant theories. Then the second chapter mainly analyzes the description of the natural surroundings on the Jiao dong Peninsula, sketching of the animals and the characterization of women to highlight the author’s passion for Nature, abhorrence of the industrial civilization and exaltation of ideal human nature. The next chapter discusses the alienated urban city and the declining countryside to reveal the author’s anxiety and apprehension about the civilization.Meantime the representation of the tolerant attitude towards the traumatic history of the intellectuals’ in the days of the Revolution and the Cultural Revolution also verifies the author’s faith in idealism. The last chapter further dissects the struggling existential and spiritual states of the generation born in the 50 s so as to show Zhang’s own efforts and concerns about humanity.