On Eco-ethical Criticism Of Mo Yan's Works

As the 2012 Nobel Prize winner for lierature, Mo Yan has become one of the remarkable writers in China since New-era Literature, and his works have received tremendous study and criticism of scholars at home and abroad. Particularly in recent years,the researches on Mo Yan's works are soaring, while its perspectives are mostly focused on the ingenious narrative strategy, unique stylistic structure and creative style of his works.Owing to the increasing severity of the global ecological crisis and the emerging of the ecological criticism, the academia also began to pay close attention to the ecological ethics reflected in literary works. The combination of literary criticism and ecological ethical criticism becomes the new vitality of interpreting literary works, which endows literary works with new vitality as well. This essay aims to further explore the profound connotation of Mo Yan's works, and study the ecological ethics in his works through a close reading of the text. With a rather peculiar focus on the two representative works of his excellent novel, namely The Republic of Wine and Big Breasts and Wide Hips, this essay investigate on the vegetarian ecological feminism in the text from the perspective of the plot and character's analysis. The ecological ideas discussed in this essay will be furtherly radiated into Mo Yan's other works.According to the mutual relations between the subject and object in the oppressive structure, this essay will dig into the ecological consciousness implied in his works. To begin with the exploration of the vegetarian ecological views in Mo Yan's works from the angle of the relations between dietary objects and oppressive subjects, the essay will reveal the oppressive status of the non-human animals caused by human beings reflcted in the works as exemplified by The Republic of Wine,which presented a cruel panorama woven with abuses and slaughter for eating, as well as the denunciation of cruelty and compassionate awareness embedded in his works; Furthermore, in the case of the Big Breasts and Wide Hips, the ecofeminsm in his works will be discussed for demonstrating the relations between women and oppressive powers. The internal relationship between female and nature is embodied by their inner affinity and homogeneity of their oppressed conditions, and both of the female and nature's oppressed status in the male dominated society described in his works are significant embodiment of Mo Yan's ecofeminist ideas.Also the study of the oppressed conditions of the otherness in his works is of crucial importance in eco-ethical criticism, which reflects Mo Yan's ultimate humanistic concerns.From the exploration of Mo Yan's works' ecofeminism, vegetarian ecofeminism as well as the the concerns for all of the Others in the oppressve structure, we can conclude that the eco-ethical ideas prevail in Mo Yan's works, which demonstrates Mo Yan's creative style and his humanistic concerns, which in turn is an indication of his works'powerful vitality.