A Study On The Ecological Thought Of Refuge:An Unnatural History Of Family And Place From The Perspective Of Ecological Marxism

Terry Tempest Williams(1955--)is a famous American naturalist and writer of natural literature whose writings convey a strong sense of ecological consciousness with her ecological propositions being distinctive.Her books are full of her careful observations and deep reflections on her life and the earth's environment.The anti-nuclear and environmental movements that flourished in the United States during the 1960 s have also left their mark on her works.Published in 1991,Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place is her best-selling and most influential novel.The book's contents include the presentation of the living conditions of animals in the wild wetlands of the western United States,the recording of the cancer trauma suffered by women in her family as well as friends and the description and expression of the resurrection of the human spirit when people seek spiritual comfort in Nature.The Ecological Marxist thought in the text has a distinct practical significance,which conveys the author's understanding of the relationship between man and Nature as well as her innovation in the way of expression in the novel.At present,domestic and foreign scholars' research on this work mainly focuses on the following aspects: Land ethics,Ecological criticism,Prototype criticism theory,Eco-feminism,Material feminism genre method,and Dichotomy.However,there are no papers or works on the analysis from the perspective of Ecological Marxism.Based on Herbert Marcuse's Ecological Marxism,this thesis takes the Alienation of Science and Technology in Capitalism,the Alienation of Capitalist Consumption,the Alienation of Capitalist Art,and Eros Liberation theory as the starting point to interpret Refuge.There are six chapters in this thesis.Chapter one mainly introduces Williams' s literary achievements and the contents of her Refuge,as well as the domestic and foreign studies with comments on Refuge and further points out the research significance of this thesis.Revealing that the capitalist system is the essential cause of the ecological crisis and arousing public's awareness in protecting the environment and personal health.As well as finding solutions to the environmental crisis while exploring the literary value of Refuge in the treatment of psychological trauma to cancer patients and their family members.Chapter two is the theoretical foundation of this thesis,which expounds in detail the“weak anthropocentrism” emphasized by Ecological Marxism,the “One-dimensional society”and “Eros Liberation Theory” in Marcuse's Ecological Marxism.Ecological Marxism opposes both the narrow utilitarianism of traditional anthropocentrism and Eco-centrism.It believes that anthropocentrism cannot be surmountable and advocates a more scientific “weak anthropocentrism”.The developed capitalist industrial society is an excessively totalitarian one-dimensional society due to the alienation of capitalist technology,unyielding consumption and art.Marcuse advocated the establishment of a non-repressive civilization with the dual liberation of man and Nature and the realization of harmonious coexistence between man and Nature.Chapter three mainly analyzes Williams' s “humanistic” ecological view from the perspective of Ecological Marxism.Firstly,Williams believes that life is full of economic and aesthetic value,and advocates that human beings should protect biodiversity and rationally exploit and utilize Nature.Secondly,Williams expressed a strong accusation against the capitalist society.She believed that the bourgeois' pursuit of surplus value was the root cause of ecological problems.By analyzing the new forms of social control such as alienated technology under the supervision of instrumental rationality,the loss of social criticism,and the discourse right of being comprehensively managed,she identified the social problems behind the ecological issues.Chapter four mainly discusses the natural ecological crisis,social-ecological crisis,and spiritual crisis in Refuge.She describes that the misbehavior of the public is primarily due to the influence of the prevailing cultural concepts of “controlling Nature”,alienated consumption,the overuse of capitalist technologies,the over-development of nuclear weapons,the transformation of capitalist contradictions into ecological crises,etc.The alienation of science and technology,art,and consumption in capitalism leads to the antagonism between man and Nature,which not only brings destructive disasters to the natural environment,but also threatens the living situation of human beings and influences the health of human beings.Chapter five focuses on people's active exploration of ecological regression in Refuge.It demonstrates the dialectical relationship between the dual liberation of man and Nature,and describes the awakening of human environmental consciousness.People's attitude changedfrom aggressive anthropocentrism to love and pity for life.Once they realized the importance of the harmonious relationship between man and Nature,they could finally returned to the big family of Nature through repentance and redemption.This is the progress of the understanding of ecological problems and the quality of human nature.Based on the above research,the conclusion points out that Ecological Marxism maintains persuasive explanatory power on Williams' s Refuge.Ecological Marxism not only helps to excavate Williams' s ecological thought and highlight the ecological value and literary value of her literary works,but also provides more powerful theoretical resources for the development of ecological literary criticism,enables people to pay more attention to ecological problems at the level of social system,production technology,and consumption mode,and makes the concept of Eco-literary criticism rooted in human and social life.This study helps to sound the alarm of ecological crisis,expose the darkness of capitalist social system,reveal the human nature conflicts under the industrial civilization,and awaken human ecological consciousness.It also provides a precious reference for human beings to explore the road of ecological civilization construction.