| Richard Powers is a remarkable modern American novelist.Powers has published a total of twelve novels,winning many literary awards,including the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.His 12 th novel The Overstory has won wide acclaim since its publication.It is the winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for fiction,shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize,and also New York Times Bestseller.The Overstory revolves around nine characters from different backgrounds and their various efforts to save trees.For saving trees,the characters become radicalized,willing to put themselves at risk and even give their lives to save the few remaining patches of old forest in the USA.In The Overstory,tree writing persists as a major theme.Powers’ tree writing not only reflects the natural environment of the United States in the 20 th century,but also has profound significance to Powers’ understanding and expression of the relationship between the world and humans.This thesis will adopt ecocriticism to analyze the tree writing in the novel,to demonstrate Powers’ unique perspective on the relationship between trees,humans and the world in the novel,and to further elaborate how Powers’ view of eco-cosmopolitanism are reflected in The Overstory.This thesis consists of five parts.In the first part,there is a general introduction to Richard Powers and his work The Overstory,as well as a summary and comment on the studies of Powers’ novel at home and abroad,followed by a brief introduction on ecocriticism and eco-cosmopolitanism in the field of literary criticism.The second to fourth part is the discussion part of the thesis.There are three chapters in this part.Chapter one focuses on the spatial-temporal dimension of tree writing.It employs the ideas of “translocality” and “space-time compression” in eco-cosmopolitanism to discuss the temporal and spatial bonds between trees and characters.Thus it demonstrates that tree writing transcends time and space,and unites nine characterstogether to make joint efforts to protect trees.Chapter two focuses on the cultural dimension of tree writing.It employs the idea of “post-ethnic” in eco-cosmopolitanism to analyze two main characters Mimi Ma’s and Neelay Mehta’s ethnic identity crisis and sufferings.Thus it demonstrates that tree writing transcends cultural boundaries.Chapter three focuses on the eco-logical dimension of tree writing.It concentrates on the question of who is the center of the world-humans or non-humans? It employs the ideas of “environmental justice” and “more-than-human world” in eco-cosmopolitanism to discuss the interdependency between the chestnut trees and the Hoel family,and the tree code names of the five protesters in the novel.Thus it demonstrates that Powers’ tree writing transcends species.The last part is a comprehensive conclusion of the thesis.This thesis utilizes the core ideas of eco-cosmopolitanism to discuss Powers’ tree writing from three dimensions: the spatial-temporal dimension,the cultural dimension,and the eco-logical dimension.Arguing that the tree writing in the novel has transcended time,space,cultural boundaries,and species.The tree writing has profound significance to both Powers and the readers.It not only influenced the characters in the novel,but also inspired every reader outside the novel to raise their environmental awareness. |
