Nature,Post-Pastoral And Self

John Fowles once said that the cornerstone of his fiction lied in his relationship with nature.With ecocriticism and Terry Gifford’s analysis of the pastoral as the theoretical framework,this thesis attempts to analyze the relationship of wild nature and one’s inner self in The French Lieutenant’s Woman and explores the author’s views on the relationships between human and nature,human and society,human and him/herself.This thesis is divided into three chapters.The first chapter analyzes the author’s own life experience and explores Fowles’s general views on nature by introducing and reviewing his non-fictional works such as The Aristos(1968)and The Tree(1979).This chapter aims to point out how Fowles’s views on nature influenced the creation of The French Lieutenant Woman and how nature is presented in the novel.The second chapter examines the conflict between wild nature and one’s self experienced by the male protagonist Charles Smithson,specifically before his entrance into the symbolic Undercliff.It also shows how Fowles opposes the idealized vision of the pastoral,instead he reveals the harsh reality of rural laborers to shatter the illusion of the pastoral.Through a post-pastoral reflection,the third chapter recognizes the novel’s commitment to revealing the power of nature and its revelation to the development of one’s inner self.By analyzing the relationships among Sarah Woodruff,Charles Smithson and nature,Fowles demonstrates a desire for a harmonious coexistence between human and nature.The thesis points out that on the whole The French Lieutenant ’s Woman is in Gifford’s definition a post-pastoral novel.Fowles’ view of nature is not idealistic,nor is it overly pessimistic.What the novel expresses is the hope that man and nature could form a benign interaction to achieve mutual support,thus realizing the unity and harmony between nature and him/herself.