Mary Austen's Desert Writing In The Female Nature Literature Tradition

Mary Hunter Austin(1868-1934),as one of the representatives of early women nature writers,showed the ―beauty of American southwestern desert‖ in her master book The Land of Little Rain(1903),revealed the wisdom and power of all life on the land.This thesis focuses on Austin‘s magnum opus,and analyzes her writing under the tradition of women‘s nature writing,combining the post pastoral theory and the ecofeminism.It is a study of her contradictory writing,and probes into her dualistic and unified ecological view.Traditional literary criticisms tend to emphasize the influence and deficiency of the writer‘s gender on her writing in the mainstream tradition,whereas the breakthrough and achievement under the bondage of gender is overlooked.Based on the natural writing tradition of 19 th century female writers,this paper explores the writing characteristics of female writers,and explores the inheritance and innovation of Austin‘s work.During the tradition of American nature wrting,women writers have been neglected for a long time.In recent years,a group of outstanding women nature writers in the 19 th century got rediscovery.Although they observed nature in different places and ways,they showed a common writing tendency,that is to say,their works generally have three characteristics: idyllic natural scenery,moralized natural concept and graceful natural aesthetic.Like these female writers,Austin pursues the ―harmony‖between human and nature.However,the extreme geographical environment of the southwest desert and the native culture of the Indians stand between Austin and―Unity‖.Therefore,in the integration of the vitality and death of the desert,the objectivity and romance of writing,the propaganda and colonization of culture,Austin needs to solve the different problems in her writing.As a result,she presents a contradiction in writing.Based on the summary and analysis of the nature writing tradition of American women in the 19 th century and Austin‘s contradictory writing,this paper proposes that Austin‘s nature writing has a dualistic and unified ecological view.On the one hand,the writer brings ugly aesthetics into the construction of desert aesthetics,and promotes people‘s understanding and protection of the real nature in the aesthetics of inclusiveness and diversity.On the other hand,the writer combines wilderness nature with idyllic ideal,and realizes that desert is not only natural,but also has certain sociality.To realize these dualistic intermeshed relationships and to place the humanity in the right position in regard to nature can help us to live harmony with nature and find the solution to environmental problems.