An Analysis Of Landscape Reconstruction From Williams’ Memory Writing In Refuge

Terry Tempest Williams is not only a naturalist and educator,but also an outstanding contemporary American writer and Eco-feminist.Growing up in a Mormon family in Salt Lake City,Utah,Williams’ writing is rooted in the American West and filled with careful observation and deep reflection on nature and the pursuit of women’s freedom and rights.Her masterpiece,Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place is written under the guidance of such thoughts.Published in 1991,Refuge is hailed as a classic in American nature writing and an excellent autobiographical memoir as well,which combines two strands together: the natural history of Great Salt Lake and the process of Diane’s cancer.Through the two main lines,Williams reconstructs two diverse landscapes to heal herself.Based on the concept of landscape,this thesis takes memory as the starting point to elucidate Williams’ Refuge.The thesis is made up of three parts: the introduction,the main body and the conclusion.The introduction mainly presents a brief review of Williams and her work Refuge,as well as the domestic and foreign studies with comments on Refuge and then expounds in detail the concept of landscape.Finally,it further points out the research significance of this thesis.The body part includes three chapters.The second chapter retrospects three lost natural landscapes by virtue of Williams’ memory,including the destruction of Great Salt Lake,the birds encountered with dwindling species and near extinction in the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge,as well as women’s body landscapes constantly eroded by cancer.Then it explores reasons for the loss of the above-mentioned natural landscapes from three aspects: human,governmental and cultural factors in patriarchal society.Chapter Three analyzes the invisible landscape in the book,namely the cultural landscape through Williams’ memory.In the process of studying the landscape reconstruction on the temporal dimension,this section tries to integrate and elucidate the objective,collective and personal memories of the Great Salt Lake based on the geological,archaeological and biological relics,the mythological and religious stories,and sensory experiences respectively to reproduce the invisible landscapes and then to acquire the inspiration of accepting the changes of the human and nonhuman with calmness.Chapter Four shows that there are four solutions to seek out the way to reconstruct the natural and spiritual landscapes,which covers seeking beauty in nature and seeking refuge in change to reconstruct the natural landscape,and rediscovering the instinct of love to all creation and fighting for women’s rights to reconstruct the spiritual landscape.The thesis comes to the conclusion that Williams attempts to reconstruct the natural and cultural landscapes by using multiple memories.In this way,Williams appeals to humans to re-understand and re-experience nature and the land with their primitive bodily senses,re-establish the intimacy with the land,and rediscover the instinct of love so as to find the way to their spiritual home.This study not only helps to excavate Williams’ ecological thought and highlight the ecological value and literary value of her literary works,but also contributes to toll the bells of ecological crisis,awaken human ecological consciousness and provide a viable reference for human beings to explore the road of ecological civilization construction,which makes the concept of Eco-literary criticism authentically fit into human and social life.