Welcome to Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art,

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art ›› 2015, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (3): 34-41.

• Modern and Contemporary Literary Theory and Criticism • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Human-Nature Relationship in the Pre-Cultural-Revolution 17-Year Literature

Wang Yu, Hong Liu
  

  1. the Department of Chinese, Xiamen University (Xiamen 361005, China)
  • Online:2015-05-25 Published:2015-07-10
  • About author:Wang Yu is a professor in the Department of Chinese, Xiamen University (Xiamen 361005, China), with main research focuses on gender studies and Chinese contemporary literature. Hong Liu is a graduate student in the Department of Chinese, Xiamen University(Xiamen 361005, China).

Abstract: The paper argues that the human-nature relationship in the literature of 17 pre-Cultural-Revolution years cannot be interpreted from the sole perspective of ecological ethics, but it should be examined together with the way and the knowledge background under which the relationship was represented. The relationship shows to be two-folded. On the one hand, man regards nature as "the other," when the consciousness of war culture is introduced in the field of man-nature relationship, taking nature as the target to be conquered through in spiritual and technological levels. One the other hand, nature becomes part of the constructive process of the two collectivist concepts of the motherland and the people, in which natural scenery becomes a symbol for the national image and functions to evoke the collective identification the people with the nation-state. The paper concludes that there is little reflection over the man-nature relationship in the process of modernity in the literature of the 17 pre-Cultural-Revolution years and little space is left for the independent value of nature with little representation of nature-in-itself.

Key words: the Pre-Cultural-Revolution Literature, man-Nature relationship, cultural logic