论沼泽龙:烂泥、大都市及生态批评的未来

Of Swamp Dragons:Mud,Megalopolis,and a Future for Eco-criticism

美国环境论建立在荒野保护和从城市回归田园的传统基础上,因而尚未顾及保护那些已经被污染的工业和后工业空间。这一弱点也是美国生态批评前20年的重要特征。生态批评家倾向于偏爱那些关于荒野的文本及其治愈现代性弊端的力量,但这样做的话,就意味着将受到了生态损害却又不如荒野景观壮观的城郊和城市环境搁置一旁。这一批评范式鼓励了批评家把我们当做纯洁和正义的仲裁者,而不是伤痕累累的大地上的子民。沼泽龙是一个典型的不洁、混合物和道德混淆形象,本文将通过对它进行研究来阐释上述问题。本文仔细研究了两个当代文本,即苏珊.格里芬的《女人与自然:她心中的咆哮》和罗伯特.沙利文的《牧草地:城市边缘的荒野历险》,旨在辨明一些新的术语,让我们能够学会适应工业污染及其对土地、水和文学的影响。

American environmentalism is based on a tradition of wilderness preservation and pastoral retreat from cities.It is therefore unprepared to defend industrial and post-industrial spaces that have already been polluted.This weakness characterizes the first two decades of American eco-criticism as well.Eco-critics tend to privilege texts about wilderness and its power to heal the ill effects of modernity,but in doing so,cast aside suburban and urban environments that are ecologically compromised and less sublime than wilderness landscapes.This critical paradigm encourages critics to think of ourselves as arbiters of purity and righteousness,rather than as citizens of wounded lands.I address this problem through an exploration of the swamp dragon as a figure of impurity,mixture,and ethical ambiguity.I examine two contemporary texts—Susan Griffin＇s Woman and Nature： The Roaring Inside Her and Robert Sullivan＇s The Meadowlands： Wilderness Adventure at the Edge of a City—to discern new terms for living with industrial pollution and its effects on land,water,and literature.