Key words: ecofeminism, patriarchy, marginalized groups, harmonious coexistence
摘要
《野草在歌唱》作为莱辛的处女作,在1950年一经问世便引起广泛关注,为莱辛在当代文坛的地位奠定了 坚实的基础。小说主要描绘了二十世纪中期英国殖民统治下的南非大陆,展现了白人殖民者对非洲自然环境的破坏,对女性的压迫以及种族歧视等内容。本文主要从生态女性主义角度对《野草在歌唱》进行解读,从而揭示小说中作者对人类与自然、男性与女性以及种族问题的思考。
论文主要由五部分构成:第一部分是引言部分,主要介绍莱辛的生平和文学作品、《野草在歌唱》的主要内容以及其他学者对这本小说的文学评论。第二部分主要介绍了生态女性主义的主要理论观点。第三部分主要分析在父权制下人类对自然的掠夺和男性对女性的压迫。第四部分进一步揭示自然和女性对父权制的反抗。最后一部分是结论,指出在父权制思想统治下的非洲,白人殖民者破坏生态平衡以及压迫女性等问题。
小说中展现的悲剧引发了人们对当今人类的思文模式、生活方式等问题的深刻的思考,呼吁人们保持社会的和谐和可持续发展。
关键字:生态女性主义,父权,边缘群体,和谐相处
1 Introduction
Doris Lessing, one of the most distinguished contemporary British writers in 20th century, is regard as one of the most prominent female writers in the world after Virginia Woolf. She has got the nominations for Nobel Prize several times and a number of world-class prizes for literature. Finally, Lessing became the 11th woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature on October 11, 2007 when she was at the age of 88. The Times,in 2008,ranked her the fifth on a list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.
1.1 Doris Lessing’ Life
Doris Lessing was born in an official family in a British colony, “Persia” (now Iran) on October 22, 1919. When Lessing was 6 years old, she and her family moved to the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), with the encouragement of cultivating trend. But her family lived a poor life for years. Though Doris Lessing’s life condition was tough, the experience in South Africa had a great influence on her, which is not only beneficial on the accumulation of her writing sources, but also helpful on the formation of her mind of independence. Just as what Jean Pickering states (1990:35) that Lessing’s living environment makes herself be aware of her marginality—the marginality of the observer, a status she has always deliberately maintained, refusing to be grouped to any group or collective for long. And he proposes that it is the marginal status of Lessing that has made her a central figure in contemporary British literature. Lessing experienced an unhappy childhood in South Africa, which had a huge effect on her later writing and could be seen in the scene depicted in her first novel The Grass Is Singing.
1.2 The Content of The Grass Is Singing
As Doris Lessing’s first novel, The Grass Is Singing produced an immediate sensation in the world as soon as it was published in 1950. This novel sets in the middle of 20th century’s South Africa, which is under the colonial rule of Britain. It begins with a newspaper article about the death of Mary Turner. It says that Mary Turner, a white woman, was killed by her black servant Moses for money. And Lessing uses the third-person-angle to describe the society’s attitude and comments on Mary’s death. Then the plot of the novel shifts to a flashback of Mary Turner's past life up to her murder at the hand of Moses. Before Mary was in her thirties, she lived a happy and satisfied life as a single white woman. She had a good job, a lot of friends, and valued her independence. She regarded herself as a professional woman and did not want to get married. Nevertheless, after overhearing some insulting gossips about her spinsterhood at a party, she decided to marry. After a brief courtship, she married a white farmer, Dick Turner, who was struggling to make his farm profitable. Soon Mary moved to live with Dick in his farm and help to support the family. Dick and Mary were somewhat cold and distant from each other but committed to their marriage. Because of Dick’s incompetent farming practice, they lived a poor life. Thus Dick refused to give Mary a child and they did not attend any social events. Mary felt more and more frustrated. The worker, named Moses, became a very important person in Mary's life when he was a servant for the house. On one hand, Mary reserved a great deal of disgust, and avoidance for Moses. On the other hand, she has an ambiguous love relationship with him. However, this relationship doomed to be a tragedy. At the end of the book, realizing their relationship was found by a new comer, tony, Moses killed Mary. 生态女性主义视角探析多丽丝莱辛的《野草在歌唱》(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_11593.html