Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur as Early American Natural History Writer

克瑞弗克爾：一位早期的美國自然史作家

《Tamkang Review》 37卷4期 (2007/10) Pp. 129-149

https://doi.org/10.6184/TKR.200710_37(4).0004

摘要

在美國十八世紀末與十九世紀初這個世紀交替的時空下，克瑞弗克爾廣被認為是最負盛名的作家之一，他的代表作《來自一位美國農夫的書信》在十九世紀末問世後深受歡迎。在二十世紀以降的美國文學選集中，大多數的批評家選擇收錄《來自一位美國農夫的書信》裡的第三封信─〈何謂美國人〉，藉由此信將克瑞弗克爾定位為一個歌頌美國繁榮前景、探討美國性、以及定義美國民族性格的愛國作家。本文完全不同上述解讀。此文試圖指出，克瑞弗克爾不只是一位定義美國人這個「新人類」的愛國作家，他其實更是一位自然史作家，而他的作品乃是典型的自然史文本。透過其自然史書寫，克瑞弗克爾不但為美國的大地風貌及物種做了詳實的觀察與紀錄，同時亦呈現了他對自然萬物的肯定與關切態度，進而為美國引進一套早期的生態思維與環境關懷意識。

關鍵字

克瑞弗克爾 ； 自然史書寫 ； 生態思維 ； 環境關懷 ； 美國早期自然史作家

並列摘要

Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur (1735–1813) is an eighteenth-century American writer who is famous for his Letters from an American Farmer and Sketches of Eighteenth-Century America: More Letters from an American Farmer . In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, most critics regard Crèvecoeur as a patriotic and national writer because his writings frequently celebrate American freedom and prosperity and vehemently portray America as the true Paradise and the American as a veritable Adam. Completely different from the readings of most critics, this essay will focus its emphasis on Crèvecoeur's effectiveness as a natural history writer. The aim of this paper is to establish Crèvecoeur as a natural history writer and to point out that through his natural historical discourse, Crèvecoeur celebrates his kinship with nonhuman nature and advocates environmental concern, thereby introducing a pattern of ecological thinking and proto-ecological sensibility in American culture. In this way, this essay hopes to refer the readers interested in an alternative view to the writings of Crèvecoeur.

並列關鍵字

Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur ； natural history writing ； ecological thinking ； environmental concern ； early American natural history writer

參考文獻

Baym, Nina(eds.)(2003).The Norton Anthology of American Literature.New York:Norton.

Branch, Michael P.,John Elder. (Ed.)(1996).American Nature Writers.New York:Scribner's.

Branch, Michael P.(ed.)(2004).Reading the Roots: American Nature Writing before Walden.Athens:U of Georgia P.

Castillo, Susan,Ivy Schweitzer(eds.)(2001).The Literatures of Colonial America: An Anthology.Maiden:Blackwell.

Crèvecoeur, Hector St. John de.(1963).Letters from an American Farmer and Sketches of Eighteenth-Century America: More Letters from an American Farmer.New York:The New American Library.