『나의 안토니아』의 자연과 노동 그리고 생태비평: 목가적 자연의 한계와 본질적 노동의 가능성

Abstract

One of the unique features in Willa Cather’s My Ántonia lies in its frequent dramatic portrayals and descriptions of nature, such as pastoral landscapes, changes of season, and agricultural scenery. Therefore, nature itself as the surrounding material and physical world has been regarded as one of the main characters including Ántonia Shimerdas and Jim Burden in the novel. The dramatic representation of nature is mainly delivered from the eyes of Jim Burden, the sole narrator of the novel. However, it seems that the critical appraisal of rampant descriptions and portrayals of nature in My Ántonia should be bound to beget dissatisfaction because Jim’s portrayals and descriptions of nature are contradictorily fragmented and dissociative without directionality and intrinsic interconnection presiding over themselves. In this article, the principal culprit of Jim’s problematic representation of nature is to be attributed to his pastoral recognition of nature rooted in the traditional dualism of nature and human beings. After the brief discussion about ecocritical evaluation of Cather’s works and ecocriticism itself as well, this paper attempts to analyse the portrayals and descriptions of nature in My Ántonia. Thus the main objective of this article has a twofold nature: to criticize Jim’s dualism in his observative and separative attitude toward nature and to suggest a constructive way of overcoming the dualism. Unlike Jim, Ántonia is an excellent worker who has performed intrinsic labor, which, as life activity, interconnects Ántonia to nature dynamically. Therefore, this article concludes with an assertion that the intrinsic labor should be appreciated as a potential way of realizing man in nature and vice versa.