존 스타인벡의 생태의식과 그 역동성 — 『미지의 신께』를 중심으로
John Steinbeck’s Ecological Dynamism in To a God Unknown
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The two concepts of god and their ecological entailments motivate Steinbeck’s early novel To a God Unknown; a Christian god worshipped by Burton is juxtaposed against an ‘oak tree,’ a pantheistic deity vindicated more vehemently by Joseph than anybody else. The concept of Joseph’s god is generated through an epistemological process of ‘non-teleological thinking’ whose detailed explanation is offered in Log from the Sea of Cortez while ‘teleological thinking’ supposedly underpins Burton’s evangelist god. Although the two concepts of god are presented seemingly dualistic in this novel, in fact, the non-teleological god is implied to articulate the teleological god, the textual evidence of which is provided by Father Angelo’s deconstructive response to Joseph’s concept of god. Also, Joseph’s non-teleological thinking is travestied through a paranoiac ritual of ‘the old man.’ The concept of non-teleological god (the old man’s sun in this case) is associated with that of ‘Self’ reified by Deep Ecology. Thus, it seems to inherit the epistemological and ontological totality embedded in the view of nature of Deep Ecology, such as ‘inherent value,’ ‘Self-realization,’ and ‘biocentric equality.’ However, Joseph’s articulated concept of non-teleological god allows a deconstructive view of nature that, in turn, prompts to necessitate a dynamic eco-consciousness fluctuating between ‘conservationism’ and ‘preservationist standpoint’. By subverting the totality of Deep Ecology, furthermore, the author invites a pragmatic view of nature provided that pragmatism goes well along with the deconstructionist’s renunciation of the autonomy of language and human subjectivity, and recognition of their historically embedded character. And this pragmatic dynamism will hopefully help to activate ecological discourses and better-provoke more realistic changes of our ecological consciousness and practice, rather than remaining helplessly in the ecological stalemate.
Abstract
The two concepts of god and their ecological entailments motivate Steinbeck’s early novel To a God Unknown; a Christian god worshipped by Burton is juxtaposed against an ‘oak tree,’ a pantheistic deity vindicated more vehemently by Joseph than anybody else. The concept of Joseph’s god is generated through an epistemological process of ‘non-teleological thinking’ whose detailed explanation is offered in Log from the Sea of Cortez while ‘teleological thinking’ supposedly underpins Burton’s evangelist god. Although the two concepts of god are presented seemingly dualistic in this novel, in fact, the non-teleological god is implied to articulate the teleological god, the textual evidence of which is provided by Father Angelo’s deconstructive response to Joseph’s concept of god. Also, Joseph’s non-teleological thinking is travestied through a paranoiac ritual of ‘the old man.’ The concept of non-teleological god (the old man’s sun in this case) is associated with that of ‘Self’ reified by Deep Ecology. Thus, it seems to inherit the epistemological and ontological totality embedded in the view of nature of Deep Ecology, such as ‘inherent value,’ ‘Self-realization,’ and ‘biocentric equality.’ However, Joseph’s articulated concept of non-teleological god allows a deconstructive view of nature that, in turn, prompts to necessitate a dynamic eco-consciousness fluctuating between ‘conservationism’ and ‘preservationist standpoint’. By subverting the totality of Deep Ecology, furthermore, the author invites a pragmatic view of nature provided that pragmatism goes well along with the deconstructionist’s renunciation of the autonomy of language and human subjectivity, and recognition of their historically embedded character. And this pragmatic dynamism will hopefully help to activate ecological discourses and better-provoke more realistic changes of our ecological consciousness and practice, rather than remaining helplessly in the ecological stalemate.
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