매리 오스틴과 개리 스나이더 작품에 나타난 생태지역주의

Abstract

To put it briefly, a bioregional approach to literature is an attempt to figure out how nature influences human community and how human culture and politics are related to nature. Although they are not contemporaries and the term ‘bioregionalism’ did not exist in the early 20th century, Mary Austin and Gary Snyder share some principles of bioregionalism. They hold that understanding of the self and community begins with understanding of nature and its systems. This belief leads to some central elements of bioregionalism: nature as a community and anarchy. Bioregionalists including Austin and Snyder see nature as a community of self-reliance and interconnectedness which are present on the order of ecosystem. Anarchy does not mean a chaotic state. It seeks a state which is out of control of centralized power and must be operated with its members’ rules. Thus, nature embodies a community of decentralization and self-determination. Observing human cultures predicated upon the bioregional elements, Austin and Snyder find the elements fully practiced in a small-scale town in the wilderness. With the town as a bioregional model, they try to overcome the anthropocentric pride and to deconstruct systems which are covertly operated by centralized powers.