Open Access

Xialin Liu

• Through the ecocritical analyses of two literary works, this thesis aims to convey a new understanding of literature. The theoretical part of the thesis lays a strong emphasis on the connection between the organic, ecological and holistic world view and a new literary criticism—ecocriticism. Ecocriticism agrees with the early Greek philosophies and the Book of Changes in adopting an organic, ecological and holistic view of the world and integrates it into literary criticism. And water as the basic element of all ecosystems is introduced to explore its key function in the dynamic process of life as well as in the discursive functions of cultural ecology. This provides a theoretical basis for the following literary analyses. In this thesis, Ulysses and Huckleberry Finn are chosen for literary analyses as well as a transatlantic comparison. The water element is key to their ecological structures, with the innovative technique of stream of consciousness dominating the former and aThrough the ecocritical analyses of two literary works, this thesis aims to convey a new understanding of literature. The theoretical part of the thesis lays a strong emphasis on the connection between the organic, ecological and holistic world view and a new literary criticism—ecocriticism. Ecocriticism agrees with the early Greek philosophies and the Book of Changes in adopting an organic, ecological and holistic view of the world and integrates it into literary criticism. And water as the basic element of all ecosystems is introduced to explore its key function in the dynamic process of life as well as in the discursive functions of cultural ecology. This provides a theoretical basis for the following literary analyses. In this thesis, Ulysses and Huckleberry Finn are chosen for literary analyses as well as a transatlantic comparison. The water element is key to their ecological structures, with the innovative technique of stream of consciousness dominating the former and a journey on the Mississippi River running through the latter. Their ecological structures and main bodies can be seen as different kinds of water entities, different manifestations of cultural ecology. Employing the technique of stream of consciousness, Ulysses demonstrates that the mind is a sea of its own, complex, heterogeneous, constantly changing. Running through the whole text is the flow of the writer's free mental energy: it is a critical force that breaks free from the limitations of a one-sided dominating system, both social and textual, and its creative power produces a text that boasts of its fertile potentials of words and styles. The flow of life energy in the text of Ulysses derives from the arranger's free mental energy, and Joyce ends his novel with a woman's stream of consciousness as the symbol of fundamental vital force he feels in life. When it comes to Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the ceaseless flow of life is represented by another water entity that the protagonist goes along: the Mississippi River. Opposing any rigid political and cultural system, the river represents a counter force of renewal in this novel. Through Huck's contact with the river, the river reveals its power of revitalization against the corrupted civilization. Water is the key element in forming the fluid, ecological structure of both novels. The sea and the river, or water in general, reflects the intrinsic fluidity in the ecological structures of both novels. In this thesis, Ulysses and Huckleberry Finn are analyzed as two textual ecosystems of water, which all belong to cultural ecology and stage the flow of life.…