書寫自然史：庫柏對於庫柏鎮地域之探究

Writing Natural History: Susan Fenimore Cooper’s Investigations of the Cooperstown Region

庫柏是一位美國早期的自然史作家，她的代表作《田園時刻》一書可說是美國文學裡第一本由女性作家所書寫的自然史作品。可惜的是，庫柏的作品長期以來卻被許多代表主流典律的美國文學史選集所忽略或排除。有鑑於此，本文主要以庫柏及其作品為探討焦點，並以自然史論述之角度仔細檢視庫柏的《田園時刻》與《論自然與地景之散文》。本文欲指出，庫柏的自然史書寫一方面為美國的大地（特別是庫柏鎮地域）及本土物種做了詳實的觀察與紀錄，藉此教導其美國同胞有關本土自然史的知識，另一方面亦呈現了她對自然萬物的肯定與欣賞態度，進而為早期美國引進一套初期的生態思維與環境保護倫理。

Susan Fenimore Cooper was an early voice in the tradition of American nature history writing. She composed a nature journal entitled Rural Hours and many essays about nature and landscape. In her works, Cooper described the regional, natural environment around her home village──Cooperstown, New York; her writings were one of the first American natural histories. Establishing Cooper as early female natural historian, this paper will focus on Cooper’s investigations of the Cooperstown region. In this essay, there are two principal parts. In the beginning, the paper will define natural history and establish Cooper as early female natural historian in America. In the second part, this essay will closely examine Cooper’s effectiveness as a natural history writer: it will analyze how Cooper introduced generations of American readers to the knowledge and the understanding of the Cooperstown region and celebrated the American natural environment as a cultural resource; also, it will examine how Cooper conveyed her ecological ideas (such as the idea of the common links among all living species, and so forth) and advocated conservation ethic in her natural historical discourse, thereby introducing a pattern of proto-ecological thinking for American culture.