摘要

庫柏(1813-1894)是美國自然史作家也是其中一位先驅者。她最重要的著作《田園時刻》 一書可以說是早期美國文學裡第一本由女性作家完成的自然史作品。即便如此，庫柏 的作品長期以來卻被許多具有代表性或權威性的主流經典美國文學史選集所遺忘或者忽視。基於上述的原因，本文聚焦在庫柏以及其經典之作《田園時刻》並深入討論與分析。也因此，本文想要指出並說明，庫柏的自然史書寫不單單替美國這片土地(特別是庫柏鎮周邊區域)以及當地動植物(與其他物種)與地方文化做出詳細的觀察與紀錄，藉此教育不同世代的美國同胞本土自然史相關知識。同時也呈現作者對於自然萬物抱持肯定與欣賞的態度，此外也流露出作者對當時自然生態遭到破壞的人文關懷，進而為早期美國帶進初期的生態思維，也為後世留下一本可以了解早期美國本土生態的重要參考文獻。

Abstract

Famous for her American nature history writing, Susan Fenimore Cooper (1813-1894) was a naturalist and a precursor in the bailiwick. She completed a crucial nature journal entitled Rural Hoursand some other essays about American landscape and nature at her time in her writing career.In Rural Hours, Cooper vividly delineated the regional and natural environment of the vicinity of Cooperstown (Otsego Lake). In many ways, Cooper’s works were the one of the earliest American natural histories. Unfortunately, she did not obtain too much critical attention from the cognoscenti. Therefore, this essay focuses on Susan Fenimore Cooper and her major work Rural Hours.
This thesis has two parts. First, my paper will give the definition of natural history and an explanation of Cooper’s reputation as a precursor in the tradition of American nature history writing. In the second part of my thesis, I will analyze how Coopereducated American people and different generations of readers about the knowledge of nature and the vernacular culture of the vicinity of CooperstownNew York. Also, this paper will focus on Cooper’s concern about the environment degradation at her time. Through her natural history discourse, Cooper conveyed aproto-ecological thinking and the book has become a significant reference for different generations of readers who want to understand early American local ecology.

Table of Contents
Chapter One: Prologue 1
Chapter Two:Susan Fenimomore Cooper, Natural History Writing,
and Her Contemporaneous Fellow Natural History Writers 10
Chapter Three:The Proto- ecological Thinking in Susan Fenimore Cooper’s
Rural Hours 18
Chapter Four: Epilogue 52
Works Cited 55

Works Cited

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