Anh Nguyet Tran Thi (PhD) is a lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Language and Literature, University of Science and Education, University of Danang. She is studying environmental literature and ecocritical theory, with special focus on urban nature, ecofeminism, and the history of Vietnamese eco-literature. She has published several books and articles on environmental literature, such as Human and Nature in Vietnamese Prose After 1975 from an Ecocritical Perspective (2016) and Ecocriticism and the Southern Vietnamese Prose (co-authored, 2018). Her articles and essays have been published in literary and other national journals. E-mail: trananhnguyet5@yahoo.com
Questioning Male Dominance: An Ecofeminist Reading of River by Nguyen Ngoc Tu
Abstract: Ecocriticism explores the role of literature in the face of the current ecological crisis. One of its research directions is ecofeminism. Ecofeminists denounce the network of assumptions and closely related dualistic constructs, especially the dualism of reason and nature, or humanity-culture and nature. The purpose of this paper is to read River (2012) by Nguyễn Ngọc Tư from the perspective of ecofeminism. The author of this novel chose a gay character to talk about a trip on the Di River, writing about the sadness of a world that is in danger of disappearing. The novel describes the south of Vietnam with an anti-romantic and de-mythologizing view. The adventure trip on the Di River is a journey that reveals the loss of nature, the barrenness of the landscape. The main character recognizes the impact of climate change on the fates of the women who live there. This study will investigate the novel with an ecofeminist focus, by (1) showing parallels between male domination over females with human domination over nature, (2) providing a summary of male dominance in history, and (3) questioning dualism through the gay storyteller.
Keywords: demythology, ecofeminism, male dominance, Nguyễn Ngọc Tư