ISSN 1712-8056[Print] Canadian Social Science ISSN 1923-6697[Online] Vol. 12, No. 12, 2016, pp. 53-58 www.cscanada.net DOI:10.3968/9158 www.cscanada.org A Web of Life: An Ecocritical Study of Jane Smiley’s Moo WU Limin[a],* [a]PhD Candidate, Lecturer, English School for International Business, her sixth novel, published in 1995. The story is about Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China. the happenings on the campus of Moo University, a *Corresponding author. Midwestern university devoted to the art and science of Received 19 September 2016; accepted 25 November 2016 agriculture. It’s easy for some to regard Moo as a book Published online 26 December 2016 about academia. However, according to Jane Smiley herself, it’s far beyond that: “My overall subject is Abstract not academia. It’s a larger point about technology and Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley’s Moo is a novel agriculture” (Nakadate, 2010, p.134). Like A Thousand concerning some stories happening in a Midwestern Acres, Moo is also concerned with agriculture, but this agriculture university named Moo University. A variety time, a comic novel with some poignant revelations. of characters and threads of plots are involved in the Since Moo’s publication, it has received diverse novel. The arrangement of the characters and stories comments. One controversial point lies in its long list seem complex and mixed, and some parts of the stories of characters, which is considered to be a hindrance to are presented through the animal perspective. In order a round depiction of characters and a full development to figure out the reasons behind, the paper sorts out the of plots in a few reviews, such as “Review of Moo” characters and lines in the complicated structure, analyzes written by Emily Toth published in Belles Lettres 11.1 the interactions between animals and humans, and (Winter 1996), “Pork-Barrel Politics” by Laurie Taylor expounds on the interrelatedness in the web of life mainly in New Statesman and Society 8.356 (June 9, 1995), “A from an angle of ecocriticism and ecofeminism. Through Lively Satire of Derring-Do at Moo U” by Merle Rubin the ecocritical study of Moo, Jane Smiley’s ecological in Christian Science Monitor 87.89 (April 4, 1995), and ideologies are also revealed. “Very Flat, Iowa” by Michael Carlson in Spectator 274 Key words: A Web of life; Ecological; (May 27, 1995). However, some other critiques highly Decentralization; Diversity; Interrelatedness; Ecocritical appreciate the complex arrangement of the characters and study plots in Moo. In his dissertation, Andrew calls it “Dickens- like penchant for interconnected characters” (Koch, 2008, Wu, L. M. (2016). A Web of Life: An Ecocritical Study of Jane p.49). Diane asserts: Smiley’s Moo. Canadian Social Science, 12(12), 53-58. Available from: http://www.cscanada.net/index.php/css/article/view/9158 Perhaps the reason Smiley is able to shine a light on so many DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/9158 areas of academic life is that Moo does not center on one character or main story so much as it gives a panoramic view of the operations, activities, and lives connected to this research university. (Nyhammer, 2007, p.194) INTRODUCTION As a matter of fact, the novelist herself explains that Jane Smiley is an American novelist who won the I thought its ecosystem-like structure would be not only obvious Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1992 because of her fifth but appreciated. I thought the way in which the liberal characters used and transcended their self-centeredness to stop something novel A Thousand Acres (1991). Since 1980 she has they disapproved of would, could, should become a model for written 14 novels, 2 short story collections, 5 non-fiction how well-meaning people can act together for a larger interest. books, and 5 young adult novels, among which Moo is (Nakadate, 2010, p.139) 53 Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture A Web of Life: An Ecocritical Study of Jane Smiley’s Moo On top of that, some critiques probe into the than 70 characters are involved in the total 70 chapters academics or professors in the fiction together with some of Moo, among whom over 20 play main roles, including other novelists’ works, such as Catharine Stimpson’s a VIP (Very Important Pig, in fact.) —a Landrace boar “Academics in Literature” in Academe (May/June, 2004), named Earl Butz. Following several key threads, all the and a dissertation entitled “The Image of the Professor stories take place in this land-grant agriculture university. in American Academic Fiction 1980-1997” by Patricia One thread is about the fate of the hog Earl and his Barber Verrone in Seton Hall University in 1999. There friendship with Bob Carlson, a work-study student is also a comparative study of politics in the novel and assigned by Dr. Bo Jones with a task of tending Earl every another one from feminism standpoint— “The Problem day to see how big the hog might grow if allowed to eat of Politics in Feminist Literary Criticism: Contending at will for all of his natural lifespan; another thread is Voices in Two Contemporary Novels” by Ryan Simmons about the secret collaboration between Dr. Lionel Gift, published in Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction the professor of economics who always calls students (Vol. 41, No. 4) in 2000. Furthermore, Moo’s influence “customers” and a billionaire Arlen Martin in a plan of spreads from literature field to economic one, resulting in digging some gold mine under the largest remaining an essay entitled “The University as a Social Economy: virgin cloud forest in Central America, which is located Jane Smiley’s Moo” by Warren Samuels and Sylvia in Costa Rica, and the later saving cloud forest mainly Samuels in Forum for Social Economics (26.2) in 1997. under the help of Chairman X (the chairman of the As to domestic research in Moo, almost nothing has horticulture department), Timothy Monahan (a novelist been done except for one article written by He Yue Min of three books, professor of English, teaching fiction published in Modern Literary Magazine (No.4) in 1998, writing), Mrs. Loraine Walker (the senior secretary of the which gives a general introduction to the novel. Another provost with great authority and influence after working scarce phenomenon is that although many environmental in Moo U. for over 20 years), Cecelia Sanchez (assistant ethics are involved in the novel, few researches have professor of foreign languages and teacher of Spanish), been done from an ecocritical standpoint except that Neil and many other people; the third thread is around the Nakadate partly touches some ecological issues in his bovine false pregnancy project resulting in calf-free- book Understanding Jane Smiley. As we can see, it is still lactation conducted by Dean Jellinek who works in of great necessity to advance the researches in Smiley’s Animal Science and is extremely crazy for cloning, which Moo, especially from an ecocriticism perspective. is increasingly resisted by his girlfriend Joy Pfisterer, a Mainly from the angles of ecocriticism and teacher in Equine Management, who loves the horses so ecofeminism, the paper intends to dig out the ecological much; the fourth thread is around an advanced planting philosophy revealed in the novel through an analysis of machine invented by an 80 year old experienced farmer those human and non-human characters, all of whom are Loren Stroop, who distrusts the FBI, the CIA, and the big inseparable components of the novel. The first chapter is agriculture businesses so much that he wants to entrust an introduction; the second chapter focuses on the novel’s his invention to Moo University that is supposed to give complex structure with decentralized characters and plots; him agriculture assistance under the Morrill Act, as a the third chapter deals with the interrelatedness in several result of which he keeps on writing letters and visiting animal-human relation cases in the novel; the fourth the university without seeing the person in charge— chapter analyses both the interrelatedness between earth Nils Harstad (the dean of agriculture extension) until one members and digs out some elements in conflict mainly and a half years later, for at the beginning Nils wrongly from the forest-saving story in the novel; the last part estimates that Loren might have some mental problems. will draw a conclusion and summarizes the ecological Ironically in the end the invention saves Moo U. timely ideologies reflected in the book. The paper finds out that from a dilemma caused by the policy of greatly slashing through a depiction of the interrelations between humans the state budget proposed by Governor Orville T. Early; and humans, humans and nonhumans, nonhumans the fifth thread is around the love and affairs between and nonhumans, etc., Moo presents a web of life with those main characters and even between two horses. countless equally important but diversified members Actually, not only do these threads interweave with one interrelated with one another. The immoderate greed for another, but human and nonhuman roles are interrelated boundless profits and the ignorance of the diversity and with one another throughout the novel, which will be interrelatedness of the web of life will definitely lead to further examined in the next two chapters. Consciously the adversity and final destruction of human beings. or unconsciously these characters exert influence on one another, from human to human, from human to animals, 1. AN ECOSYSTEM-LIKE from human to plants, and vice versa. All the human and nonhuman members compose Moo University, which DECENTRALIZATION IN MOO is an emblem of even a larger system—a web of life.