著者

大田垣 裕子

出版者

プール学院大学

雑誌

プール学院大学研究紀要 (ISSN:13426028)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.45, pp.27-38, 2005-12

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Peter Rabbit's popularity extends back to the first privately printed edition in 1902 and forward to the present day. What are the reasons for this enduring popularity? Numerous perspectives exist from which this question can be accurately addressed, among them the brilliance of Potter's artistic talent combined with her scientific knowledge, the blend of imagination and realism, the radical qualities of Potter's deceptively simple stories like ambiguous endings, and the pull of her poetic, yet restrained prose. In this paper I also propose another perspective from which to examine the instant and enduring popularity in the contemporary age, one that focuses the relationship between her works and environment-the ecocritical perspective. A close comparison of her works with Wordsworth's reveals that they are designed to move readers to actively engage in dialogues with nonhumans and to become advocates of conservation of the delicate balance created by the community of creatures and plants that share and maintain a habitat like the Lake District's.