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本文是一篇英语语言学论文，论文以鲁枢元的精神生态批评为理论指导，采用文本细读法对斯迈利小说《哞》进行论述和研究。

Chapter I Introduction

1.1 A Brief Introduction to Jane Smiley and Moo

Jane Smiley is a renowned contemporary American novelist,born in LosAngeles,California,grew up in Webster Grove,a suburb of St.Louis,Missouri,andgraduated from community schools and John Burroughs School.Smiley obtained aBachelor’s degree in Literature from Vassar College in 1971,a Master’s degree inLiterature from the University of Iowa in 1975,and a Doctorate in Literature from theUniversity of Iowa in 1978.Smiley published her first novel,The Blind in the Barn,in 1980 and won the 1985 European Henry Award for her short story Lily publishedin the Atlantic Monthly.Her best-selling novel A Thousand Acres is adapted fromWilliam Shakespeare’s King Lear and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992.TheThirteen Ways to Read Novels,published in 2005,is a non-fictional reflection on thehistory and essence of novels,elucidating Smiley’s unique insights and perspectiveson the development history and characteristics.

Moo is an academic novel published by Smiley in 1995 that revolves around along white pig,Sir Butz.The novel’s central character is not a human but a long whitepig named Sir Butz.It weighs 700 pounds and seems to run faster than a small car.Itis an experimental product cultivated by a university called“Moo”in the Midwest ofthe United States.Dr.Bo Jones from Moo University wants to know what it wouldlook like if Sir Butz could eat and drink as he pleased while other students and facultymembers did not restrict his diet.So,Sir Butz was confined in the basement of adilapidated building on the university campus,which people jokingly referred to asOld Meat.Later,due to financial cuts by the state government,the old meat buildingswere demolished,and Sir Butz was discovered as a result.

1.2 Literature Review

Foreign studies on Moo can be divided into three categories:analysis andcomparison of academic novels,ecofeminism,and satirical writing.The first categoryis the analysis and comparison of academic novels.In Academics Literature,Catharine R.Stimpson analyzes four academic novels—Philip Roth’s The HumanStain(2000),Joan Hassler’s The Dean’s List(1997),Richard Russo’s Straight Man(1997),and Jane Smiley’s Moo(1995).The comparison of these four novels providesan internal perspective on the daily life of individuals working in academia.Simultaneously,the authors propose that these contemporary novels are uniquelypositioned to observe and respond to a crisis that is widely acknowledged anddiscussed throughout the university community.Furthermore,the academic novelscriticize universities’functions,values,and purposes(51-3).What these novels havein common is a clear understanding of the value and purpose of literary study,education,and universities.In nonfiction regarding the state of universities,it istypical for people to believe they are losing or have lost touch with the principles andgoals of universities.In contrast,academic fiction conveys a strong sense of idealism.This feeling of idealism and possibility marks the subgenre’s significant and oftenneglected growth.It shows the ultimate usefulness of academic fiction as a uniquemethod of reaching out to a community in crisis and tapping into the existentialworries of individuals in it(51-3).

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