Canadian Social Science
The Anthropocene Catastrophe: The Mystery of the Disappearance of Matacao in Through the Arc of the Rain Forest
Abstract
The Japanese-American writer Karen Tei Yamashita’s first novel Through the Arc of the Rain Forest discloses the tremendous impact of technological activities on the natural environment in the Anthropocene. Centering on the mystery of the disappearance of Matacao in this novel, the present paper expounds that its disappearance is an environmental catastrophe of the Anthropocene resulting from the retaliation of nature for the replacement of it by human technological activities under the domination of the scientific and technological rationality. Yamashita’s presentation of the disappearance of Matacao serves as a warning to the world, aiming to advocate that the technological activities should not be controlled only by the scientific and technological rationality, but should recognize and respect the irreplaceability of nature, otherwise these activities will be retaliated by nature, triggering environmental disasters in the Anthropocene, bringing destruction to the Earth and the technological civilization.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/12900
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