The journal of the China association of comparative literature was jointly sponsored by the China association of comparative literature and Shanghai international studies university in 1984 ISSN 1006-6101 CN
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Comparative Literature in China ›› 2025, Vol. 0 ›› Issue (3): 26-37.

• Academic Frontier: The Ecocritical Turn in the Context of Global Ecological Civilization • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Reorienting the Toxic Turn in Ecocriticism: Toxic Writing and Symbiotic Ethics in Anthropocene Science Fiction

Hua Yuanyuan   

  • Online:2025-07-16 Published:2025-07-20

重构生态批评的毒性转向:人类世科幻小说中的有毒书写与共生伦理

华媛媛   

  • 作者简介:华媛媛,文学博士,大连外国语大学教授。研究方向:生态批评、比较文学。电子邮箱:hyyldw@126.com。
  • 基金资助:
    国家社科基金重点项目“人类文明新形态的对外传播策略研究”(编号:23AXW004)、辽宁省教育科学“十四五”规划重点课题“中华传统文化融入高校外语思政教育路径研究”(编号:JG24DA008)、辽宁省教育教学改革研究项目“新时代新文科背景下加强比较文学与跨文化研究学科方向建设的路径探索与实践”(编号:LNYJG2023296)、大连外国语大学2024年度“东北亚学科专业群”重点学科方向团队建设专项“全球文明倡议下比较文学与跨文化研究”的阶段性成果。

Abstract: This article situates itself within the context of the ecological crisis of the Anthropocene and engages in theoretical reflection on the Western ecocritical theory’s neglect of the critical potential of science fiction literature. This study focuses on representative texts such as The Waste Tide, The Three-Body Problem, and The Windup Girl, and reveals that science fiction plays a unique and central role in toxic writing and slow violence narratives. Through toxic turn, science fiction reveals the duality of the ecological crisis under techno-capitalism: toxic substances are both sources of destruction and potential agents of remediation. Furthermore, by exploring “imperfect symbiote,” science fiction shifts the ethical focus from “saving nature” to “coexisting with toxicity,” offering new practical pathways for posthuman ethics. This paper argues that science fiction should be regarded as a vital supplement to ecocriticism. Its toxic narratives provide ecocriticism with a more pragmatically significant theoretical perspective across multiple dimensions: the global and the local, nature and technology, and the body and the environment. Through the exploration of toxic writing and symbiotic ethics, science fiction offers new cultural resources and ethical possibilities for addressing the ecological crises of the Anthropocene.

Key words: ecocriticism, science fiction, toxic writing, symbiotic ethics, Anthropocene

摘要: 本文以人类世生态危机为背景,针对西方生态批评理论对科幻文学批判潜能的忽视展开理论反思。研究聚焦《荒潮》《三体》《发条女孩》等代表性文本,揭示科幻文学在有毒书写和慢暴力叙事中扮演的独特而核心的角色。通过毒性转向,科幻文学展示了技术资本主义生态危机的双重性:毒性物质既是毁灭之源,又潜藏着解毒的可能性。此外,科幻文学通过对“不完美的共生”的探索,推动伦理重心从“拯救自然”转向“与毒性共生”,为后人类伦理提供了新的实践路径。本文主张,科幻文学应被视为生态批评的重要补充,其毒性叙事在全球与地方、自然与技术、身体与环境的多重维度上,为生态批评提供了更具现实意义的理论视角。通过毒性书写与共生伦理的探索,科幻文学为应对人类世生态危机提供了新的文化资源与伦理可能性。

关键词: 生态批评, 科幻小说, 毒性书写, 共生伦理, 人类世