荒野作为美国精神的核心元素之一，其概念内涵经历了一个嬗变、消解与重构的过程。在殖民时期的旧世界荒野叙述中，荒野或被描绘为超越文明界限的蛮夷之地，或呈现为异域的花园形象。在此后19世纪的超验主义潮流中，新世界荒野叙述则凸显了田园牧歌式的避难所形象。传统荒野的定义强调淳朴自然的无人涉足性，折射出西方世界中持续已久的荒野/文明的二元对立思想，实际上深化了现实与文本之间的矛盾。20世纪后半叶以来，原始荒野的概念逐渐被解构，并重新建构为后现代世界的荒野，从强调“荒野”之表象转为重视其内在之“野性”。野性作为荒野的原始属性，成为人们在后现代空间中获得自然经验的关键特征，也是后现代荒野概念的核心维度。

American Wilderness: Its Concept, Evolution, and Postmodern Construction

Ma Te

As one of the key elements of the American mind, the concept of wilderness has been through a process of evolving, dissolving and reconstructing. In the Old World narratives during the colonial period, the wilderness is depicted either as a barbarian site beyond civilization, or as an exotic garden; while in the transcendentalist writings during the 19th century, the New World wilderness narratives highlight the image of a pastoral haven. The traditional definition of wilderness emphasizes pristine nature, which reflects the longtime dualism between wilderness and civilization in the west. Since the 20th century, the concept of wilderness has been gradually deconstructed and then reconstructed in the postmodern world, transforming its focus from the representative “wilderness” to the inherent “wildness.” As the primitive attribute of wilderness, wildness is the key character of natural experience in the postmodern world as well as the central dimension of postmodern wilderness.