International Journal of Geographical and Spatial Studies
JGSS Vol. 1, No. 1, 2026, pp. 129-139.
Print ISSN: 3105-1294; Online ISSN: 3105-1308
Journal homepage: https://www.gssjournal.com
DOI：https://doi.org/10.64058/JGSS.26.1.12
杨艾苒（YANG Airan）
摘要：文学作品中的自然风景与实际地理空间之间呈互动关系，文学中的地域或风景书写不仅为地理学研究提供了丰富的人文资料来源，也构建起文学作品与外部世界之间的紧密联结。人文地理学家威尔伯特·格斯勒尔对“治愈性风景”这一概念做出界定，关注风景与人类身心健康之间的联系。风景是薇拉·凯瑟生命中的关键词之一，也是其作品不可或缺的一部分。她十分敏锐且颇具前瞻性地关注到风景对于人类身心健康以及人类发展福祉的治愈性作用，并将其诉诸笔端。本文以其《教授之屋》为研究对象，探讨面对美国社会现代化转型时期的迷惘、断裂、异化等危机，记忆中的自然风景、人造风景，以及域外的象征性风景所具有的治愈性：自然风景与人造风景成为现代人的精神家园与心灵归宿；象征性风景则成为唤起民族情感、塑造美国身份的重要载体。这些风景书写展现了作家对于现代性困境的深刻洞察，为人们提供了一条从“致郁”通往“治愈”的文学路径，揭示了文学在应对社会危机时的独特价值。
关键词：《教授之屋》；薇拉·凯瑟；治愈性风景；现代性
作者简介：杨艾苒，河北工业大学外国语学院讲师，研究方向为现当代美国文学，电邮为nkwyairan@126.com。
Title: From Desolation to Restoration: Therapeutic Landscapes in The Professor’s House
Abstract: In literary works, natural landscapes maintain a dynamic interaction with actual geographical spaces. Landscapes and regional writing in literature not only provide rich textual materials for human geography research but also establishes a close connection between the artistic fiction and the reality. Wilbert Gesler, a human geographer, gives the definition of “therapeutic landscape”, systematically elucidating the intrinsic link between the natural environment and human’s physical/mental health. For Willa Cather, landscape was not merely a key theme in her life but also an indispensable motif in her writing. With her pioneering literary sensibility, she profoundly revealed the therapeutic function of landscapes on individual and social well-being, transforming these insights into profound textual practices. This paper takes Cather’s The Professor’s House as its research object, focusing on the social crises during America’s modernization transition: existential disorientation, cultural fragmentation, and individual alienation. It analyzes the therapeutic dimensions of three types of landscapes: the natural landscapes within memory, man-made landscapes and exotic symbolic landscapes. The former two become a spiritual homeland for modern individuals, while the last one undertakes the vital function of evoking collective memory and shaping American identity. These landscape writings not only demonstrate the writer’s profound insight into the dilemmas of modernity but also reveal literature’s unique value in addressing social crises.
Keywords: The Professor’s House; Willa Cather; therapeutic landscape; modernity
Author Biography: YANG Airan, lecturer, School of Foreign Studies, Hebei University of Technology. Research interests: Modern and Contemporary American Literature. Email: nkwyairan@126.com
Received: 17 Jan 2026 / Revised: 28 Jan 2026 / Accepted: 02 Mar 2026 / Published online: 30 May 2026 / Print published: 30 Jun 2026.
