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Contrasting Modes of Interspecies Cooperation in Jane Smiley’s The Horses of Oak Valley Ranch Series
Wu Limin
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DOI:10.17265/2328-2177/2026.10.003
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, China
This paper examines the contrasting modes of interspecies cooperation in Jane Smiley’s The Horses of Oak Valley Ranch series, focusing on the relationships between humans and horses in training, riding, and performance. Drawing on theories of interspecies ethics, the paper argues that Smiley presents two fundamentally different models of human-equine cooperation: One grounded in mutual respect, trust, and attunement, and the other characterized by anthropocentric dominance, distrust, and coercion. Through close readings of The Georges and the Jewels, A Good Horse, and Pie in the Sky, this study analyzes the contrasts between horsemen who regard horses as intelligent, emotional, and autonomous partners and those who treat them as subordinate instruments to be controlled. By juxtaposing these opposing forms of cooperation, Smiley challenges anthropocentric assumptions and advocates an ethical model of dialogical interspecies relationships based on recognition, reciprocity, and embodied understanding.
interspecies cooperation, interspecies ethics, trust and attunement, intercorporeal interaction, dialogical interspecies relationship
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