Ecological Heterotopias in Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
ECOLOGICAL HETEROTOPIAS IN NEIL GAIMAN’S NEVERWHERE AND CHINA MIEVILLE’S PERDIDO STREET STATION Pamukkale University The Institute of Social Sciences Doctoral Thesis The Department of English Language and Literature PhD Programme Özlem AKYOL Supervisor Assoc. Prof Dr. Şeyda SİVRİOĞLU February 2019 DENİZLİ iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude and thanks to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof Dr. Şeyda SİVRİOĞLU, for her guidance and suggestions. Also, I specially thank to Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ali ÇELİKEL and Assoc. Prof Dr. Meryem AYAN for their insights, comments, and invaluable advice during the PhD period. I am greatly indebted to my mother, my daughter and my son for their belief in me and for their moral support during my education. I owe special thanks to my friend, Ayşe ŞENSOY, who has always helped me through various phases of this journey. Last but emphatically not least, I would like to thank to my husband, Tolga AKYOL, for the sacrifices he has made to support my education and the generous motivation he has given me throughout the production of this thesis. iv ABSTRACT ECOLOGICAL HETEROTOPIAS IN NEIL GAIMAN’S NEVERWHERE AND CHINA MIEVILLE’S PERDIDO STREET STATION Akyol, Özlem PhD Thesis The Department of English Language and Literature Supervisor: Assoc. Prof Dr. Şeyda SİVRİOĞLU February 2019, VI+104 pages This thesis aims to study the relation between ecology and the idea of heterotopia configured by Michel Foucault and how this relation is illustrated in contemporary urban fantasy. The idea of heterotopia is basically attributed to places of otherness which are defined as multi-layered, disturbing, incompatible and transforming. The study will focus on two pioneering works of the genre; Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere (1996) and China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station (2000) which widely explore the idea of heterotopia in their settings. Heterotopic places in these works provide a basis to analyse the controversial relation between human and nature within the wide borders of fantasy. This study endeavours to figure out in what way a place is ascribed heterotopic features by elements of fantasy in the selected novels and how these fantastic heterotopias function to illustrate the destructive power of human beings on environment. The aim of the present thesis is then to offer an insight into heterotopic dimensions of urban fantasy with reference to theories of ecocriticism. Key Words: Contemporary urban fantasy, ecocriticism, heterotopia, Neil Gaiman, China Mieville v ÖZET NEIL GAIMAN’IN NEVERWHERE VE CHINA MIEVILLE’IN PERDIDO STREET STATION ADLI ROMANLARINDA EKOLOJİK HETEROTOPYALAR Akyol, Özlem Doktora Tezi İngiliz Dili ve Edebiyatı Bölümü Tez Danışmanı: Doç. Dr. Şeyda SİVRİOĞLU Şubat 2019, VI+104 sayfa Bu tez, Michel Foucault tarafından yapılandırılan heterotopya fikri ile ekoeleştiri arasındaki ilişkiyi ve bu ilişkinin modern şehir fantezi yazınına nasıl yansıtıldığını konu edinir. Temelde heterotopya düşüncesi sürekli değişmekte olan, uyumsuz, rahatsız edici ve çok katmanlı olarak tanımlanan ötekileştirilmiş mekânlarla ilişkilendirilir. Çalışma, mekânlarında heterotopya kavramını oldukça fazla kullanmış ve bu türün önde gelen iki eseri olan Neil Gaiman’ın Neverwhere ve China Mieville’nin Perdido Street Station adlı romanlarına odaklanmaktadır. Bu romanlardaki heterotopik mekânlar fantezi yazınının geniş sınırları içerisinde insan ve doğa arasındaki çelişkili ilişkiyi analiz etmek için temel oluşturur. Bu çalışma adı geçen romanlardaki fantezi öğelerinin bir mekâna ne şekilde bir heterotopik özellik kazandırdığını ve bu fantastik heterotopyaların insanoğlunun çevre üzerindeki yıkıcı etkisini nasıl resmettiğini ortaya çıkarmaya çalışır. Bu tez, ekoeleştiri kuramının ışığında, modern şehir fantezisi yazının heterotopik boyutuna ışık tutmayı amaçlamaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Modern şehir fantezi yazını, ekoeleştiri, heterotopya, Neil Gaiman, China Mieville vi TABLE OF CONTENTS TEZ ONAY SAYFASI .............................................................................................. i PLAGIARISM ........................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ......................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... iv ÖZET.......................................................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1 ECOCRITICISM: FROM ANTROPOCENTRISM TO ECOCENTRISM 1.1. Evaluation of Theory........................................................................................... 8 1.2. Theorizing Urban Ecocriticism. .......................................................................... 15 1.3. When Ecocriticism Meets Urban Fantasy .......................................................... 19 CHAPTER 2 ECOLOGICAL HETEROTOPIAS IN URBAN FANTASY 2.1. Michel Foucault and the Idea of Heterotopia ...................................................... 22 2.2. When Ecocriticism Meets Foucauldian Heterotopias ......................................... 28 2.3. The Idea of Heterotopia in Urban Fantasy .......................................................... 31 CHAPTER 3 ECOCRITICAL ANALYSIS OF NEIL GAIMAN’S NEVERWHERE Ecological Heterotopias in Neil Gaiman’s London Below ........................................ 35 CHAPTER 4 ECOCRITICAL ANALYSIS OF CHINA MIEVILLE’S PERDIDO STREET STATION Ecological Heterotopias in China Mieville’s New Crobuzon .................................... 57 CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................86 REFERENCES............................................................................................................94 VITA..........................................................................................................................104 1 INTRODUCTION This thesis explores through ecocritical lenses the idea of heterotopia and how urban fantasy genre reflects this issue in an attempt to illustrate the effect of exploitative human practices on ecological degradation. Before being configured by Michel Foucault, the heterotopia used to be only a medical term which refers to the displacement of an organ from its normal position. (Dorland’s Medical Dictionary, 857) However, in 1967, Foucault used the term in a lecture to propose his new ideas and ways of thinking about space. The manuscript of the lecture which was released into the public domain in 1984 has progressively attracted scholars from different fields related to spatial issues. Heterotopias which are etymologically linked to utopias are real places that exist like “counter-sites,” (Foucault, 1967: 16) simultaneously representing, contesting, and inverting all traditional sites whereas utopias are unreal, fantastic and perfected spaces. This study discusses in two selected novels how the idea of heterotopia from ecocritical stance is specifically explored in contemporary urban fantasy. Therefore, each chapter will explore the different principles of heterotopia in Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere (1996) and China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station (2000). These novels basically treat the nature culture opposition and the consequences of human intervention in nature. The representation of these subjects in the novels indicates the idea that human dependence on other non-human entities is indisputable and accordingly offers an insight for sustainable urban ecologies. As a consequence of human induced degradation in nature, culture creates heterotopias in which this degradation is illustrated more comprehensively in comparison with non-heterotopic spaces. In this context, the novels show how environmental degradation which is portrayed through different heterotopias changes the panorama of urban spaces and also help the reader to make assumptions about further consequences of this degradation. The aim of this thesis is to account for the environmental consequences of the nature culture opposition and anthropocentric practices through heterotopic spaces located in urban sites. In addition, the thesis basically employs the theories of urban ecocriticism proposed and developed by Michael Bennett and David W. Teague and also the principles of Foucauldian heterotopia. The thesis is organized into four chapters. The first chapter accounts for not only theoretical part but also how to deploy the theory into urban fantasy. The next chapter elucidates the idea of heterotopia and the correlation of 2 this idea with ecological studies. In the last two chapters, the focus is on contemporary urban fantasy novels Neverwhere and Perdido Street Station in which setting engenders a shift away from conventional ecocritical analysis towards a new paradigm for ecocriticism based on heterotopias. The last two chapters thematically overlap in such issues like waste disposal problem, pollution and hybridisation which are consequences of anthropocentrism and the nature culture opposition. The thesis proposes that these two prominent urban fantasy novelists, Neil Gaiman and China Mieville remap the urban by creating heterotopias with contaminated ecologies in Neverwhere and Perdido Street Station, respectively.