Climates of Mutation: Posthuman Orientations in Twenty-First Century
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Climates of Mutation: Posthuman Orientations in Twenty-First Century Ecological Science Fiction Clare Elisabeth Wall A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in English York University Toronto, Ontario January 2021 © Clare Elisabeth Wall, 2021 ii Abstract Climates of Mutation contributes to the growing body of works focused on climate fiction by exploring the entangled aspects of biopolitics, posthumanism, and eco-assemblage in twenty- first-century science fiction. By tracing out each of those themes, I examine how my contemporary focal texts present a posthuman politics that offers to orient the reader away from a position of anthropocentric privilege and nature-culture divisions towards an ecologically situated understanding of the environment as an assemblage. The thematic chapters of my thesis perform an analysis of Peter Watts’s Rifters Trilogy, Larissa Lai’s Salt Fish Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl, and Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy. Doing so, it investigates how the assemblage relations between people, genetic technologies, and the environment are intersecting in these posthuman works and what new ways of being in the world they challenge readers to imagine. This approach also seeks to highlight how these works reflect a genre response to the increasing anxieties around biogenetics and climate change through a critical posthuman approach that alienates readers from traditional anthropocentric narrative meanings, thus creating a space for an embedded form of ecological and technoscientific awareness. My project makes a case for the benefits of approaching climate fiction through a posthuman perspective to facilitate an environmentally situated understanding. By mapping the aspects of bare life, posthuman becomings, multispecies community, and environmental agency that situate these texts within their climate-focused twenty-first-century contexts, my dissertation models its own series of entanglements. It also reveals areas of concern that include infectious agencies, subversions of biopolitical containment, and the co-constitutive transformative powers of the environment and nonhuman life. Climates of Mutation addresses the ways that these iii contemporary science fiction narratives have responded to cultural and scientific developments to invite critical engagement from readers—especially in terms of embracing concepts of environmental assemblage and imagining potential multispecies futures. By taking an assemblage approach to these works of posthuman ecological science fiction, my project draws attention to how they critically subvert anthropocentrism by privileging nonhuman and environmental agencies in which humans are an entangled part of biopolitical forces, multispecies collectives, and ecological assemblages. iv Dedication: This dissertation is dedicated to my partner Dana Kokurewicz who has stood by me through this long journey and has been an unending source of strength, love, and compassion. And to my grandfather, John P. Cannon, whose life never afforded him the opportunity for higher education but who always encouraged my academic aspirations. v Acknowledgments: I am incredibly grateful to my thesis committee members Dr. Allan Weiss, Dr. Steve Bailey, and Dr. Marcus Boon for their countless hours spent reading drafts and offering their guidance and feedback which has helped bring this dissertation to fruition and transform it from its rougher stages into what I had envisioned. I am especially appreciative of the tremendous support of my supervisor, Allan Weiss. A few years before even starting my doctorate, he agreed to oversee my undergraduate thesis despite being on sabbatical. It was the project that got me started in my studies of science fiction and fantasy and set me on the road to discovering my interests in posthuman fiction. Since then, he has been an invaluable source of advice, critique, support, and profound kindness. His “Grammar Man” criticism also helped me transform the long and unpolished early drafts into significantly more refined products and I am sincerely appreciative of his always finding time to discuss my project and help guide me through the challenges I have faced in completing it. He has been a most valued mentor and friend during my time at York and I could not have done this project without his guidance. I also wish to express my gratitude to the Department of English at York University for their support of my research and scholarship, especially the many members of the English Department’s faculty and staff who have offered candid advice and made me feel immensely welcome in the program. Their nominations of me for funding for OGS and the Anne Simone Graduate Student International Conference Award enabled me to travel internationally to Helsinki’s World Science Fiction Convention to present my work in the Academic track of panels. I also extend a heartfelt thanks to Dr. Natalie Neill who was an incredibly kind mentor during my final TA position at York and who offered me amazing advice for professionalization and exploring post-defence options. vi I have been most fortunate to be studying in a city that houses one of the largest special collections of science fiction and fantasy books and research materials. The knowledgeable staff at the Merril Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy at Toronto’s Lillian H. Smith Library have all been very kind and helpful in facilitating my research. I especially wish to thank Annette Mocek who has always offered a warm welcome and information on any new resources that might be of interest. My heartfelt thanks to my partner Dana Kokurewicz. He has been an immensely calming and comforting force during my years at grad school. I do not have the words for how wonderful it has been to have someone in my life who takes interest in my area of study and who has always readily offered overwhelming love, support, and compassion. He has come with me to every conference, sat through drafts of papers and chapters, and acted as my sounding board for ideas. This journey would have been so much harder without his love and endless faith in me. I am also very thankful for the love and support of my parents David and Kathryn, my sister Caitlin, and my aunt Suzanne. They have always encouraged my aspirations and endeavoured to help me navigate through my years in graduate school. My parents' love of reading and introduction to the genre at a young age is a large part of why I am here today, and I am immensely grateful for their support and continued efforts to help me feel connected during this project. My dad and Suzanne have been dedicated in offering their confidence, looking at drafts, and supporting me during my academic journey. I also extend my gratitude to Ben Eldridge. His research on Watts brought him into my circle and he has become a great friend and valued peer. His humour and advice have been immensely appreciated and his impeccable scholarship on Watts allowed me to meet many fellow researchers through the “Space Vampires & the Future of ‘I’: The Fiction of Peter Watts vii Symposium” he organized. His cheering me on in the final stretch kept me motivated and feeling less isolated and I am so very glad that my research led me to make such a wonderful friend. Kate Bullock has also been a fantastic friend over the years and has always taken time to listen and offer a compassionate ear and endless guidance. I am deeply touched by her inspirational positivity, emotional support, and belief in me. The same thanks are owed to my peer and friend Miriam Strieder who has also been a great source of light and support over the years and who I very much hope to visit once this pandemic has lifted. Finally, I wish to express thanks to Peter Watts for kindly taking the time to answer my questions regarding his work and to my D&D group and all the countless friends and peers who have offered support, helpful advice, kindness, and given me a deep sense of community throughout my time as a graduate student. You have all helped make these years incredibly memorable, sharing in my successes, and supporting me through the harder times both academically and on the picket lines. You have been inspiring and I cannot express how fortunate I am to have so many wonderful people in my life cheering me on and showing their interest in my studies. Thank you all! viii Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication: .................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments: ........................................................................................................................ v Contents ...................................................................................................................................... viii 1. Introduction: The Climate of Posthuman Anthropocene Fiction ..................................... 1 1.1 Hybrid Methodologies: Approaches to a Posthuman Eco-Politics ....................................... 8 1.2 Why Focus on Science Fiction? .......................................................................................... 16 1.3 Chapter Overview ............................................................................................................... 21 2. Cyborgian Origins: