Ecological Labyrinths and Myths of the Fall. an Earth-Centred Approach To

Ecological Labyrinths and Myths of the Fall. An Earth-centred approach to The Lord of the Rings and His Dark Materials STEPHEN RICHARD GREENFIELD BA (First Class Hons), MA. A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy This work or any part thereof has not previously been presented in any form to the University or to any other body whether for the purposes of assessment, publication or for any other purpose (unless otherwise indicated). Save for any express acknowledgments, references and/or bibliographies cited in the work, I confirm that the intellectual content of the work is the result of my own efforts and of no other person. The right of Stephen Richard Greenfield to be identified as author of this work is asserted in accordance with ss.77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. At this date copyright is owned by the author. This work or any part thereof has not previously been presented in any form to the University or to any other body whether for the purposes of assessment, publication or for any other purpose (unless otherwise indicated). Save for any express acknowledgments, references and/or bibliographies cited in the work, I confirm that the intellectual content of the work is the result of my own efforts and of no other person. The right of Stephen Richard Greenfield to be identified as author of this work is asserted in accordance with ss.77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. At this date copyright is owned by the author. Abstract Ecological criticism (ecocriticism) bifurcates between two paths that offer alternative definitions of ecology as a structure. One leads to a fixed, cyclical model, the other moves in a dynamic, evolutionary direction. These differences of orientation frame ecocritical responses that appear irreconcilable to each other. This research provides a way of reading the structure of fantasy texts as parallel to ecological structure in a way that brings the two definitions of ecology into dialogue. The divergence in approaches to ecocriticism has caused a chasm to open between the respective ends of an ecocritical spectrum in the polemical positions of deep ecology and ecohumanism. These positions reflect fundamental differences over the structure of ecology and tend toward mutual antagonism. This research addresses division in facilitating dialogue through analysis of structural ecological positions as a binary that creates meaning. Such a comparative approach leads to a nuanced understanding of ecological structure and its articulation through narrative design. The reading draws out structural ecological meaning, highlights inconsistencies and weaknesses, and reconciles divergent polemical positions as complementary. The general principle of reading the quest hero as exemplifying ecological structure has been used by Rachel McCoppin in her analysis of mythological texts to identify ‘botanical heroism’. McCoppin chose to map myths from pre-Darwinian ages to a simple seasonal cycle of nature as her structural model. As such her research does not deal with the complex and nuanced twentieth-century confusion over ecological structure. My research confronts that problem, proposing a method for understanding discontinuities that are, in any case, ecological in nature. I arrived at an alternative to the cycle of nature that articulates the struggle to define a pattern of ecological relationships, in the form of the labyrinth. The labyrinth comprises a dichotomy. On the one hand a unicursal model articulates structure as a series of concentric loops that act as boundaries and lead toward a point of illumination. This model incorporates the cycle of nature within a more complex scheme than McCoppin’s seasonal model of regeneration. On the other hand the labyrinth in multicursal form comprises a maze that resists regularity, replacing certainty with choice leading either to continued progress or dead-ends. The labyrinth as a symbol of alienation, disorientation and confusion captures the ambition of ecological readings of quests to reconcile humanity and nature. I apply the eco- labyrinthine model to my reading of two of the twentieth-centuries most popular quest fantasies, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials. The following study shows that an eco-labyrinthine approach to reading modern fantasy quest provides a way of bringing together alternative perspectives of ecological structure in a dialogue that undermines claims to mutual exclusivity. By way of answers the eco-labyrinth provides a spectrum, or continuum, against which to plot inconsistencies. It opens up questions about heroism mapped against an ecological model. This thesis illustrates how an eco-labyrinthine exegesis works in relation to certain texts to reassess their ecocritical meaning. Some of the questions this research raises about how authors engage with ecology, biodiversity and evolution through structural modelling of fictitious worlds, reflected in narrative structure, will necessarily benefit from a lively and continuing debate. Table of Contents List of Figures Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Introduction: Ecology, Authenticity and the 1 Fall Chapter 2: The Formation of the Labyrinth Paradigm 32 Chapter 3:- The Eco-Labyrinthine in the Anthropocene 57 Chapter 4: What eco-labyrinthicity adds to critical 79 approaches to Rings and Materials Chapter 5: The Ecological Labyrinthine Circuits of The 106 Lord of the Rings Chapter 6: In Wand’ring Mazes Lost:- The Mines of Moria 142 and The Pass of Cirith Ungol Chapter 7: Pullman’s Deep Dark Maze: Between Worlds 176 and Within Worlds Chapter 8: Iconoclasm: the Unicursal Labyrinth and fixed 211 nature in Materials Chapter 9: Eco-labyrinths and alternative Edens 237 Chapter 10: Conclusion 262 Bibliography 276 List of figures Figure 1: Chartrain Labyrinth Diagram…………………………p.41 Acknowledgments Thanks to my whole family for their patience during the period of study. I would like to express my gratitude to all who have offered their advice and guidance. Particular thanks are due to Dr Ben Halligan, Dr Debra Cureton and Prof Silke Machold for their encouragement and support, and to the organisers and fellow panellists at the ASLE-UKI Conference in Dublin, July, 2014.and Ecopoetics Conference in Perpignan, June 2016 for their feedback on my conference paper presentations of material used in the chapters of the thesis. Chapter One: Introduction: Ecology, Authenticity and the Fall This study brings together J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (hereafter Rings) and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials (henceforth Materials) as the primary sources to explore ecological structure because they reflect fundamental divisions in authorial perspective. Bringing these two trilogies in conversation with one another provides a forum to explore how narrative structure and content represents alternative views about ecological structure and authenticity. A comparative analysis illustrates how these texts fit within a labyrinthine structural dichotomy, and how this prism allows us to appraise each text for: its structural ecological consistency; difficulties and divergences in application; and the creation of meaning through a labyrinthine binary approach to ecology. In so doing the study offers a novel way of reading two twentieth-century fantasy texts, which parallels the structure of narrative with the structure of ecology within their fictional worlds. The choice of Rings and Materials also draws together two of the most iconic and popular twentieth-century fantasy texts, each of which represent struggles that raise important questions over the action necessary to combat a fundamental crises. In each case the heroic quest raises broader, subsidiary questions about the nature of being. The success of the relative quests resides in the legitimacy of the hero in so far as they act as the champion of authentic order. In this chapter I locate these texts in relation to definitions of ecological order connected to a mythological tradition framed by the dominant Judeo-Christian, 1 Western myth of origins located in biblical fall and redemption. I will identify why fantasy provides a suitable means of addressing serious and complex issues in an accessible way, and how structure contributes to generating ecological meaning. General structuralist principles will be referred to where they comprise useful tools and perspectives to apply to my reading of these texts. In this chapter I will look at the structure of quest fantasy and its metaphorical extension to stand for general rites of passage toward transforming consciousness. The chapter closes by considering Rachel McCoppin’s recent application of similar principles in her structural ecocritical reading of mythology based on parallels between the quest hero and the cycle of nature. I assess the strengths and weaknesses of McCoppin’s approach preparatory to proposing an alternative model that I term an eco- labyrinthine approach. I briefly set out his approach and its advantages as a twentieth-century model over the cycle of nature to conclude the chapter. The following chapter will look at eco-labyrinthicity in more detail alongside how it compares to, and differs from, existing ecocritical and mythological approaches to reading these particular fantasy texts. I begin by considering the paradoxes within Darwinian ecology. The German scientist Ernst Haeckel coined the term ecology in 1866 to describe

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