Hacettepe University Graduate School of Social Sciences Department of American Culture and Literature AMERICAN RADICAL ENVIRONMENTAL FICTION: DEEP ECOLOGY AND ECO-DEFENSE IN EDWARD ABBEY’S THE MONKEY WRENCH GANG, PAUL CHADWICK’S CONCRETE: THINK LIKE A MOUNTAIN, AND T.C. BOYLE’S A FRIEND OF THE EARTH Mustafa Eray EREN Master’s Thesis Ankara, 2019 AMERICAN RADICAL ENVIRONMENTAL FICTION: DEEP ECOLOGY AND ECO-DEFENSE IN EDWARD ABBEY’S THE MONKEY WRENCH GANG, PAUL CHADWICK’S CONCRETE: THINK LIKE A MOUNTAIN, AND T.C. BOYLE’S A FRIEND OF THE EARTH Mustafa Eray EREN Hacettepe University Graduate School of Social Sciences Department of American Culture and Literature Master’s Thesis Ankara, 2019 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this thesis would not have been possible without the support and assistance of a number of special people. Thus, I would like to take this opportunity to show my sincere gratitude to those to whom I am greatly indebted for their help in the process. I would like to express my gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Prof. Dr. Ufuk Özdağ, for providing advice and critical insights, and for her continuous encouragement and enthusiasm. I admire her love of nature, endless devotion to land restoration, and ecocriticism, all of which have inspired me since my undergraduate years. This thesis would not have attained this shape without her constructive feedback and guidance. I would like to thank Assist. Prof. Dr. Ayça Germen, my supervisor during my master’s classes, and Assist. Prof. Dr. Barış Gümüşbaş, for their generous help, support, guidance, and understanding. I am also thankful to my AKE Family, all the members of the Department of American Culture and Literature, for broadening my horizons and sharing their knowledge and experiences. I also would like to thank Ezgi İlimen for answering my questions and sharing her experiences with me. I also wish to thank John Michael Flynn, my friend and colleague, for proofreading my thesis in a very short period of time. My sincere gratitude goes out to my friends and colleagues, Erdem Çuhadar, Fatih Ekinci, Renan Güney, Sercan Çelik and Serkan Yıldız. They helped to keep up my motivation and encouraged me to complete this work. Finally, I especially want to thank my wonderful parents who have supported me unconditionally with their endless love throughout all of my academic and personal endeavors. They have always been my most significant source of motivation, encouragement and success. v ABSTRACT EREN, Mustafa Eray. American Radical Environmental Fiction: Deep Ecology and Eco-Defense in Edward Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang, Paul Chadwick’s Concrete: Think like a Mountain, and T.C. Boyle’s A Friend of the Earth, Master’s Thesis, Ankara, 2019. The fictional works of American authors Edward Abbey, Paul Chadwick, and T.C. Boyle present a reaction principally to the depletion of the wilderness, destruction of the land, and other environmental ills. Edward Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang, Paul Chadwick’s Concrete: Think like a Mountain, and T.C. Boyle’s A Friend of the Earth reflect the significance of the protection of the natural world through the writers’ radical environmentalist characters who possess an ecocentric worldview which leads to an ecological self. They are in a process of increasing their Self-realization and are ready to defend the natural world in self-defense which evolves into eco-defense because any harm on nature means harm to their greater Self. Their concept of community encompasses all the living and nonliving entities on earth. The radical environmentalist movement, with its deep ecological ideas which they adhere to and act from accordingly, came into being as a result of disillusionment with the inability of mainstream environmentalism to offer long-lasting solutions to current environmental problems. The authors studied in this thesis all believe in some form of radical environmentalism, and created radical environmentalist characters who resort to actions that go beyond mainstream anthropocentric environmentalism. Monkeywrenching, a form of action used by radical environmentalists, targets only inanimate machines and tools which harm nature. This thesis attempts to explore the worldviews and activities of radical environmentalist characters created by Abbey, Chadwick, and Boyle in their attempt to create a better world. The characters they have created focus on the diversity and richness of different forms of interconnected life, and they seek to increase self-realization for all in their pursuit to reach an ultimate Self- realization which aims at the well-being and health of the planet as a counter to the characters of the megamachine, or current anthropocentrist system. vi Keywords: Radical environmental fiction, deep ecology, ecological self, eco-defense, Edward Abbey, Paul Chadwick, T.C. Boyle. vii ÖZET EREN, Mustafa Eray. Amerikan Radikal Çevreci Kurgusal Yazını: Edward Abbey’nin The Monkey Wrench Gang, Paul Chadwick’in Concrete: Think like a Mountain ve T.C. Boyle’ın A Friend of the Earth İsimli Eserlerinde Derin Ekoloji ve Eko–Savunma, Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Ankara, 2019. Amerikalı yazarlar Edward Abbey, Paul Chadwick ve T.C. Boyle, kurgusal eserlerinde çoğunlukla yabanıl alanların tükenmesi, toprak tahribatı ve diğer çevresel sorunlara yönelik tepkilerini ortaya koyarlar. Edward Abbey’in The Monkey Wrench Gang, Paul Chadwick’in Concrete: Think like a Mountain ve T.C. Boyle’un A Friend of the Earth adlı eserleri doğal dünyanın korunmasının ne kadar önemli olduğunu, yazarların çevre merkezli ekolojik benliği de beraberinde getiren radikal çevreci karakterleri vasıtasıyla yansıtırlar. Kendini gerçekleştirme / tanıma aşamasını güçlendirme sürecinde, doğal dünyayı korumak için eko–savunmaya dönüşen bir meşru müdafaaya hazırdırlar, çünkü doğaya verilebilecek herhangi bir zarar, kendi büyük benliklerine verilebilecek bir zarar olarak addedilir. Onların topluluk kavramı insanların sıradan vatandaş oldukları dünyadaki canlı ve cansızların tümünü kapsamaktadır. Derin Ekolojik fikirlere sahip olan ve buna yönelik bir davranış sergileyen radikal çevreci akım, anaakım çevreciliğin güncel çevresel sorunlara uzun süreli çözümler getirememesinin yarattığı hayal kırıklığının bir sonucu olarak ortaya çıktı. Bu tezde eserlerinden faydalanılan yazarların hepsi radikal çevreciliğin bir biçimine inanarak, insan merkezli anaakım çevreciliğin ötesinde metodlar kullanan radikal çevreci karakterler yaratmışlardır. Sözkonusu radikal çevrecilerin kullandığı bir tür teknik olan ekolojik sabotaj sadece cansız makineleri ve doğaya zarar veren aletleri hedef alır. Bu tezin amacı, daha iyi bir dünya yaratmak üzere Abbey, Chadwick ve Boyle tarafından yaratılan radikal çevreci özelliğe sahip karakterlerin dünya görüşlerini ve buna yönelik faaliyetlerini derinlemesine incelemektir. Yaratılan bu karakterler, birbirine bağlı çeşitli yaşam biçimlerinin farklılık ve çeşitliliğine odaklanarak herkesin kendini gerçekleştirme / tanıma seviyesini arttırarak yeryüzünün refahını ve sağlığını hedefleyen en yüksek kendini gerçekleştirme / tanıma düzeyine megamakina ya da mevcut insan merkezli sisteme karşı ulaşmaya çalışırlar. viii Anahtar Sözcükler: Radikal çevreci kurgusal yazını, derin ekoloji, ekolojik benlik, eko–savunma, Edward Abbey, Paul Chadwick, T.C. Boyle. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS KABUL VE ONAY ...................................................................................................... i YAYIMLAMA VE FİKRİ MÜLKİYET HAKLARI BEYANI ................................ ii ETİK BEYAN ............................................................................................................ iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ v ÖZET......................................................................................................................... vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................... ix INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1: THE MONKEY WRENCH GANG (1975) BY EDWARD ABBEY: TRAILBLAZERS IN ECO-DEFENSE.................................................................... 31 1.1. EDWARD ABBEY AS GEORGE WASHINGTON HAYDUKE: THE CONCEPT OF A GREATER “SELF”..................................................................... 38 1.2. THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST AS HOME .......................................... 56 CHAPTER 2: CONCRETE: THINK LIKE A MOUNTAIN (1996) BY PAUL CHADWICK: MOUNTAIN CONSCIOUSNESS AND MOUNTAIN SELF ......... 67 2.1. RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM VS. REFORM ENVIRONMENTALISM........................................................................................ 75 2.2. CONCRETE’S “SELF-REALIZATION ................................................... 84 2.2.1. Current Human Interference with the Natural World ................................. 85 2.2.2. “Vital Needs” ............................................................................................ 89 CHAPTER 3: A FRIEND OF THE EARTH (2000) BY T.C. BOYLE: A LOOK FROM THE FUTURE-PRESENT TO THE PAST .............................................. 100 3.1. RICHNESS AND DIVERSITY OF LIFE................................................ 104 3.2. INTRINSIC VALUE OF NATURE ........................................................ 115 3.3. THE IMPACT OF POPULATION