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Miscegenation in the Marvelous: Race and Hybridity in the Fantasy Novels of Neil Gaiman and China Miã©Ville

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Miscegenation in the Marvelous: Race and Hybridity in the Fantasy Novels of Neil Gaiman and China Miã©Ville MISCEGENATION IN THE MARVELOUS: RACE AND HYBRIDITY IN THE FANTASY NOVELS OF NEIL GAIMAN AND CHINA MIÉVILLE (Spine title: MISCEGENATION IN THE MARVELOUS) (Thesis format: Monograph) by Nikolai Rodrigues Graduate Program in English A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Nikolai Rodrigues 2012 THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO SCHOOL OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION Supervisory Examining Board Dr. Jane Toswell Dr. Tim Blackmore ______________________________ ______________________________ Dr. Jonathan Boulter Supervisory Committee ______________________________ Dr. Wendy Pearson Dr. Alison Lee ______________________________ ______________________________ The thesis by Nikolai Rodrigues entitled: Miscegenation in the Marvelous: Race and Hybridity in the Fantasy Novels of Neil Gaiman and China Miéville is accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Tuesday 21 August 2012 Dr. Steven Bruhm Date___________________________ _______________________________ Chair of the Thesis Examination Board ii Abstract Fantasy literature in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries uses the construction of new races as a mirror through which to see the human race more clearly. Categorizations of fantasy have tended to avoid discussions of race, in part because it is an uncomfortable gray area since fantasy literature does not yet have a clear taxonomy. Nevertheless, race is often an unavoidable component of fantasy literature. This thesis considers J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings as a taproot text for fantasy literature before moving on to Neil Gaiman’s American Gods and China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station , both newer fantasy novels which include interesting constructions of race and raise issues of miscegenation and hybridity. This thesis moves towards an understanding of what purpose creating and utilizing races serves, and how fantasy literature allows for the identification and potential resolution of a number of human anxieties regarding race. Keywords Race, miscegenation, hybridity, other, fantasy literature, J.R.R. Tolkien, Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, The Lord of the Rings , American Gods , Perdido Street Station . iii Acknowledgments I would like to wholeheartedly thank my supervisor Dr. Jane Toswell, who took a scattered jumble of ideas and made them into something far better than I could have managed to create on my own. I would also like to thank my second reader Dr. Wendy Pearson, who, along with Dr. Toswell, addressed problem after problem, draft after draft, quickly and efficiently. I can only marvel at the academic ability of these two exemplary individuals. iv Table of Contents Title Page…………………………………………………………………………………..i CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION ........................................................................... ii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents ................................................................................................................ v Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................. 1 1 Constructions of Race in Fantasy Literature .................................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Race......................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Miscegenation ......................................................................................................... 8 1.4 Fantasy .................................................................................................................. 14 1.5 Defining Fantasy ................................................................................................... 18 1.6 Race as a Feature of Fantasy ................................................................................. 23 1.7 Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings ........................................................................... 26 Chapter 2 ........................................................................................................................... 43 2 Of Gods and Men: Race and Miscegenation in Neil Gaiman’s American Gods ......... 43 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 43 2.2 Shadow .................................................................................................................. 44 2.3 Whiteness in Fantasy ............................................................................................ 47 2.4 The Gods ............................................................................................................... 52 2.5 Mr. Wednesday ..................................................................................................... 55 2.6 Mr. Nancy ............................................................................................................. 57 2.7 The Egyptian Gods ............................................................................................... 60 2.8 Shadow as Demi-God ........................................................................................... 64 v 2.9 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 67 Chapter 3 ........................................................................................................................... 68 3 A City of Monsters: Weird Hybridity and Miscegenation in China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station ................................................................................................................ 68 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 68 3.2 Race in New Crobuzon ......................................................................................... 71 3.3 Race and Science .................................................................................................. 77 3.4 The Garuda............................................................................................................ 81 3.5 Yagharek’s Transformation .................................................................................. 82 3.6 The Remade .......................................................................................................... 84 3.7 Interspecies Relationships and Remade Prostitution ............................................ 86 3.8 Slake-moths and the Monstrous Other .................................................................. 90 3.9 Motley ................................................................................................................... 95 3.10 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 97 Conclusion: The Problem of Endings ............................................................................. 100 Works Cited .................................................................................................................... 106 Curriculum Vitae ............................................................................................................ 114 vi 1 Chapter 1 1 Constructions of Race in Fantasy Literature The ways in which race is represented in the fantastic provide a measure of the concern the culture has for matters relating to race. If a horror film is racist, whether consciously or unconsciously, leaving such racism unexamined allows for the perpetuation of it, both by the mass media and by the ordinary moviegoer. Similarly, a movie or novel that works actively to expose and indict racism can influence many people. Examining the systems of racial meaning and stereotypes within a work (or, in this case, within a genre) provides a better understanding of the culture, cultural production, and racial ideology. It is a political act, as Le Guin said of fiction; criticism, and particularly criticism of the popular, must also choose between collusion and subversion. The second, and related, reason for the study of race in the fantastic has to do with the fantastic’s lack of realism; it can serve as a literature of possibility…By presenting alternatives, the fantastic throws into relief ‘the real.’ Because works of the fantastic are simultaneously situated both within the writer’s realm (and thus subject to the codes and conventions of the time in which they are written), and within the realm of the imaginary worlds constructed, they can both reenact and alter racial codes and representations…The imagined has real effects. (Leonard 4) 1.1 Introduction This thesis addresses race in works of fantasy literature, focusing on racial representation, as well as issues of miscegenation and hybridity. Accordingly, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is utilized as a taproot text which has influenced the depiction of races in fantasy. Neil Gaiman’s American Gods and China Miéville’s
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