Ecopolitical Transformations and the Development of Environmental
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Ecopolitical Transformations and the Development of Environmental Philosophical Awareness in Science Fictional Narratives of Terraforming. Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy by Chris Pak. September 2012. 2 Abstract This thesis examines the motif of terraforming from Wells’ War of the Worlds (1898) to James Cameron’s film Avatar (2009) in order to assess the dialogical development of ecological themes and its imbrication with politics in science fictional narratives of terraforming. It tracks the growth of the theme in four distinct phases that are contextualised by a short history of terraforming in the introductory first chapter. Chapter two examines the appearance of proto-terraforming and proto- Gaian themes in British scientific romance and American pulp sf prior to Jack Williamson’s coining of the term “terraform” in 1942. Environmental philosophical concepts of nature’s otherness, Lee’s Asymmetry, Autonomy and No-Teleology Theses and notions of identification with nature are examined in this connection to illustrate the character of these texts’ engagement with environmental philosophy and ecopolitics. Chapter three examines the development of the terraforming theme in primarily American 1950s terraforming stories and explores how the use of elements of the American Pastoral are deployed within the discourse of sf to consider the various ways in which the political import of terraforming is imagined. Chapter four explores the impact of the environmental movement of the 1960s in terraforming stories of the 1960s-1970s. Beginning with a consideration of the use of Gaian images in characterisations of alien ecologies, this chapter then progresses to consider a parallel strand of terraforming stories that transform the themes of the 1950s texts in the light of the impact of the 1960s environmental movement. Chapter five concludes this analysis by considering two major trilogies of terraforming written in the 1980s-1990s, Pamela Sargent’s Venus and Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogies. These works inherit the discourse of terraforming established by earlier works and re-configure them in ways that address contemporary environmental and geopolitical concerns. 3 Acknowledgements I would like to thank Andy Sawyer for providing the support to complete this thesis, and for introducing me to the academic study of science fiction in 2006, when I was completing my undergraduate dissertation on water in Dune . Who knew? Certainly not I, but I owe to him the direction I have taken over the six years under his supervision, throughout my BA, MA and PhD studies. Thanks are also due to Simon Hailwood, who introduced me to the domain of environmental philosophy and helped confirm my belief in the potential for philosophical speculation in science fiction. I would also like to thank all the staff at the University of Liverpool, both academic and support, for helping to shape my intellectual life throughout the nine years that I have spent at this institution. Over the years I have received much encouragement and intellectual stimulation from so many individuals, not least David Seed and Nick Davis. There are many other lecturers who have supported and encouraged me, and who have helped shaped the way I think. Rather than endlessley proliferating names, I wish to extend my thanks to the whole teaching department for providing an ideal environment for me to thrive. Thanks are also due to Cathy Rees and Chris Williams, who provided much needed administrative support throughout my time at The University of Liverpool. Finally, I would like to thank Mark Bould for his encouragement and for his criticism of my completed thesis. 4 Contents Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 3 1. Introduction 7 1.1 Terraforming: Engineering Imaginary Environments 7 1.2 Sf as Environmental Literature 11 1.3 A Disciplined Thought Experiment: Landscaping, SF and Terraforming 15 1.4 The Terraforming Tradition 19 1.4.1 Terraforming Pre-1940s: Scientific Romances and American Pulp SF 22 1.4.2 Postwar Terraforming Stories 1945-1960 24 1.4.3 Transitions: Proto-Gaian Worlds and Ecology 27 1.4.4 Transformations of the Terraforming and Gaian Theme in 1960s SF 29 1.4.5 The Gaia Hypothesis, Terragouging and Pantropy in the 1970s 31 1.4.6 Corporations, Cyberpunk and the Confluence of Terraforming and Gaia in the 1980s 35 1.4.7 The 1980s-1990s Terraforming Boom 38 1.4.8 Terraforming in the Years 2000 40 1.5 The Lay of the Land 41 2. ‘A Fantastic Reflex of Itself, An Echo, A Symbol, A Myth, A Crazy Dream’: Landscaping Nature’s Otherness in Pre-1960s Terraforming and Proto-Gaian Narratives 48 2.1.1 Terraforming as a Site for Environmental Philosophical Reflection 50 2.1.2 The War on Nature in Wells’ The Shape of Things to Come 52 2.1.3 Nature’s Otherness and Terraforming in Stapledon’s Last and First Men and Star Maker 58 2.1.4 Deism, Teleology and Nature’s Otherness in Stapledon’s Essays of Myth Creation 64 2.2.1 Pre-1940s Proto-Gaian Living Worlds 70 2.2.2 Proto-Gaian Scientific Romance: M.P. Shiel’s The Purple Cloud and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “When the World Screamed” 72 2.2.3 The Pulp SF Proto-Gaian Cluster 80 2.2.4 The Decline of the Living World Motif during the Emergence of Terraforming Narratives in 1950s American Pulp Sf 88 5 2.2.5 The Case of Solaris 92 3. The American Pastoral and the Conquest of Space: Consensus Futures of the 1950s Terraforming Boom 97 3.1 The Garden of the World in the Terraforming Stories of the Early 1950s 103 3.2 The Burden of Hope in the Garden of the Chattel: 1950s Consensus Dystopias 121 3.3 Moral Extensionism in Terraforming Stories of the Late 1950s and Early 1960s 133 3.4 Conclusion 141 4. Ecologies and the Growth of Environmental Awareness in the Transitionary 1960s-1970s Terraforming Narratives 143 4.1.1 Avatar and Proto-Gaian Worlds 147 4.1.2 Connections 149 4.1.3 Time and the Forest 158 4.1.4 Conclusion 167 4.2.1 Terraforming in the 1960s-1970s 168 4.2.2 Terraforming and Ecopolitics in the Dune Sequence 171 4.2.3 The Garden in Dune 177 4.2.4 The Moon is a Harsh Mistress 180 4.2.5 The Dispossessed 184 4.3 Ecotopia 191 5. Edging Toward an Eco-Cosmopolitan Vision in 1980s-1990s Terraforming Narratives 195 5.1 Building Critical Spaces: Pamela Sargent’s Venus and Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogies 203 5.2 Domes on Mars and Venus: Chronotopes of Enclosure in Terraforming Narratives 206 5.3 Pastoral Elements in Pamela Sargent’s Venus Trilogy 213 5.4 The Garden in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy 221 5.5 “Stepping Back” in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy 224 5.6 Visions Reflected Back to Earth 233 5.7 Mapping an Unimaginable Immensity: Visions of the Future 237 5.8 Science and Nature 239 Conclusion 245 Coda 258 Bibliography 260 6 Primary 260 Novels, Short Stories and Poems 260 Films 268 Games 269 Secondary 269 Books 269 Chapters in Books and Journal Articles 274 7 1. Introduction 1.1 Terraforming: Engineering Imaginary Environments Science fictional (sf) stories of planetary adaptation – terraforming – offer productive imaginative spaces suited to exploring contemporary ecological and geopolitical concerns. The term “terraforming” denotes a specific process or a complex of processes aimed at adapting the environmental parameters of alien planets to allow their habitation by Earthbound life. These processes include methods for adapting a planet’s climate, atmosphere, topology and ecology. Narrative treatments of terraforming have resulted in feedback between scientific and sf discourse, exemplied by Jack Williamson’s coining of the term “terraform” in his 1942 short story “Collision Orbit”, the term’s adoption by scientific discourse and sf’s later borrowing from scientific speculation on planetary adaptation. 1 Examples of this exchange include the publication of planetary scientist Christopher P. Mckay’s article “On Terraforming Mars” in Extrapolation 2 and scientist Geoffrey A. Landis’ review of Martyn J. Fogg’s Terraforming for The Bulletin of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America .3 In his scientific survey of planetary adaptation in Terraforming (1995), Fogg mentions that the technical study of terraforming involves a variety of environmental, social, political, legal and ethical complexities that impact on real-world considerations of planetary adaptation. 4 Although he acknowledges the root of the theme in sf by including a short discussion of relevant sf literature, Fogg’s focus as a scientist remains largely on the technical possibilities for terraforming. Although the dialogue between sf and science is central to terraforming, this motif has also gained increasing currency within both environmental and popular spheres. This study proposes to examine the ecocritical issues raised by terraforming in sf and pays special attention to the intersections between environmental, socio-political and ethical ideas. 1 Jack Williamson, ‘Collision Orbit’, in Seventy-Five: The Diamond Anniversary of a Science Fiction Pioneer , ed. by Stephen Haffner and Richard A. HauptMann (Michigan: Haffner Press Oak, 2004), pp. 216-277. 2 Christopher P. McKay, ‘On Terraforming Mars’, Extrapolation , 23.4 (1982), 309-314. 3 Geoffrey A. Landis, ‘Terraforming: Engineering Planetary Environments: by Martyn J. Fogg’, The Bulletin of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , 30.1 (1996), 54-55. 4 Martyn J. Fogg, Terraforming: Engineering Planetary Environments (Warrendale: SAE International, 1995), p. 24. 8 Given the impossibility of human evolution that would be swift enough to allow the safe habitation of alien environments, the colonisation of other worlds depends upon a series of technological adaptations. These adaptations can involve some form of human adaptation based either on genetic engineering, cyborgisation, or a combination of both, processes known in sf as pantropy.