“Nothing Monstrous Existed Here”: Uncanny Nature in the Southern Reach Trilogy

“NOTHING MONSTROUS EXISTED HERE”: UNCANNY NATURE IN THE SOUTHERN REACH TRILOGY by Morgan Ellen Mundy A thesis submitted to the faculty of The University of Mississippi in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College. Oxford May 2019 Approved by: _________________________________ Advisor: Dr. Kate Lechler _________________________________ Reader: Dr. Karen Raber _________________________________ Reader: Dr. Derrick Harriell © 2019 Morgan Ellen Mundy ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you first to Dr. Kate Lechler, without whom this thesis never would have become what it is. Every time I thought I might float away with all the work I had to do, you kept me grounded. I’m grateful for all your guidance, intelligence, and humor—without which I don’t think I would have made it through this project. To Dr. Karen Raber and Dr. Derrick Harriell for being such phenomenal second and third readers. You made the defense process as easy, painless, and fun as it could have possibly been. To my family for supporting me every step of the way, even through nights of sleepless writing over Christmas and panicked phone calls when deadlines were approaching. To my friends for making me sit down to work when I needed it and dragging me away from it when I didn’t. Special thanks to Cam for being the best roommate and friend I could’ve asked for during this whole crazy time. Finally, to the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College and the University of Mississippi for allowing me the freedom to pursue this thesis and giving me the resources and support system I needed to finish it. My time at the SMBHC and Ole Miss would not have been nearly as wonderful without all the faculty, staff, and students who make it great. iii ABSTRACT MORGAN ELLEN MUNDY: “Nothing monstrous existed here”: Uncanny Nature in The Southern Reach Trilogy (Under the direction of Kate Lechler) The purpose of this thesis is to explore the relationships between humans and their environments in Jeff VanderMeer’s The Southern Reach trilogy. VanderMeer, throughout the trilogy, uses the horror aesthetics of the New Weird genre to break down the barriers between human and nonhuman, natural and unnatural. By showing the characters as more aware of their status as human and the agency of the natural world around them as a result of the novels’ plot, The Southern Reach forces characters and readers alike to confront a world in which becoming something more than human might be possible and even necessary for survival. I argue that VanderMeer’s use of this posthumanist rhetoric in his novels makes for a larger commentary around environmentalism, the status of the “human,” and environmentalism in our own world today. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER I: AREA X & THE ECOLOGICAL UNCANNY 9 CHAPTER II: TRANSFORMATIONS & POSTHUMANISM 23 CHAPTER III: COMMUNICATION & ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS 39 CONCLUSION 56 BIBLIOGRAPHY 59 v INTRODUCTION Philosopher Timothy Morton, in his 2013 book Hyperobjects, states, “The end of the world has already occurred.” When did this apocalypse happen and why have we not been able to see it? Morton contends that the end of the world correlates to the concept of the Anthropocene—the ecological era we occupy today, defined by humanity’s extreme influence over the environment around us. For Morton, “the inception of humanity as a geophysical force on a planetary scale” has brought about this “end of the world” (7); in the Anthropocene, the former balance between nature and humanity no longer applies, because humans are changing the world so rapidly. Morton’s book coins the term hyperobjects to describe the experience of being in this particular ecological moment. Hyperobjects are “assemblies of objects or phenomena whose diffusion in time or space makes them difficult to grasp—such as, for example, climate change” (Prendergast 341). “[Hyperobjects have] become central to thinking about storytelling in the modern era, in my opinion,” says author Jeff VanderMeer. “The word [hyperobjects]... is a very important signifier for any fiction writer wishing to engage with the fragmented and diffuse issues related to the Anthropocene” (“Hauntings in the Anthropocene”). VanderMeer is an author of several successful fiction series, and he is also known for his editing work, alongside his wife Ann. However, he is best known for the award-winning Southern Reach trilogy. Blending gothic horror with science fiction tropes, The Southern 1 Reach grapples with the problems of the Anthropocene and show what could happen if a hyperobject was not so far off—if it was right here, with us, instead. In the reality of VanderMeer’s novels, hyperobjects—manifesting as an unsettling, monstrous version of nature—are directly present, enacting forces on the world that unsettle the balance of the Anthropocene. The Southern Reach series, released over eight months in 2014, focuses on a mysterious site known only as “Area X”. Described as a “pristine wilderness” (Annihilation 95) along a stretch of “forgotten coast” somewhere in the United States (Authority 35), Area X is an uninhabited site in which, thirty years before the first book, a strange occurrence took place that enclosed it in a seemingly-impenetrable border and caused all humans caught within its confines to disappear. Area X is monitored by the shadowy Southern Reach, a government organization which has covered Area X’s existence up by claiming it is the site of an environmental disaster. For years, the Southern Reach has been sending expeditions into Area X’s borders, hoping to find some answers about what it holds. The first book in the series, Annihilation, chronicles the twelfth expedition; it is told from the point of view of a character known only as “the biologist,” the wife of one of the previous expedition members. The biologist comes to realize Area X is not simply a “pristine wilderness,” and has actively been transforming the people caught inside its confines. The sequel, Authority, is largely set inside the Southern Reach facility. After the death of the previous director, who traveled with the biologist’s expedition, a government agent named John Rodriguez (also known as Control) is brought in to attempt to learn the 2 secret of Area X’s creation. He forms a bond with the person he assumes to be the biologist, who is in the Southern Reach’s custody after returning from Area X. However, Control does not realize that Area X is already encroaching on the outside world; the woman who he assumes is the biologist, along with the other returned twelfth expedition members, is a doppelganger made by Area X. At the end of the novel, Area X’s borders engulf the Southern Reach facility, while Ghost Bird (the biologist’s double) and Control enter Area X itself. Finally, Acceptance shows Ghost Bird and Control’s travels through Area X and outlines its history, partly through flashbacks told from the points of view of Saul Evans—a lighthouse keeper who lived along the coast before Area X’s arrival—and Gloria—the former director of the Southern Reach. Acceptance reveals that Area X is the byproduct of an alien civilization, advanced in genetic mimicry, apparently created to clean up the environmental waste created by humans. However, it does not appear that the aliens have any real understanding or contact with humanity. At the end of the novel, it is implied that Area X’s borders continue to advance, leaving readers with the mystery of what will become of the world and the human race if it does. Through the course of this thesis, I will show that The Southern Reach trilogy is an example of an emerging movement in fiction—dubbed “The New Weird”—which, when combined with ecological themes, can provide a fresh outlook on environmental problems. VanderMeer’s books stress the New Weird philosophy of breaking down borders between the environment and humanity, the human and the nonhuman. I argue that The Southern Reach trilogy presents a world where becoming something more than human is inevitable in the time of the Anthropocene, and that VanderMeer presents the 3 shift away from the separation of the human from the environment as a necessity in order to preserve the natural world around us. VanderMeer is demonstrating, through the use of what ecocritics call the “ecological uncanny,” “the gradual realization by humans that they are not running the show, at the very moment of their most powerful technological mastery on a planetary scale”—a revelation which has come to define our current ecological moment (Hyperobjects 164). The first chapter focuses on the environment of Area X and how it encapsulates the Freudian notion of the uncanny. While uncanniness has come to be synonymous with “unsettling” or “strange”, Freud conceived the idea of “the uncanny” as something frightening which recalls repressed beliefs about the world (20). When we experience the ecological uncanny, then, we are remembering the repressed knowledge that the world around us is not separate from us; it is a home we have forgotten is home. Timothy Morton, in his book Ecological Thought, states, “The uncanny exists because we’re always somewhere” (52). Morton highlights the ecological uncanny as an inevitable byproduct of realizing we live in an interconnected world—but he also stresses that realization is crucial for developing a better ecological awareness. I show also that VanderMeer understands the experience of the ecological uncanny is central to living in the Anthropocene, which is why he uses it as a main point of horror in The Southern Reach. By making Area X into an agent in its own right, with sentience and a willpower which can even overtake humans’, he is both exposing the horror of the uncanny and breaking down the idea of a nature/culture barrier which has become prevalent in the time of humanism.

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