NATURE AND DISPLACEMENT: AN ECOCRITICAL APPROACH TO FIVE WORKS BY MARIE DARRIEUSSECQ by KATHLEEN MARIE RIZY (Under the Direction of JONATHAN F. KRELL) ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the role of nature in three novels and two short stories by the French author, Marie Darrieussecq: Truismes (1996), Le Mal de mer (1999), Le Pays (2005), “Connaissance des singes” (2006), and “Plage” (2006). Using a holistic model, Darrieussecq’s works address societal issues related to the current ecological crisis. Her works provide an image of humans in nature and embrace the global identity of humankind as it relates to the environment, including varied landscapes and non-humans. Each work offers a descriptive account of a protagonist or protagonists who undergo physical and psychological displacement. Darrieussecq uses displacement in order to absent the narrator, protagonist, and reader from a given social milieu so that he or she may gain a broad point of view of nature, society, and the evolution of both. By exposing the supposed oppositions that exist within nature, like femininity and masculinity or human nature and animal nature, she does not rely on simple, traditional dualities. Instead, she is an author sans frontières. In this way, her works reveal nature and human beings as processes. INDEX WORDS: 20th Century French Literature, 21st Century French Literature, Marie Darrieussecq, Ecocriticism, Displacement, Nature-Culture, Human- Animal, littérature française NATURE AND DISPLACEMENT: AN ECOCRITICAL APPROACH TO FIVE WORKS BY MARIE DARRIEUSSECQ by KATHLEEN MARIE RIZY BA, University of Tennessee, 2007 MA, University of Tennessee, 2009 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2015 © 2015 Kathleen Marie Rizy All Rights Reserved NATURE AND DISPLACEMENT: AN ECOCRITICAL APPROACH TO FIVE WORKS BY MARIE DARRIEUSSECQ by KATHLEEN MARIE RIZY Major Professor: Jonathan F. Krell Committee: Catherine M. Jones Timothy Raser Electronic Version Approved: Julie Coffield Interim Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2015 iv DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this work to my intelligent, supportive, and generous parents Tom and Colleen, whose love for our Tennessee home influenced my own appreciation of nature. To my sister Caitlin, whose love, friendship, and shared interest in French make me profoundly happy and proud. To my brother Jeff, whose gentle heart and unique perspective of the world are inspirational. To my brother Pat, whose wit and sarcasm have always kept me laughing. Above all, to my life partner Jaume for his love, kindness, and patience through this process. I couldn’t have completed this dissertation without his steadfast support. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisor and chair of my committee, Dr. Jonathan F. Krell. I am extremely grateful for his direction through this process. My own love for contemporary French literature, and particularly ecoliterature, has grown as a result of his mentoring and teaching. I would also like to thank him for introducing me to Marie Darrieussecq’s first novel, Truismes, the outset of this dissertation. I would also like to express my gratitude to the members of my committee, Dr. Catherine M. Jones and Dr. Timothy Raser. Thank you for taking the time to read and edit drafts, as well as offer support throughout the writing process. I have been extremely fortunate to work with these prolific scholars, whose passion for French literature is evident in their scholarly work as well as their teaching. I owe them for my development as a writer, scholar, and teacher. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................................v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1 2 PHYSICAL DISPLACEMENT ..................................................................................18 3 PSYCHOLOGICAL DISPLACEMENT.....................................................................69 4 ANIMALITY.............................................................................................................116 5 CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................166 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................172 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Despite a shift in ecological consciousness in the United States and Europe, newspaper headlines still feature environmental devastation, species added to the endangered list, and human activity that threatens the fragile biodiversity of a given region. According to a map on the Environmental Protection Agency’s website, regions of the United States experience impacts of climate change that include sea level rise, increased hurricane intensity, storm surges, threats to infrastructure and more frequent and severe droughts, to name but a few. The European Environment Agency points out that France has not been immune to global warming, with an average increase of 0.9ºC throughout the 20th century.1 The prominence of environmental issues in political, scientific, and social contexts emphasizes the consternation with the current situation and the need to advocate change. As Al Gore put it, ecological crises may be “inconvenient truth[s],”2 but they are truths nonetheless. Climate change is undeniable, but it has been a source of contention in recent political debates, especially in the United States. Conservative politicians often deny climate change. For instance, Republican Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky,3 refuses compliance with an aggressive climate change agenda and urges other politicians to 1 “In France, as in the rest of the world, the last decade has seen a systematic increase in the mean temperature for 1971-2000, and seven of the ten hottest years since 1901. Minimum temperatures have also increased more (from 0.9 to 1.5 C) than maximum ones (from 0.3 to 1.1°C)” (“Climate Change Mitigation—State and Impacts (France)”). 2 The film An Inconvenient Truth, directed by Al Gore and Davis Guggenheim, was released in 2006 in order to educate the general public about climate change and its consequences. 3 Mitch McConnell wrote that “‘The Obama administration’s so-called ‘clean power’ regulation seeks to shut down more of America’s power generation under the guise of protecting the climate’” (Davenport, “McConnell…”). 2 follow suit. Florida Governor Rick Scott4 banned the use of the terms “climate change,” “global warming,” and “sustainability” in state communications and publications after he took office in 2011. An article in USA Today points out that “[i]t's more than just not saying the phrase ‘climate change.’ […] While [Republicans] happily spread misinformation […], they blindly ignore the costs of climate change Americans all across the country see in their lives already” (“Reid, Whitehouse: GOP in Denial on Climate Change”). Skepticism on the part of politicians poses problems for environmentalism, since environmentalists concerned with issues such as pollution or global warming “look to governments or non-governmental organizations […] to provide solutions” (Garrard 19). The French coined the term le climatoscepticisme for those skeptical of climate change. According to an article in La Croix, an overwhelming majority of the French population, 80% to be exact, believe rightly that climate change is due to human activity. “Mais il y a encore des poches de résistance, notamment aux Etats-Unis,” says François Gemenne, a specialist in environmental geopolitics (Réju, “Les Français de moins en moins climato-sceptiques”). In October 2014, less than half (48%) of the American population rated global climate change as a major threat, and in an international survey5 conducted in 2013, Americans were among the least concerned about climate change threatening their country.6 This may come as no surprise when one takes into account the pervasiveness of le climatoscepticisme among America’s politicians. 4 “Though it was not a written rule, ‘we were told [by our superiors] not to use the terms ‘climate change,’ ‘global warming’ or ‘sustainability,’’ [said] Christopher Byrd, a former attorney with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) Office of General Counsel” (Rice, “Fla. Gov. Bans…”). 5 The survey was conducted by the Pew Research Center (a nonpartisan fact tank based in Washington, D.C. that conducts public opinion polling) in 39 countries among 37,653 respondents from March 2 to May 1, 2013 (“Climate Change and Financial Instability Seen as Top Global Threats”). 6 “[N]early half of Americans rated global climate change as a major threat, [but] well behind concerns such as the militant group ISIS (67%), Iran’s nuclear program (59%), and North Korea’s nuclear program (57%)” (“Polls Show Most Americans Believe in Climate Change, But Give It Low Priority”). 3 Despite differences in American and French consideration of climate change, the trajectory of our planet continues down a path of destruction. Each and every day, the newspapers only reveal what we already know: humankind’s mistreatment of nature has destructive, devastating, and irreversible results. While activists like Al Gore and Yann Arthus- Bertrand7 may be labeled alarmists, they simply highlight