This thesis aims to examine the manifestation of ecophobia in negative emotional expressions in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and “The Man Whom the Trees Loved” by Algernon Blackwood and how this relates to colonialism and colonial anxiety. The term ecophobia, popularized by Simon C. Estok, describes deep rooted, negative emotions and attitudes towards the natural environment that is prevalent in most of humanity. This thesis implements the theory of the origin of ecophobia, described by Brian Deyo as a fear of nature’s indifference towards humans and how it confronts us with our own dreaded mortality. According to theories on ecophobia, colonialism has been a successful method to expand western control over the nature that has been perceived as a threat to our existence.Previous research of Heart of Darkness and “The Man Whom the Trees Loved” have not delved into how the negative emotions toward nature and the primitive relates to the root cause of the fears – the fear of our own mortality. This thesis aims to fill that gap. The analysis shows how the main characters of each work display negative emotions according to three categories related to theories of ecophobia: a fear of the primitive core of the civilized man, a fear of transgressions that threatens western narratives and methods used to cover up the fact that we are mortal animals, and a fear of attack against ourselves or our culture that occurs when the methods and narratives fail.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(農学) / 甲第22851号 / 農博第2434号 / 新制||農||1082(附属図書館) / 学位論文||R2||N5311(農学部図書室) / 京都大学大学院農学研究科森林科学専攻 / (主査)教授 吉村 剛, 教授 神﨑 護, 教授 矢野 浩之 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Agricultural Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine was arguably the most important and widely published literary magazine of the nineteenth century. Its readership extended from Britain to America, shaping literary tastes across the Anglophone literary marketplace. BEM wrote two reviews of Nathaniel Hawthorne's fiction during the author's most prolific years. The first was published in 1847 and contained a lengthy reflection of the state of American literature that prefaced its review of Mosses from an Old ManseM. In 1855, BEM reviewed Hawthorne's novels. The language of these reviews encouraged BEM's transatlantic readership to interpret Hawthorne in a very particular light: a dark, intense, and deeply psychological Hawthorne. In other words, BEM promoted a version of Hawthorne that would ultimately stick and become the standard Hawthorne adopted by twentieth-century historians of the "American Renaissance." I argue that BEM's reviews reveal a relationship with American literature predisposed to appreciate a dark, symbolic, gothic literature, and that Hawthorne, like Irving before him, succeeded in becoming one of the greatest writers of mid-nineteenth-century American literature because he was able to appeal to and please a transatlantic, and particularly a British, audience. By transcending geographic boundaries, at least in BEM's reviews, Hawthorne was ironically identified as an iconic "American" writer.

Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine was arguably the most important and widely published literary magazine of the nineteenth century. Its readership extended from Britain to America, shaping literary tastes across the Anglophone literary marketplace. BEM wrote two reviews of Nathaniel Hawthornes fiction during the authors most prolific years. The first was published in 1847 and contained a lengthy reflection of the state of American literature that prefaced its review of Mosses from an Old Manse. In 1855, BEM reviewed Hawthornes novels. The language of these reviews encouraged BEMs transatlantic readership to interpret Hawthorne in a very particular light: a dark, intense, and deeply psychological Hawthorne. In other words, BEM promoted a version of Hawthorne that would ultimately stick and become the standard Hawthorne adopted by twentieth-century historians of the œAmerican Renaissance. I argue that BEMs reviews reveal a relationship with American literature predisposed to appreciate a dark, symbolic, gothic literature, and that Hawthorne, like Irving before him, succeeded in becoming one of the greatest writers of mid-nineteenth-century American literature because he was able to appeal to and please a transatlantic, and particularly a British, audience. By transcending geographic boundaries, at least in BEMs reviews, Hawthorne was ironically identified as an iconic œAmerican writer.

The essay examines cosmic horror by identifying and interpreting where and how it occurs in three short stories by important predecessors of the subgenre which is often referred to as “weird fiction”, “supernatural horror”, “Lovecraftian horror” or “cosmic horror”. The short stories analysed are The Yellow Sign (1895) by Robert W. Chambers, The Willows (1907) by Algernon Blackwood, and The Whisperer in Darkness (1931) by H.P Lovecraft.           Cosmic horror is the human fear of the unknown and the realization of mankind’s insignificant existence in the shadow of unfathomable forces and entities in an infinite universe. It arises as a result of supernatural events which render the previously accepted laws of nature and systematizations of reality useless.           The essay's conclusions are that cosmic horror occurs on an intradiegetic level when confrontation with the unknown destabilizes a familiar reality and brings with it devastating consequences for humanity's view of themselves, the universe, and their place in it. This happens in The Yellow Sign through the otherworldly, inhuman play that warps the minds of the protagonists and gives them insight into harmful, previously inaccessible knowledge. In The Willows and The Whisperer in Darkness, it takes place through the encounter with the extraterrestrial beings, whose mere presence conveys a futility about mankind’s insignificance and ignorance in contrast to the greatness of the universe. / Uppsatsen undersöker kosmisk skräck genom att identifiera och tolka var och hur den förekommer i tre noveller av viktiga föregångare till subgenren som ofta omnämns som "weird fiction", "supernatural horror", "Lovecraftian horror" eller kosmisk skräck. Novellerna som analyseras är The Yellow Sign (1895) av Robert W. Chambers, The Willows (1907) av Algernon Blackwood och The Whisperer in Darkness (1931) av H.P Lovecraft.           Kosmisk skräck är människans rädsla för det okända och insikten om mänsklighetens obetydliga existens i skuggan av outgrundliga krafter och entiteter ett oändligt universum. Den uppstår som ett resultat av övernaturliga händelser som gör de tidigare accepterade naturlagarna och systematiseringarna av verkligheten värdelösa.           Uppsatsens slutsatser är att kosmisk skräck uppstår på en intra-diegetisk nivå när konfrontation med det okända destabiliserar en välbekant verklighet och för med sig förödande konsekvenser för mänsklighetens syn på sig själva, universum och sin plats i det. Detta sker i The Yellow Sign genom den utomvärldsliga, omänskliga pjäsen som förvränger huvudpersonernas sinnen och ger dem insikt i skadlig, tidigare otillgänglig kunskap. I The Willows och The Whisperer in Darkness uppstår det genom mötet med de utomjordiska varelserna, vars blotta närvaro förmedlar en hjälplöshet som uppstår genom mänsklighetens obetydlighet och okunnighet gentemot universums storhet.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2004. / "A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy" Bibliography : leaves [361]-388.