L’opposition entre sociétés humaines et nature, qui pose les fondements ontologiques de la modernité, a provoqué l’insertion de tous les êtres – humains et non-humains – dans une nouvelle phase de l’histoire de la planète : l’Anthropocène. Alors même que l’origine anthropique du défi climatique rend impérative une réflexion sur notre rapport asymétrique à la nature, la culture a déjà commencé à développer une pensée écologique féconde. Dans l’œuvre dystopique de l’écrivain et activiste environnemental mexicain Homero Aridjis, qui nous propulse dans un paysage urbain immonde, infect et encrassé qui rend tangible et visible la crise écologique, l’apocalypse est pensée comme l’aboutissement d’un monde inscrit dans la matrice ravageuse de l’utopie moderne. À travers l’étude des différentes déclinaisons des dichotomies cultivées dans la pensée moderne – ontologique (culture/nature), géographique (Europe/Amérique) et de genre (masculin/féminin) –, le mémoire mettra en relief le changement paradigmatique auquel nous convie l’auteur des dystopies La leyenda de los soles (1993) et ¿En quién piensas cuando haces el amor? (1995). Contrairement à ce qui se traduit dans la cosmologie moderne, au sein de ce diptyque littéraire, culture et nature sont comprises comme des entités complémentaires. Ainsi, notre recherche propose non seulement une étude approfondie des motifs de la crise environnementale dans le roman, mais également des pistes pour réfléchir, via la fiction littéraire, à la réhabilitation des liens intrinsèques qui unissent culture et nature. / La oposición entre sociedades humanas y naturaleza, que sienta las bases ontológicas de la modernidad, condujo a la inserción de todos los seres – humanos y no-humanos – en una nueva fase de la historia del planeta: el Antropoceno. Si el origen antrópico del desafío climático nos obliga a reflexionar sobre la relación asimétrica del ser humano con la naturaleza, la cultura ya ha empezado a desarrollar un fecundo pensamiento ecológico. En la obra distópica del escritor y medioambientalista mexicano Homero Aridjis, quien nos convoca en un paisaje urbano inmundo, repugnante y contaminado que vuelve tangible y visible la crisis ecológica, el apocalipsis se concibe como el acabamiento de un mundo inscrito en la matriz destructora de la utopía moderna. A través del estudio de las distintas declinaciones de las dicotomías cultivadas en el pensamiento moderno – ontológica (cultura/naturaleza), geográfica (Europa/América) y genérica (masculino/femenino) –, esta memoria pondrá de relieve el cambio paradigmático que instila el autor de las distopías La leyenda de los soles (1993) y ¿En quién piensas cuando haces el amor? (1995). Al contrario de lo que promueve la cosmología moderna, en este díptico literario, cultura y naturaleza están entendidos como entes complementarios. Así, nuestra indagación propone no solamente un análisis profundo de los motivos de la crisis medioambiental en la novelística, sino también pistas para reflexionar vía la ficción literaria sobre la rehabilitación de los lazos intrínsecos que unen cultura y naturaleza. / The opposition between human societies and nature, which constitutes the ontological bases of modernity, has led to the insertion of all beings – humans and non-humans – in a new phase of the history of our planet: the Anthropocene. As the anthropic origin of the climate challenge obligates us to reflect upon the asymmetric relation of humankind with nature, culture has already started to develop a productive ecological thinking. In Mexican writer and ecological activist Homero Aridjis’s dystopic work, which propels us into a filthy, repulsive and polluted urban landscape that makes the ecological crisis tangible and visible, the apocalypse is thought of as the result of a world trapped in the destructive matrix of the modern utopia. Through analyzing different expressions of the dichotomies cultivated in modern thinking – ontological (culture/nature), geographic (Europe/América) and gender-related (masculine/feminine) –, this research underscores the paradigmatic changes that Aridjis promotes in his dystopic works La leyenda de los soles (1993) and ¿En quién piensas cuando haces el amor? (1995). Counter to the modern cosmology, in this literary diptych, culture and nature are understood as complementary entities. Therefore, our thesis offers not only a complete analysis of the ecological crisis motives in the novel, but also guidelines to reflect on the intrinsic bonds that link culture and nature through literary fiction.

Trees, as threshold beings, effectively blur the line between the real world and fantastical alternate worlds, and destabilise traditional binary classification systems that distinguish humanity, and Culture, from Nature. Though the presence of trees is often peripheral to the main narrative action, their representation is necessary within the fantasy trope. Their consistent inclusion within fantasy texts of the twentieth century demonstrates an enduring arboreal legacy that cannot be disregarded in its contemporary relevance, whether they are represented individually or in collective forests. The purpose of my dissertation is to conduct a study of various prominent fantasy texts of the twentieth century, including the fantasy works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Robert Holdstock, Diana Wynne Jones, Natalie Babbitt, and J.K. Rowling. In scrutinising these texts, and drawing on insights offered by liminal, ecocritical, ecofeminist, mythological and psychological theorists, I identify the primary function of trees within fantasy narratives as liminal: what Victor Turner identifies as a ‘betwixt and between’ state (1991:95) where binaries are suspended in favour of embracing potentiality. This liminality is constituted by three central dimensions: the ecological, the mythological, and the psychological. Each dimension informs the relationship between the arboreal as grounded in reality, and represented in fantasy. Trees, as literary and cinematic arboreal totems are positioned within fantasy narratives in such a way as to emphasise an underlying call to bio-conservatorship, to enable a connection to a larger scope of cultural expectation, and to act as a means through which human self-awareness is developed. / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)

This thesis uses ecofeminist and human-animal studies lenses to explore human animal and nonhuman animal relations in early America. Most ecocritical studies of American literature begin with nineteenth-century writers. This project, however, suggests that drawing on ecofeminist theories with a human-animal studies approach sheds light on eighteenth-century texts as well. Early American naturalist travel writing offers a site replete with human and nonhuman encounters. Specifically, naturalist William Bartram's travel journal features interactions with animals in the southern colonial American frontier. Amateur naturalist Elizabeth House Trist's travel diary includes interactions with frontier and domestic animals. Sarah Trimmer's Fabulous Histories, a conduct manual that taught children acceptable behavior towards animals, provides insight about the social regulation of human and nonhuman relationships during the late eighteenth century, when Bartram and Trist wrote their texts. This thesis identifies and analyzes textual sites that blur the human subject/and animal object distinction and raise questions about the representation of animals as objects. This project focuses on the subtle discursive subversions of early Euroamerican naturalist science present in Bartram's Travels (1791) and the blurring of human/animal boundaries in Trist's Travel Diary (1783-84); Trimmer's Fabulous Histories (1794) further complicates the Euroamerican discourse of animals as curiosities. These texts form part of a larger but overlooked discourse in early British America that anticipated more well-known and nonhuman-centric texts in the burgeoning early nineteenth-century American animal rights movement.