This essay analyzes the depictions of urban nature in Ottessa Moshfegh’s novel My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018). The theoretical framework consists primarily of Astrid Bracke’s thoughts on “urban ecology”, Christophe Den Tant’s descriptions of “the urban sublime” and William Cronon’s thoughts on the concept of “Wilderness”, all of which work in the ecocritical field. My Year of Rest and Relaxation explores the concepts of naturalness and artificiality through language and various themes. It takes place in an urban environment where the main character chooses to isolate herself in her city apartment, hence the existence of nature in the traditional sense is absent, yet the text works consistently with elements of urban nature in varying situations. The way in which this urban nature is presented relates to other themes such as the exploration of borders and dichotomies such as nature and culture, organic and artificial as well as animate and inanimate.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-202639 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Nahrendorf, Zelda |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för kultur och estetik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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