Abstract
Ecogothic literature has emerged as a poignant response to our ecophobia and contemporary cultural anxieties concerning the looming specter of ecological crisis. Ecogothic studies narratives that blur the boundaries between the human and nonhuman and delves deeper into their shifting power dynamics. The dark fantasy writer Tim Lebbon is among the writers who closely engages with the unsettling aspects of the nonhuman power in destabilizing anthropocentric hierarchies. However, his works have been mostly neglected in Ecogothic studies. Accordingly, we present an Ecogothic reading of one of his latest novels, Eden (2020), drawing on the concept of ecophobia and plants discussed by Dawn Keetley as well as Donna J. Haraway’s concept of the Chthulucene. We examine the disturbing capacity of plants in creating ecophobia and transgressing anthropocentric boundaries and argue that the disruption of human corporeal boundaries by the tentacularity of plants in Eden proposes the creation of a human-nonhuman hybrid as essential for the survival of a new form of humanity in a non-anthropocentric future. The findings of this study highlight the tentacularity of plants, manifested in the ghost orchid, as a powerful source of non-human agency which shatters human corporeal boundaries by entangling the human in its tentacles and generating a human non-human hybrid pictured in the character of Kat.
Presenters
Mahdieh AhmadiehM.A., English Literature, Urmia University, Az¯arbayjan-e Gharbi, Iran Farah Ghaderi
Associate Professor, English Department, Urmia University, Az¯arbayjan-e Gharbi, Iran
