Ecosystem narratives in T.C. Boyle’s literature

Details

Supervisors

De Bruyn, Ben

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [60] en langues et lettres modernes, orientation générale

Abstract

In the world as we know it today, the environmental issue is a phenomenon known by everyone, especially because of the danger it represents for humanity. It is more than a necessity to talk about it, and many artists understood that. T.C. Boyle is one of those who became rapidly aware of this fact and dedicated many of his works to this cause. In this paper, the ecosystem narratives of the author in two of his novels will be analysed, in order to see how they are used to satirise ecological issues. They will be deeply detailed and compared to each other, to highlight their similarities and differences. Then these ecosystems will also be put in relation with nine writings constituting the state-of-the-art. A sort of discussion will take place, in which elements of Boyle’s ecosystems will confirm some claims of the state-of-the-art. In the end, what will be evidenced is that T.C. Boyle uses his ecosystems in many different ways to satirise current ecological issues. This will also highlight how effective a comic tone can be as compared to a tragic one regarding these problems.