Wright, Joseph Owen (2024) Plastic and Plasticity in the Contemporary Novel: Persons, Landscapes and Objects in the Apocalypse. Doctoral thesis, York St John University.

Text (Doctoral thesis) Plastic and Plasticity in the Contemporary Novel - Persons, Landscapes and Objects in the Apocalypse.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only until 28 April 2030. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (2MB) Request a copy

Abstract

This thesis analyses the representation of plastic and plasticity in the contemporary novel. Plastic is a material that is present in nearly every part of modern life. It is in our clothes, homes and cars; it is wrapped around our food, encases our technology and is now even in our bodies. Because of their ubiquity and lengthy degradation, the anxiety of plastic pollution has entered the forefront of environmental criticism. Yet, this thesis identifies that in post-apocalyptic narratives, rather than cause the end of the world plastic is often framed as humanity’s saviour. At its core, post-apocalypse fiction is an examination of what survives, as characters who endure apocalypse rely on ‘old world’ objects for continued existence. These objects are commonly described as plastic: survivors consume food preserved in plastic wrapping, protect themselves from the elements with plastic tarp and repurpose plastic security trays into shovels etc. Moreover, in surviving apocalypse, these ‘old world’ objects also signify a time before the collapse of human civilisation and thus allow for nostalgic remembrance. In utilising and contemplating these ‘old world’ plastic objects, characters are interacting with objects that have moved over a liminal event: they signify the great movement of matter from the pre-apocalypse to the post-apocalypse. This representation of plastic in a new cultural moment allows for a comprehension on the state of landscape and ecology. In this thesis, ecological plasticity is a term that conceptualises the materiality of plastic in order to read representations of matter. Ecological plasticity is a new materialist lens which depicts matter s agential, interconnected and malleable. This framework is formed from an analysis of how the plasticity of plastic illustrates the mechanisms of the material world, namely the representation of matter in the post-apocalypse

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Status:	Published
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
School/Department:	School of Humanities
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/11964

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