Deterritorialization and ecogothic space in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake: a capitalocenic approach

Abstract

In this article, the connection between the ecoGothic and human subjectivity in a post-apocalyptic society is examined through Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of deterritorialization. The concept of ecoGothic space intersects the studies of geography, ecocriticism and ecoGothic literary analysis. The ecoGothic is particularly pertinent in the post-apocalyptic visions of authors who are haunted by the spectre of climate change and climate disaster in the Capitalocene. Following from this premise, this article interrogates the concept of ecoGothic space in relation to the Capitalocene as a fundamental idea and subsequently upholds the concept of ecoGothic space as a tool to discover the character’s dynamic spatial experiences by way of deterritorialization. By focusing on the novel Oryx and Crake by a Canadian writer, Margaret Atwood, this article therefore interrogates the characteristics of ecoGothic space that are heavily embedded in Atwood’s apocalyptic spaces. The article argues that although the protagonist of the novel experiences a form of deterritorialization in this novel, there is a subsequent reterritorialization happening both in the protagonist and the environment of the narrative which allows him to become reconciled to present reality. Therefore, the apocalyptic discourse in the novel is analysed in tandem with global environmental issues to interrogate the personal and psychological impact of the disruption of natural environmnent on the individual. By using an ecoGothic analytical lens in tandem with an engagement with Capitolocenic discourse as a methodology, this paper sheds some lights upon the study of ecoGothic specifically on the aspects of space and deterritorialization. This has led to the finding which demonstrates the correlation between the element of ecoGothic space with the protagonist’s deconstruction of space, cultural unease, social uprooting and psychological discomfort which is symptomatic of a post-apocalyptic subjectivity.