What We Will Be: Embracing Ecological Otherness in The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands

Abstract

This thesis examines the role and dimensions of ecological Otherness in the novel The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands, particularly focusing on the novel’s main characters’ changing ways of relating to the Other. It does so through thematic analysis, moving from negative to positive ways of relating to the ecological Other. The ecological Other in the novel is represented by a fantastical environment known as the Greater Siberian Wastelands. The characters largely begin with an overwhelmingly negative view of the ecological Other, with fears and prejudices enforced by the culture and society around them. However, over the course of the novel, they gradually become more acquainted with the environment around them. As they do, their fears begin to fade, and they begin to embrace the ecological Other. The characters and the environment become with each other in a myriad of ways, interacting and intra-acting with each other. The human characters become more-than-human, eventually becoming part of the ecological Other.