An investigation of an urban novel from an ecocritical view: If nobody speaks of remarkable things by Jon Mcgregor

Nature, which has been used as a common theme in world literature to the present day, is considered to be largely neglected in contemporary novels. Contemporary writers are criticized for their tendency to build their works on urban, culture, character development and textuality and thus drawing attention away from the natural world and causing a kind of alienation from the natural. For this reason, while the development of main stream ecocriticism continues on subjects like nature writing and pastoralism, the surveys of urban ecologies where culture and nature meet have been sparse on the grounds they have no immediate connection with non-human life. With the intent of maintaining a stance against this perception, I develop my argument on the hypothesis that urban-based literature may as well give insights about the human-nature relations and contribute to ecocriticism in terms of extending its narrow canon. To demonstrate the presence of nature in urban fictional environments, I adopt an approach that goes beyond the traditional analysis of nature within the field ecocriticism which is mostly concerned with nature-oriented texts. I apply this ecocritical reading perspective to my analysis of Jon McGregor's first novel If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things which, at first sight, gives the impression of having no concerns about non-human environment. With a critical shift in reading perspective, the novel appears to include representations of nature and human relations that are either dualistic or naturalcultural. The purpose of this thesis is to reveal that even if nature is marginal for much of the work; an urban-based fictional novel can also offer numerous possibilities for an ecocritical reading.