Och då du länge blickar in i en avgrund, blickar avgrunden också in i dig. : Ekofobi och kolonial ångest i Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness och Algernon Blackwoods The Man Whom the Trees Loved

Sammanfattning: This thesis aims to examine the manifestation of ecophobia in negative emotional expressions in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and “The Man Whom the Trees Loved” by Algernon Blackwood and how this relates to colonialism and colonial anxiety. The term ecophobia, popularized by Simon C. Estok, describes deep rooted, negative emotions and attitudes towards the natural environment that is prevalent in most of humanity. This thesis implements the theory of the origin of ecophobia, described by Brian Deyo as a fear of nature’s indifference towards humans and how it confronts us with our own dreaded mortality. According to theories on ecophobia, colonialism has been a successful method to expand western control over the nature that has been perceived as a threat to our existence.Previous research of Heart of Darkness and “The Man Whom the Trees Loved” have not delved into how the negative emotions toward nature and the primitive relates to the root cause of the fears – the fear of our own mortality. This thesis aims to fill that gap. The analysis shows how the main characters of each work display negative emotions according to three categories related to theories of ecophobia: a fear of the primitive core of the civilized man, a fear of transgressions that threatens western narratives and methods used to cover up the fact that we are mortal animals, and a fear of attack against ourselves or our culture that occurs when the methods and narratives fail.