Abstract
This thesis explores how Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk's 2008 novel, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, engages with William Blake's life and his writings on animal welfare and speaks to current conversations about multispecies justice in the environmental humanities. It argues, first, that in recognizing how this novel's protagonist, Janina, selectively reads Blake to rationalize retributive justice, readers should resist a tendency to mistake this character for Tokarczuk's ideal advocate for environmental ethics. Secondly, it asserts that legal scholars' division between retributive and restorative justice offers valuable framework for approaching both this novel and ongoing debates about multispecies relations and environmental justice.
Degree
MA
College and Department
Humanities; English
Rights
https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Powell, Kristina Isaak, "Ecology and Retribution: Blake, Tokarczuk, and Animal Rights" (2023). Theses and Dissertations. 10032.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/10032
Date Submitted
2023-06-22
Document Type
Thesis
Handle
http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd12870
Keywords
William Blake, Olga Tokarczuk, animal welfare, environmental justice, multispecies agency, retributive justice, restorative justice
Language
english