Eco-horrors in environmental humanities: the environment as a character in Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

Abstract

This thesis examines Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation (2014) through ecocriticism, eco-horror studies, narratology, and Timothy Morton’s concept of hyperobjects. It explores how the environment in the novel is represented not as a passive background, but as an active narrative presence that shapes the plot, transforms characters, and challenges anthropocentric ideas of human control over nature. The thesis includes an introduction that contextualizes the novel and identifies a research gap. This is followed by a literature review, which covers previous studies of the novel and theoretical frameworks applied in the thesis. The close reading is divided into four parts focusing on the Border, Area X, the Lighthouse, and the Tower, showing how environmental agency becomes visible through transformation, bodily experience, unstable perception, and nonhuman communication. The conclusion summarizes the main findings of the thesis. Keywords: eco-horror, environment, hyperobjects, Area X, transformation