This thesis examines three genre high fantasy texts published between 1954 and 2001: J. R. R. Tolkien’s 'The Lord of the Rings', Ursula K. Le Guin’s 'Earthsea' cycle and Patricia A. McKillip’s 'The Riddle-Master’s Game'. The emphasis is on examining how the three texts use a common set of structures to articulate a developing argument about forms of human engagement with the physical world in the face of environmental crisis.Using theories of literary ecology and narrative paradigm, I examine the common structure shared by the three high fantasies and the weight of ethical implications it carries. The texts position the transcendent impulse of the mode of tragedy, and the behaviour it generates, as the source of crisis, and posit as a solution to the problem the integrative ethic characteristic of the comedic mode. They argue that a transition between these two ethics is necessary for the continued survival of the Secondary World. This thesis examines each text’s use of narrative paradigm to articulate methods by which this ethical transition may be achieved.An argumentative trend is documented across the three fantasies through the representation of situation, problem and solution. In each text, as the Secondary World becomes more completely a closed physical system, the source of the solution to the problem caused by the transcendent presence and the achievement of ethical transition are both relocated within the control of human actors. The three fantasies express a gradual movement toward the acceptance of not only human responsibility for, but the necessity for action to remedy, the damaged state of the world.I argue that the texts’ dominant concern is with the human relationship with and to context. Indeed, I argue that the three fantasies reflect the developing understanding of the human role in not only precipitating, but responding to, environmental crisis, and may function as both a reflection of and an intervention in that crisis.
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机译：本文研究了1954年至2001年间出版的三类高幻想小说：J。R. R. Tolkien的《指环王》，Ursula K. Le Guin的“地球周期”和Patricia A. McKillip的“ The Riddle-Master's Game”。重点是研究这三种文本如何使用一套通用的结构来表达面对环境危机时人类与自然世界互动形式的发展论点。使用文学生态学和叙事范式理论，我研究了这种通用结构。由三个高度幻想共同承担，并承载着其所含的道德含义。文本将悲剧模式的超前冲动及其产生的行为定位为危机的根源，并将其作为解决问题的喜剧模式的综合伦理特征。他们认为，这两种伦理之间的过渡对于第二世界的持续生存是必要的。本文考察了每种文本的叙事范式的使用，以阐明实现这种伦理过渡的方法。通过对情况，问题和解决方案的表示，记录了三种幻想中的争论趋势。在每个文本中，随着“第二世界”变得更加封闭，成为一个封闭的物理系统，由超然的存在和道德过渡的实现所带来的问题的解决方案的源头都重新置于人类行为者的控制之内。这三种幻想表达了一种渐进的趋势，即不仅要接受人类的责任，而且要采取行动来补救被破坏的世界。我认为，这些案文的主要关注点是人类与环境的关系。的确，我认为这三种幻想反映了人们对人类在加剧和应对环境危机中的作用的不断发展的理解，并且可能既是对危机的反映，又是对危机的干预。
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