A Miéville Bestiary: Monsters as Commentary on the Hybridity of Real and Conceptual Landscapes in the Work of China Miéville - Doctoral Thesis

Oct 6, 2026

A Miéville Bestiary develops a critical framework for reading China Miéville through the lens of landscape. It argues that Miéville repeatedly returns to genre landscapes, urban landscapes, and socio-political landscapes, and that monsters are central to examining hybridity and liminality. Using theoretical approaches to conceptual landscapes, the thesis employs the bestiary form to show how fantastical monsters become a methodology for critiquing contemporary late-capitalist social landscapes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages334

Reading Time8 h 34 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Concepts of Landscape and the Role of the Bestiary in the Work of China Miéville

Chapter One: China Miéville and the Landscapes of Genre Fiction

Chapter Two: Embracing the Tentacular and the Abcanny Monstrous: China Miéville and (New) Weird fiction

Chapter Three: China Miéville, Psychogeography and Marxist Urban Theory

Chapter Four: The “Perpetual Train”: Socialism, Revolution, Law and Justice in the Work of China Miéville

Chapter Five: The Miéville Bestiary: Monsters as social commentary in the work of China Miéville

Conclusion

A Miéville Bestiary: Monsters as Commentary on the Hybridity of Real and Conceptual Landscapes in the Work of China Miéville. Robert James O’Connor Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds York St John University School of Humanities, Religion and Philosophy April 2020 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. The right of Robert James O’Connor to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. © 2020 The University of Leeds and Robert James O’Connor Abstract To date, China Miéville has written: 12 novels; two short story collections; four volumes of non-fiction; graphic novels; roleplaying games and numerous essays and articles in a writing career spanning since the late 1990s. Miéville’s novels are celebrated for being distinctly different from each other yet there are three concepts of landscapes which Miéville keeps revisiting: genre landscapes, urban landscapes and socio-political landscapes. This thesis will explore the theoretical approaches Miéville utilises to explore these conceptual landscapes before using the form of the bestiary to highlight how these concepts are manifested in his novels. The most important of those fantastical elements at his disposal is the monster which naturally encourages an examination of hybridity and liminality. The Bestiary has existed in the form that is familiar to us for many centuries. The interweaving of morality and mysterious depictions of the natural world imbued historical bestiaries with a sense of the mythological. Their power as a device for world creation is particularly recognised by writers of fantasy fiction. This thesis will demonstrate that by using monsters as manifestations of these conceptual landscapes Miéville successfully utilises the hybridity and liminality of both monsters and fantastic fiction as a methodology to critique our own contemporary late-capitalist social landscape. Key Words: Miéville, monsters, bestiary, hybridity, genre, Weird, psychogeography, Marxism. Contents Introduction…………………………………………….…………………………………….7 Concepts of Landscape and the Role of the Bestiary in the Work of China Miéville 0.1 Concepts of Landscape 0.2 China Miéville and Marxist Literary Theory 0.3 Miéville and Derrida’s Theory of Hauntology 0.4 Monsters and Bestiaries as Social Commentary Chapter One…………………..…………………………………………………………….37 China Miéville and the Landscapes of Genre Fiction 1.1 China Miéville and Fantasy 1.2 China Miéville and Science Fiction 1.3 China Miéville and Horror 1.4 China Miéville and the Evaporation of Genre Boundaries Chapter Two…………………...……………………………………………………..……..78 Embracing the Tentacular and the Abcanny Monstrous: China Miéville and (New) Weird fiction 2.1 Miéville, Lovecraft and the Tentacle in Weird Fiction 2.2 New Weird Fiction: A Slippery Term Chapter Three……………………………………………………………………….……...106 China Miéville, Psychogeography and Marxist Urban Theory 3.1 Psychogeography and the Importance of Urban Landscapes in London’s Overthrow and The City & The City. 3.2 A Marxist Exploration of Urban Space: China Miéville, New Crobuzon and the Contemporary London Gothic. Chapter Four………………………………………………………………………………..170 “The Perpetual Train”: Socialism, Revolution, Law and Justice in the work of China Miéville 4.1 Onboard the Perpetual Train: Socialism and Revolution in China Miéville’s work. 4.2 The Broken Dream? Socialist-Utopian Ideals in Miéville’s work. 4.3 Law and Justice in Bas-Lag and Beyond. 4.4 The Railroad to the Horizon. Chapter Five…………………………………………

FAQs

What three landscape concepts does the thesis focus on in China Miéville’s work?

The thesis focuses on genre landscapes, urban landscapes, and socio-political landscapes that Miéville repeatedly revisits.

Why are monsters important to the thesis’ argument?

Monsters are treated as key fantastical elements that encourage examining hybridity and liminality, and as manifestations of conceptual landscapes.

How does the thesis use the bestiary form to interpret Miéville?

It uses the form of the bestiary to highlight how genre, urban, and socio-political landscapes appear in Miéville’s novels, especially through the critical work of monsters.

Oct 6, 2026

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