Nature Unbound: Eco-Sublime Heterotopias in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and The Last Man

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ABSTRACT This paper examines Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and The Last Man through Michel Foucault's concept of heterotopia, focusing on the Arctic and the ice cavern as spaces that disrupt societal norms. These heterotopias—sites of transformation and contradiction—expand imaginative possibilities, suspend dominant social orders and enable explorations of alternative selves. By analyzing reciprocal human-nature interactions in these spaces, the paper reveals a disorientation that challenges anthropocentric views privileging human consciousness as the sole source of knowledge. Shelley critiques Enlightenment ideals of mastering nature while retaining faith in humanity's potential to harmonize with it. The Arctic and ice cavern emerge not merely as counter-sites but as realms where marginalized Others gain agency, destabilizing the rigid Self-Other binary in Western thought. Ultimately, Shelley's works reconfigure heterotopias as transformative spaces that interrogate societal norms and reimagine humanity's relationship with nature.