TOPIA 21 119 Patrick D. Murphy Subjects, Identities, Bodies and Selves: Siblings, Symbiotes and the Ecological Stakes of Self Perception AbstrAct Some contemporary ecological ictions ofer complex representations of their characters that can play an important part in developing a potentially less destructive form of human self-perception than the one dominant in the cultures in which these works are written. To understand those representations, I consider the four categories in my title in terms of a literary ecology grounded in the materiality of existence, showing how each one may be necessary but is insuicient to deine an individual person.his analysis, ranging from postmodern theorists through genetic development systems theory and a variety of literary texts, leads to the conclusion that we are better served by the multiplicitous concept of being subject-identiied- bodily-selves rather than any singularity. ¤ Over the last few years and in the course of teaching a variety of environmental novels, I have had certain issues attract my attention that raise theoretical questions about the treatment of humans as agents and subjects in general, and