This essay examines the novel Totenleuchten (2014) written by a German author under the pseudonym Klara Nordin. The main question in the essay is which functions the nature has in addition to the in popular literature so common function as merely a back drop to the plot. It shows that the nature’s primary function is to distinguish and create a difference and a hierarchy between the identities of the three groups of people that occur: samis, northswedes and southswedes. The nature also has a part in the travelogue elements that occur, that close to reality describe places, restaurants and food from the region of Lappland.

Imaginary spaces in Wilhelm Raabe‘s Pfister‘s Mill: A study of thedescription of different spaces in Pfister‘s MillThis essay has examined how the rural space and the urban space differs intheir shaping and description in Wilhelm Raabe’s book Pfister´s Mill: Notes from a Summer Vacation.The analyzed places are the creek and the water worlds with its fauna,buildings and premisses, the industrial space, the study, and the living room.The descriptions of these places can be attributed to aspects such asenvironmental destruction, tradition, feeling and family relations.The result shows that the rural space with its descriptions is an idyll fromwhich that positive originates, sustainable and undamaged, attributed with words like “majestic” and “crystal clear” significate this space as idyllic. It isalso referred to as a familiar space where recreation also can be found. Therural space is described as a sustainable place. In contrast to this, the urban space appears as a threat, aimed against its idyllic and peaceful contrariety.The reason for this upcoming threat is found in the new industrialdevelopment. The urban space is however not only a threat, but also anecessity, when the rural counterpart on the other hand is referred to as thevital in life.

This essay is based on Robert Seethaler's novel A Whole Life (Ein ganzes Leben). At the centre of the novel is the main character Andreas Egger and the fictional story describes his long life in a village in the Austrian mountains in the twentieth century. The main character's relationship to, perception of, and interaction with nature is the basis of the thesis as well as how the natural world constituted a place for a variety of interests at the time. Close reading is the method used for the analysis. The aim of this work is to investigate, based on previous research, how the concept of Heimat is illustrated in the text and which characteristics from naturalistic literature are used to emphasise the text's ecocritical perspective.