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From an environmental perspective, the earth’s future has been, and is, a current and much-debated topic in today’s society. Consumerism and materialism are two reasons why earth’s natural resources run out earlier and earlier every year. One opponent of materialism whose life has been portrayed in Jon Krakauer’s nonfiction biography Into the Wild and later in director Sean Penn’s film adaptation with the same title was Christopher (Chris) McCandless (1968-1992). In Penn’s film adaptation, materialism is made more prominent than in the biography, which gives an effect of directing criticism against a materialistic society. The theoretical framework is based on narratology and adaptation theory. Moreover, the method proceeds from close reading and comparative method to detect differences and similarities and to make a comparative analysis of the texts. One significant aspect was detected as essential when close reading the texts, namely: intertextuality. Hence, intertextuality served as a key concept in the analysis.

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Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka och tolka relationen mellan koncepten natur och kultur, så som de är hanterade i Henry David Thoreau’s Walden; or. Life in the Woods (1854) och Into the Wild (1996) av Jon Krakauer, med hjälp av en ekokritisk analys. Båda dessa böcker är baserade på verkliga händelser och upplevelser, och handlar om två individer som valde att lämna samhället bakom sig för att i stället leva ett enkelt liv i naturen. Några av motiven de hade för att göra detta innefattar ett missnöje med samhällena i vilka de levde, en längtan efter extraordinära upplevelser, och en önskan att hitta medel att förbättra jaget. Jag kommer föreslå att de båda huvudkaraktärerna delar åsikter och tankar om naturen och dess relation till deras respektive kulturer. Vidare kommer jag föreslå att några av dessa åsikter och tankar kan och bör implementeras i det svenska skolväsendet i syfte att åstadkomma en mer hållbar syn på naturen och dess relation till kultur och samhälle. Jag kommer föreslå en möjlig metod för att genomföra detta, vilken är inspirerad av Greg Garrard’s lektionsplan ”Three Hours to Save the Planet!”, som finns inkluderad i The Handbook of Sustainability Literacy: skills for a changing world (ed. Arran Stibbe, 2009).

La première section de ce mémoire consiste en un scénario de long métrage original. L’art de marcher sur la neige est un film québécois de la route développant les thèmes de la fuite, de la solitude, du silence et de la quête de soi. Avant tout, nous aborderons la bible du scénario : le sujet, l’angle de traitement, le milieu et les personnages seront entre autres présentés. La seconde section du mémoire est consacrée à une étude du concept de norditude dans les fictions artistiques. L’étude vise à faire un tour d’horizon des trois composantes sous-jacentes à l’expérience de la norditude par les personnages des fictions de l’écran : les lieux de survivance, la solitude confidente et le silence.

This essay examines Jon Krakauer’s novel Into the Wild from an ecocritical perspective. It aims to analyse three representations of nature: its interdependence with culture, its connection with transcendence, and nature as a linguistic or cultural construct in Into the Wild and relate them to ecocriticism today. The analysis uses Peter Barry’s introduction to ecocriticism in Beginning Theory: An introduction to literary and cultural theory as its main theoretical framework, along with theories by famous ecocritics such as Laurence Coupe, Kenneth Burke, and William Rueckert. Christopher McCandless’ journey in Into the Wild highlights how it may no longer be possible to consider nature and culture as two separate entities due to the domestication of nature and humans alike. This analysis further discusses the potential reasons why individuals such as McCandless may feel a need to turn to nature as a solution for the problems they may experience in their lives. This exploration also considers how the attitude towards nature and wilderness has shifted and been reconstructed through time and how this may have helped shape McCandless’ mental image of nature and wilderness, which Krakauer explores in his novel.

Abstract To tell the nonfiction biography of Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild Jon Krakauer uses a plethora of references to Henry D. Thoreau. In this thesis I study how Krakauer uses Thoreau while balancing on the fine line that differentiates the historian from the storyteller. Through an analysis of Krakauer’s use of Thoreau’s economic ideas, liberal ideas, and view of nature and wilderness I argue that Krakauer blurs a pragmatic understanding of Thoreau and uses techniques of fiction to characterize McCandless as a late Thoreauvian transcendentalist. By doing so, Krakauer explains and defends the protagonist’s actions from criticism making him appear as a character whose story is exceptional. However, the characterization of the protagonist as a follower of Thoreauvian ideals by means of a partial and romantic interpretation of Thoreau is misleading and does not provide us with a better understanding of the life of McCandless. Moreover, the romantic image of Thoreau advanced by Krakauer reflects Krakauer, or at least his times; particularly, it reflects Krakauer’s own view of wilderness and his concern for its impending demise. Consequently, I conclude that Krakauer’s version of McCandless’s story is perhaps too biased to amount to a strong historical narrative and be considered proper nonfiction. Nevertheless, the romanticized characterization of McCandless aids Krakauer to write a more appealing story.