This thesis conducts a comparative and ecocritical examination of Blackfish and Grizzly Man, two nature documentary films dealing with separate cases of human fatalities caused by wild animals. The aim was to show how nature and non-human animals as well as the relationship between humans/civilization and non-human animals/nature are represented in the films. Additionally, the effects of the representations of non-human animals on a viewer are also examined. For examining representations, the main theoretical frameworks used were: Frans De Waal’s understanding of the concepts of animalcentric and anthropocentric anthropomorphism, and Hillevi Ganetz’s understanding and use of the concept of natursyn (english: view on nature), meaning cultural interpretations of nature, which divides into three views: beautiful, sublime and picturesque. For the additional aim, the concepts of trans-species empathy and false-intimacy were used, the former via Alexa Weik von Mossner’s understanding and use, the latter via Derek Bousé’s. Essentially, the related concepts refer to the human ability to engage emotionally with non-human characters.  What the results show is that both Grizzly Man and Blackfish have ambivalent attitudes toward nature. In both Grizzly Man and Blackfish there are signs of different kinds of anthropomorphism. In terms of natursyn, Grizzly Man consists of a picturesque and a sublime view, articulated verbally and visually, whereas Blackfish consists of a beautiful and a picturesque view, articulated verbally, visually and sonically. The thesis also shows that the representations of orcas as human-like and close-ups of orcas with physical injuries in Blackfish have the potential of creating trans-species empathy. In Grizzly Man, Werner Herzog’s indifferent conception of nature, proclaimed through spoken narration as close-ups of a bear face are shown, discourages the potential effects of such imagery, namely false intimacy.

This is an ecocritically oriented study with elements of autoethnography, of Stina Jackson's book Ödesmark and Therése Söderlind's Norrlands svårmod: roman om ett försvinnande. With a focus on the portrayal of Swedish northern nature in literature the study investigates whether the Norrland view of nature has changed since Romanticism or whether the Norrland forests are still as dark, mysterious and magical as they were during Romanticism. The study also examines whether nature is described as anthropomorphic or metaphysical in these novels. Finally, the essay discusses how the "non-human" is portrayed in the books and how it is used to alienate on different levels. As a result, the study shows that there are still romantic elements in nature literature that are dark, mysterious, and magical. Nature is described slightly differently between the authors; Söderlind has a more anthropocentric approach to the environment in her book while Jackson maintains a more metaphysical perspective. Jackson's metaphysical perspective gives her characters animalistic appearance and behaviours, alienating them in society. In Söderlind's anthropocentric perspective, nature makes a backdrop for the characters' lives.

While McCarthy studies have emphasized elements of the sacred in his writing, this thesis adds a new historical perspective and synthesis to reading paradigms of Cormac McCarthy. The Crossing combines the patterns of the ancient pre-Hebraic genre of the desert sublime with the basic formula of the American Western genre to interrogate McCarthy's question of whether in the postmodern moment one can still divest oneself in the desert and find access to the sublime. In an era of an invisible or absent God where post-humanist thought erases the anthropocentric supremacy of human over animal and the earth itself, the one constant in the desert sublime genre is the physical reality of the desert itself. Thus, McCarthy's recourse is to infuse the desert sublime with contemporary ecological thought. In the desert Billy Parham encounters other desert dwellers who share with him shards and traces of belief while Billy also learns bodily from the material experience of his physical sojourn. Billy is a nascent postmodern saint whose journeys into the desert reveal to him the ecotheological principle of the interconnectedness of all things as a natural physical law that undergirds the spiritual truth guiding ethical behavior. Billy arrives at a point of radical transformation that teaches him the necessity of choosing compassion, affiliation, simple service, and humility in a world of interconnected beings and living forms.

The Victoria regia was discovered in British Guiana in 1837, and for over ten years explorers and scientists tried different methods to transport viable seeds back to England. When the seeds were finally on British soil, no one could grow them successfully except Joseph Paxton, the head gardener for the Duke of Devonshire. Paxton built a special glass house at Chatsworth estate to mimic the tropical climate the Amazonian lily required, and created an innovative tank that was heated with coal and fitted with an apparatus to gently keep the water moving, replicating freshwater rivers. The œvegetable wonder, as it came to be known, had floating leaves measuring up to 6 feet in diameter and was considered truly magnificent. To reveal the successful growth of the œqueen of aquatics to the public, Paxton dressed his seven-year-old daughter Annie in a fairy costume, dimmed the lights, and set her on the largest of the floating leaves. She stood there and created a theatrical tableau that transfixed all who saw it. This performance, which I am calling a œbotanical-theatrical event, is the site of my examination. Drawing on ecocritical perspectives and performance studies, I argue that this presentation was coded with social and political messaging that reinforced English national identity and imperial intentions. The lily was a signifier of the exotic, while the child was a signifier of the domestic. This botanical-theatrical event was deeply significant because it embodied the social and political views of the time, acting out the British Empire being œon top of, and supported by, the œuncivilized world. The water lily had been taken from its natural habitat, transported across the ocean and grown in a manipulated environment. It became a specimen/spectacle. The little girl had been taken out of her natural habitat, dressed as another creature and displayed on the floating leaf. She also became a specimen/spectacle. The interaction between these two organisms in this theatrical exhibition synthesized a physical representation of Imperialism that was powerful to the people of the time because of the social and political system in which they lived.

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La novela Casas muertas de Miguel Otero Silva es una obra significativa de la literatura venezolana que trata sobre como el descubrimiento del petróleo, las enfermedades y las migraciones destruyeron un pueblo. Debido a la relevancia de los temas tratados, el objetivo de la investigación fue el analizar la representación del repertorio general del texto y de la relación entre lo humano y lo no humano en la novela. Para ello, se utilizó el método hermenéutico, realizando así una lectura minuciosa del corpus a partir de la cual se extrajo citas para analizarlas basándonos en el repertorio general del texto y la ecocrítica presentados en el marco teórico. Como resultado, se encontró que entre las técnicas utilizadas para representar los eventos contextuales en los cuales se escribió la novela fueron las alegorías para representar el conflicto político, la pobreza y el conflicto regional, las metáforas como representación de la exportación petrolera, la migración y la destrucción del pueblo y los personajes alegóricos para presentar partidos, la corrupción e instituciones. Por otro lado, partiendo desde el punto de vista ecocrítico, se encontró que la novela refleja la intervención humana en lo no humano a través de la contaminación y manipulación de animales y la destrucción de la naturaleza. Se observó a su vez la explotación de lo no humano para fines humanos a través del extractivismo petrolero y como es que a la ausencia del humano que lo no humano puede florecer. Sin embargo, se concluyó que la novela presenta de un modelo de una relación sostenible a través de la interacción de la protagonista, Carmen Rosa, y su patio. / The novel Casas muertas by Miguel Otero Silva is a significant work of Venezuelan literature that discusses how oil´s discovery, diseases and migrations destroyed a town. Due to the relevance of the themes addressed in the novel, the objective of the research was to analyze the representation of the general repertoire of the text and the relationship between the human and the non-human in the novel. To achieve this, the hermeneutic method was used by carrying out a thorough reading of the corpus and extracting quotes from it to analyze them, based on the general repertoire of the text and the ecocriticism theory presented in the theoretical framework. As a result, it was found that among the techniques used to represent the contextual events in which the novel was written were allegories to represent poverty and political and regional conflict, metaphors to represent oil exports, migration and the destruction of the town, and allegorical characters to represent parties, corruption, and institutions. Furthermore, from the ecocritical point of view, it was found that the novel reflects human intervention in the non-human world through the contamination and tampering of animals and the destruction of nature. At the same time, the exploitation of the non-human for human purposes was observed through oil extractivism, and how it is due to the absence of the human that the non-human can flourish. However, it was concluded that the novel does present a model of sustainable relationship through the interaction of the protagonist, Carmen Rosa, and her patio.

Education on sustainable development and environmental awareness is becoming increasingly important with the current climate emergency. This type of education extends across all school subjects and texts of various kinds are shown to be able to help students gain new insights about the world and themselves. This essay analyzes the eco-theological and ecocritical themes found in Sheila Heti’s novel Pure Color, which was published in 2022. Furthermore, this essay illustrates how to use the novel and the ecological theories in the EFL classroom. The results show that there are noticeable spiritual and ecocritical themes in the novel as it depicts existential thoughts about the universe, God, and man’s relationship to nature.

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