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This paper aims to analyze Doris Lessing's narrative techniques to explore how she developed the discourse of her stories and depicted her contemporary realities in her story worlds. It seeks to address the question of whether there is a relationship between her real world and her storytelling, and whether her ideology and personal background influenced her narrative approach. To accomplish this goal, we will analyze the novels The Grass is Singing and Martha Quest using Gavin's Text World Theory, a cognitive approach that provides a framework encompassing three levels of analysis: Discourse World, Text World, and Sub-Worlds. Our analysis reveals that the discourse of her stories closely mirrors her real-life discourse, indicating a direct relationship between her real worlds and her storytelling. Lessing’s intricate descriptions of world-building elements, such as time, locations, characters, objects, and actions within the story, serve to advance the narrative forward through both material and existential processes. Moreover, her use of sub-worlds to express her yearning for freedom and justice reflects her critical viewpoints on the oppressive systems prevalent in her time, particularly colonization and racial issues. Furthermore, it becomes apparent that from 1944 to 1956, her storytelling method was influenced by her communist ideology. In essence, the concepts and themes represented in her stories emerge as reflections of her real-world experiences, effectively conveyed through her narrative techniques.

Environmental damages and the consequent psychological challenges have made a deep tragedy for mankind and led to the development of ecopsychology at the intersection of ecology and psychology. The approach examines the impact of human relationship on nature and its reverberation in his soul. Applying the ecopsychological approach, the present paper proffers a new reading of Goli Taraghi’s stories “The Pear Tree”,and “Anar Banoo and Her Sons” and Jesmyn Ward’s novel Salvage the Bones. The selected works of the Iranian and American female novelists were studied relying on the key concepts of “ecopsychology”, “ecological ego”, “ecotherapy”, and “transpersonal ecology” proposed by Theodore Roszak, Linda Buzzel and Warwick Fox. In addition to examining the result of the trauma caused by the breach between man and nature, this research aimed to elaborate on the positive and negative effects of this proximity and distance. It also tried to highlight the importance of self-realization in recognizing the harmony between man and nature.

In recent decades, due to the crises created in nature by humans, the review of the relationship between humans and nature has gained special importance. The existing gap between environmental damage and its reverberations has resulted in people’s lack of attention to the consequences of environmental destruction. By applying ecocriticism and relying on concepts such as anthropocentrism, biocentrism, deep ecology and shallow ecology, the present study, for the first time, compares the two novels, Ahle Ghargh (1989), by Moniro Ravanipour and Animal Dreaams (1990) by Barbara Kingsolver. While introducing deep ecology as postmodern environmental ethics, the research completely rejects the domination of anthropocentric ideology and considers self- realization and identification with nature to be the only way out of environmental crises. Ravanipour and Kingsolver suffer from eco-trauma caused by environmental destruction and they try to take an effective step in improving deficiencies in nature. Eco-trauma inspires both novelists to deal with the damage that humans, knowingly or unknowingly, cause to nature. The study aims to demonstrate the dominance of anthropocentric ideology, which brings a self-seeking and self-interested attitude, strongly causing the destruction of nature. By relying on biocentrism, deep ecology has no concern other than preserving the environment and its resources while it avoids damage to the environment with the aim of gaining profit.

Issues and topics related to nature and the environment has attracted the attention of a large number of theorists and critics. What has made the human mind focus for a long time is the importance of preserving nature, plant and animal species, which play a very essential role in maintaining the health of the human soul. Since the conflation of humanities and natural sciences results in the investigation of the relationship between man, nature and their intimacy, the research aims to reveal the deep and unbreakable bond by focusing on the novel of Animal Dreams. The present article, by adopting the ecopsychological approach, examines the novel and attempts to elaborate on the positive effects that intimacy with the environment has on the human psyche. The study aims to identify and heal the damage caused by the separation of man from nature and its serious mental and psychological consequences by using concepts such as biophilia, ecological unconscious and ecopsychology, which were first proposed by Theodore Roszak, and Edward, O. Wilson in the field of ecopsychology. 

Background of the Study:

 Considerable investigation has been done on Animal Dreams (1990), Barbara Kingsolver’s outstanding work. Despite the abundance of existing findings from the perspective of ecocriticism and ecofeminism, no research has so far attempted to analyze this novel with an ecopsychological approach. In this section, we will limit ourselves to mentioning several cases. Marwa Hussein Ahmed Abdelfattah, in his dissertation titled “An Ecocritical Reading of Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams and Prodigal Summer”, using Bakhtinian dialogics and Timothy Morton’s ecological theory examines these two novels. Theda Wrede, in her article titled, “Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams: Ecofeminist Subversion of Western Myth” (2012), which printed in Feminist Ecocriticism: Environment, Women, and Literature, reviews the myth of the West in Animal Dreams and studies its impact on the formation of the land, women, and cultural minorities. In The Ecofeminist Power of Metamorphosis: Mythic Bonds between the Feminine and the Natural in Barbara Kingsolver’s Fiction, Hayley Knowlton, illustrates how women strives to restore and improve the environment of their hometown, rather than try to pursue a utopia. Priscillia Leder in her prominent book entitled Seeds of Change (2010), provides a complete summary of Barbara Kingsolver’s life. Referring to different periods of her life, the author reviews her literary works, including her novels, articles and poems. Many critics blame Kingsolver for her hopeful outlook which is accompanied by bitter realities. Catherine Himmelwright in her article “Gardens of Auto Parts American Western Myth and narrative American Myth in The Bean Trees”, expands her argument on how Kingsolver re-imagines and retells patriarchal myths. Himmelwright illustrates how Kingsolver in The Bean Trees uses Native American myths to neutralize the traditional contradiction between a liberal and adventurous western man and a passive, static, domestic woman. Pamela H. Demory in her article entitled “Into the Heart of Light: Barbara Rereads Heart of Darkness” (2002), introduces Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible as a reflection of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. She believes that in both novels, the white agents of foreign powers are often soulless and corrupt. Both novels present an Africa which is both seductive and dangerous; a completely alien land for Western and deadly for those who cannot adapt to it (181). Nanthinii M. and Dr. V. Bhuvaneswar in their conspicuous article “Rethinking Climate Change: Cli-fi Dynamic in Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behaviour” (2015), seek to investigate Kingsolver’s prominent climate fiction. They combine the story with real climate change in the world and express beliefs and disbeliefs to explain the global catastrophe. Such perceptions help to revise existing beliefs about climate change as well as symbolically induce an urgent need to solve environmental problems.

In recent decades, a field called ecopsychology has emerged for studying the relationship between our psyche and both nature and environmental crisis. The historian, Theodore Roszak (1933-2011), is credited for coining the term ecopsychology. Roszak argues that “its goal is to bridge our culture’s long-standing, historical gulf between the psychological and the ecological, to see the needs of the planet and the person as a continuum” (qtd. in Worthy 115). Ecopsychology deals with how emotional connections to nature are developed and gives feeling, harmony, eternity and stability. This approach examines ancient and modern cultures that have a history of being embraced by nature such as Buddhism and Hinduism. According to Darlyne G. Nemeth “Ecopsychology: The interaction between psychology and environmental protection is an inspiring concept” (2015 x). Ecopsychologists believe that the widespread destruction of the environment causes great sorrow and aggravation in people and intensifies their frustration

The findings of this article propose a new perspective from which Animal Dreams (1990) can be read and analyzed. In this work, Kingsolver has depicted relationships between the characters and their varied views towards nature from a new perspective. While proving the effects of closeness, friendship and living in nature on human psyche, the study for the first time introduces new concepts such as ecopsychotherapy and ecotherapy in the field of literary criticism. The researcher believes that by combining other theories from the field of psychology with ecological approach, a new theoretical model can be invented for studying literary works from an environmental perspective. Relying on the two key concepts, proposed by Theodore Roszak and Edward O. Wilson, which are ecological unconscious and biophilia, the researcher admits that the surrounding environment, living conditions, cultural level and social status of people are very important in the formation and development of these two inherent phenomena. The researcher believes that, since the ecological unconscious is present in all humans from birth, man’s condition and lifestyle overshadows the active or passive nature of this phenomenon. Dr. Homer and his daughters are somehow connected with nature in one way or another, and this deep connection always has a healing effect for their souls. The bond of the doctor’s family with nature is unbreakable and very colorful. Nature is the consolation of their pains and suffering; moreover,  playing the role of ecopsychotherapy. Dr. Homer tries to minimize the great sadness of losing his wife by taking photographs and being in nature. Cody fights environmental destruction in Greece, and Holy the youngest daughter moves to Nicaragua to train farmers and restore nature which is a kind of ecotherapy. The presence of ecological unconscious and biophilia is quite evident in Dr. Homer’s family, while in Emiliana’s family, the situation is just the reverse. The researcher considers the lifestyle of Emiliana’s family as the reason for their passive interest in nature. In order to earn money, they cut the heads of peacocks and prepare their feathers for sale. The indiscriminate hunting of peacocks has put them at risk of extinction, while this issue is not the least important for Emiliana’s family. Kellen, Kirti and Meysen mercilessly cut peacocks’ heads off in an attempt of non-inert brutality. Animal Dreams, is the pioneer of the ecological awakening of novelists such as Barbara Kingsolver, in which the relationship between man and nature is reflected very deeply and seriously, introducing a value system based on nature.

The progression of culture and literature in the three subsequent eras of Modernism, Postmodernism and Post Postmodernism since the late-20th-century can be considered as one of the vivid factors that has led to the chain of transformation of man. In Modernism, the superiority of authentic and governmental power over people was dominant and later in the era of Postmodernism or the late capitalism, the notion of fragmentation controlled the life of the people; but in the third one, Post Postmodernism, a freshgenus of humanism was introduced by innovative authors such as David Foster Wallace who, in his philosophy of writing, illustrates not only the pain and limitations of man but also the healing instruments. Philosophically speaking, through the critical gates of Wallace’s philosophy, the subjectivity of man is given a niche, and thanks to the opportunity he has gained in the social networks, he could have made it possible to create a type of sharing and mutual communication amongst the fragmented individuals. That is to say, all alienated and limited individuals can have the role of active agents, communicators, and producers instead of being passive watchers, readers, and one-way communicators organized by the structures of the past eras. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate David Foster Wallace’s (1962-2008) trilogy—The Broom of the System (1987), Infinite Jest (1996), and The Pale King (2011)—according to his philosophy of Post postmodernism.

Although Shakespeare Studies began in the early decades of the seventeenth century shortly after the Bard’s death, the comparative criticism of his dramatic art enjoyed systematic attention centuries later, in the mid-twentieth century. One of the earliest contrastive researches seems to be Mary Weaver Sweet’s thesis entitled "The Influence of Shakespeare upon Wordsworth" (1950) which examines the poetical influence Shakespeare left upon Wordsworth’s literary career. Offering a wide range of examples, the author’s remark leads to the conclusive which indicate that he had studied the language of the dramatist until it had perhaps unconsciously become a part of his own" (82). A substantial part of the research has been dedicated to the formalistic and textual resonance of Shakespeare’s dramatic work in Wordsworth’s poetry. The most obvious problem with this research is its failure of providing sufficient evidence for the unconsciousness of the effects Shakespeare left on Wordsworth. Donald Hayden’s 1951 article, "Towards an Understanding of Wordsworth’s Borderers" investigates the philosophical grounds of Wordsworth’s play. The article’s main focus opens up the discussion of the ways in which Wordsworth’s characters were constructed, on the one hand, under the influence of his psychological circumstances, and on the other, in light of William Godwin’s utilitarian view of vice and virtue. The author also postulates that Wordsworth’s ambivalent use of some concepts such as "evil" and "good" intensifies the convolution of those concepts, paving the way for the reader’s multiple interpretations (4). Charles J. Smith, in 1953, in "The Effect of Shakespeare on Wordsworth’s The Borderers" investigates a variety of formalist and textual influences of Shakespeare on Wordsworth’s play, discussing that that Wordsworth adopted his characterization technique from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Othello. The article does not go beyond this stance which combines form and character. Actin and Reacting (2009) turned out to be an exhaustive initiative in the field of the Romantic Studies, generally focusing on the ways in which drama in the early decades of the nineteenth century flourished alongside the period’s poetry. The book investigates the structural and generic aspects of Romantic drama, including Wordsworth’s Borderers. The inclusion of a range of such subjects as realism, fantasy, nationalism, historical representation, sexuality, love, and morality, has made the work an invaluable monograph. In this book, Burwick defends that The Borderers was written under the influence of Schiller’s philosophy and dramatic style, especially his play "Die Räuber" (156). This implies that Wordsworth was impressed by continental philosophy rather than Shakespeare. The current research is predicated upon a comparative and intertextual approach to the xamination of Wordsworth’s the direct and indirect stylistic and textual adoptions from Shakespeare’s plays in his play The Borderers. In doing so, some of the most important similarities between Shakespeare’s plays and Wordsworth’s text have been unravelled and explained. The materials employed to realise this research entail a variety of library and archival resources in tandem with a handful of critical books and articles. Wordsworth’s undeniable contribution to the enrichment of Romantic poetry might have highly been inspired by his precursor poet John Milton, but the path he took in drama was utterly different. Wordsworth’s play, The Borderers is freighted with Shakespeare’s voice, tone, style, and poetics. However, it is worth mentioning that Shakespeare was not the sole figure who inspired Wordsworth in his dramatic attempt. The meticulous scrutiny of the play demonstrates that German idealism, which led to the emergence of a different version of Romanticism, the French Revolution, Godwin’s utilitarian philosophy, among other agents, were the morphing, persuasive conditions and elements that strengthened Wordsworth’s determination for trying his hand at the genre of drama; a creative commitment that consciously led him to a pragmatic adoption of Shakespearean style and theatre.