https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1346204
https://doi.org/10.60056/Lit.2025.34.218-238
Ecocriticism and Hope in Picturebooks: The Giving Tree and The Lost Soul
Albena Varsano
This article examines the ecocritical potential of picturebooks as intermodal works capable of fostering ecological awareness and hope. The analysis focuses on two emblematic works – “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein and “The Lost Soul” by Olga Tokarczuk and Joanna Concejo – interpreted through an interdisciplinary approach combining ecocriticism, Jungian psychology, and visual perception theory. The study reveals how the interaction between text and illustrations creates a field for multiple readings, guiding the reader from crisis to wholeness, from dissociation to unity. The first book is analyzed as a warning about the alienation between humans and nature, while the second offers a model for restoring this connection. Picturebooks are established as a transformative space that, through affective impact and archetypal symbolism, activates hope not as naive optimism but as a conscious choice to restore the connection with oneself and nature.
Keywords: ecocriticism; hope; Jungian psychology; picturebook; nature
