Защо мъжът е по-ужасяващ от мечката: Екокритически, феминистки и литературни размисли върху природата като „предпочитан звяр
Why Is a Man More Terrifying Than a Bear: Ecocritical, Feminist and Literary Reflections on Nature as a “Preferred Beast”

Summary/Abstract: This article explores the literary motif of nature as a “preferred beast” through the prism of ecocritical and feminist theories, putting into dialogue the novels “Howl” (2023) by Alexander Skald and “Weyward” (2023) by Emilia Hart. At the center of the analysis is the opposition between nature’s cruelty – inevitable, cyclical and arising from the laws of survival – and human violence, which is conscious, sadistic and aimed at implementing submission and domination. Examining the female body as a field of socio-political battle and nature as a space of retribution, the text demonstrates how in these works the wild turns out to be not a fearsome threat, but the last, fairest instance for administering justice. The study argues that if nature is a beast, then its cruelty is predictable, while true horror stems from the human desire for control and senseless destruction. The article focuses on the opposition between man, associated with civilization and its hierarchies, and woman, traditionally associated with nature – bound to its cycles, strength, and intuitive justice. In the analyzed novels under consideration, nature does not simply offer refuge from patriarchal violence, but appears as its antithesis – not as a chaotic and destructive element, but as a supreme judge, restoring the order that civilization has distorted.

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