Reimagining Home: Literary Encounters with Deep Ecological Thought

This paper brings together Ursula K. Le Guin’s novel Always Coming
Home and Biljana Crvenkovska’s novel Куќа над Брановите (House Above the Waves)
by reading the Macedonian text in relation to Arne Næss’s theory of deep ecology and
in the broader context of Le Guin’s ecological poetics. These novels represent different
literary traditions, cultures, and histories, but articulate ideas of “dwelling”: not as just
shelter, but as a way of living with the natural world. Whereas Le Guin has long been
discussed in feminist and ecocritical circles, Crvenkovska’s work, published recently, has
so far received limited critical attention beyond local cultural commentary. This paper
examines House Above the Waves through the lens of deep ecology, showing how its
stripped-down style reflects on the value of nature and the shifting boundaries between
body, self, and environment. Considering the novel in relation to Le Guin’s work allows
us to see how deep ecological ideas emerge across distinct literary traditions—whether in
communal ritual or in solitary endurance. Both stories offer meaningful ways to rethink
how we live as part of a more-than-human world.