Nature and (Writing) Being: Petra Muller's Narrative Art Within the Model of Literature As Cultural Ecology/Natuur en (Skrywende) Mens: Petra Muller Se Verhaalkuns Binne die Raamwerk van Letterkunde As Kulturele Ekologie

Petra Muller's collection of narrative works, Desembers ("Decembers", 2007), allows for an investigation into the portrayal of identity aspects that occupy a central position in her oeuvre: the relationship between man and nature as well as the nature of authorship. These narratives reflect upon a human being's place in the wide community of earth's beings and forces, and elucidate the multiple levels of communication between man and other living creatures, which is possible by sensory awareness and by embracing the "voices of silence" beyond the range of human language. In this article Muller's narratives are explored within the framework of literature as cultural ecology, including their becoming part of a re-integrative interdiscourse by means of reintegrating in the realm of imaginative literature the excluded to the cultural reality system. Muller often links natural objects to the creation of stories/art, thus integrating the spheres of nature and culture. This is done by reconstructing objects from nature, by means of imagination and by transcending reality, into symbols of the author's/artist's activity. Key words: nature, writing, Afrikaans writing, ecology. Inleidend