What is a "negative point of departure"?

Question

What is the meaning of negative in the phrase negative point of departure" Here is a sentence (paragraph): My focus is on two literary representations of plant life and the blending of life forms in stories where people turn into plants. I start by considering how a few botanists have taken the literary mode as a negative point of departure for their attempts to explain plant behavior. Then, I muster two theoretical accounts in order to read two such stories. Henri and Henriette Frankfort’s description of mythopoeic thought is used as the starting point for an interpretation of Ovid’s take on the myth of Echo and Narcissus; and Roger Caillois’ “comparative biology”, and the association between mimesis and mimicry, as the frame for a reading of Norwegian author Johan Borgen’s short story “Kaprifolium”.

Answer 1

A "point of departure" is literally the place you start from.

Figuratively, "point of departure" is used to refer to the starting point of a discussion.

Adding "negative" as an adjective to this simply means that the speaker or author's point is a negative or critical one. In other words, the discussion began from a negative point of view.