Nature Writing The Tradition in English

by Elder, John; Finch, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780393049664
• ISBN10: 0393049663
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-02-17
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

Encounters with nature have produced some of the great literature of our age. Darwin's ruminations on the Galapagos Islands, Thoreau's communion with Walden Pond, and Rachel Carson's evocation of the rocky coast of Maine are monuments in the history of writing and thought. No less significant are the searching essays of such contemporary writers as Wendell Berry, Terry Tempest Williams, Annie Dillard, and Bill McKibben. Nature Writing: The Tradition in English , includes 152 selections by 132 authors. This is the definitive collection of a many-voiced genre that has flourished in England and America for over two hundred years. Here one will find such classic selections as William Bartram's parley with crocodiles in south Florida, John Hay's exchange with a dying Arctic dovekie, and John Muir's riding out a mountain windstorm in the branches of a lofty Douglas spruce. New essays by Vladimir Nabokov, Scott Sanders, David Quammen, and Gary Snyder have been included, along with selections by such writers as David Abram, Diane Ackerman, Rick Bass, Jane Brox, John Daniel, Trudy Dittmar, Linda Hasselstrom, Ray Gonzalez, and Sharman Apt Russell. The editors of this volume have taken a special interest in including writers of color, as well as authors from many parts of the English-speaking world. Recently rediscovered works of a number of earlier writers, especially those of nineteenth-century women, also expand the range of this collection. Nature Writing: The Tradition in English displays nature in all the incarnations'”enticing, chaotic, generous, cruel, mysterious, and heartbreaking'”that have inspired men and women to portray it in words. The variety and strength of these selections represent one of the most significant and original literary achievements of our culture. Never before have our encounters with the natural world been imbued with so much peril and so much possibility. By listening to the voices of those who have observed and reflected upon that world so powerfully, we are all enriched. Gilbert White '¢ William Bartram '¢ Meriwether Lewis '¢ John James Audubon '¢ Ralph Waldo Emerson '¢ Charles Darwin '¢ Susan Fenimore Cooper '¢ Henry David Thoreau '¢ Walt Whitman '¢ Samuel Clemens '¢ John Muir '¢ Mabel Osgood Wright '¢ Ernest Thompson Seton '¢ Luther Standing Bear '¢ Rockwell Kent '¢ Virginia Woolf Isak Dinesen '¢ D. H. Lawrence '¢ Aldo Leopold '¢ Vladimir Nabokov '¢ Sigurd Olson '¢ Edwin Way Teale '¢ E. B. White '¢ René Dubos '¢ Norman Maclean '¢ John Steinbeck '¢ George Orwell '¢ Laurens Van Der Post '¢ Rachel Carson '¢ Loren Eiseley '¢ Wallace Stegner '¢ Lewis Thomas '¢ John Hay '¢ Thomas Merton '¢ Faith McNulty '¢ Farley Mowat '¢ Maxine Kumin '¢ Ann Haymond Zwinger '¢ Edward Abbey '¢ Peter Matthiessen '¢ Gary Snyder '¢ Edward O. Wilson '¢ John McPhee '¢ Edward Hoagland '¢ Wendell Berry '¢ Sue Hubbell '¢ Jim Harrison '¢ William Least Heat-Moon Bruce Chatwin '¢ Maxine Hong Kingston '¢ Linda Hasselstrom '¢ Trudy Dittmar '¢ Alice Walker '¢ Rick Bass '¢ Annie Dillard '¢ Barry Lopez '¢ Scott Sanders '¢ David Rains Wallace '¢ Alison Deming '¢ Gretel Ehrlich '¢ Emily Hiestand '¢ Linda Hogan '¢ Diane Ackerman '¢ John Daniel '¢ David Quammen '¢ Jamaica Kincaid '¢ Ray Gonzales '¢ Gary Paul Nabhan '¢ Louise Erdrich '¢ David Mas Masumoto '¢ Sharman Apt Russell '¢ Terry Tempest Williams '¢ Jane Brox '¢ Bill McKibben '¢ Janisse Ray '¢ David Abram '¢ Freeman House '¢ Barbara Kingsolver '¢ Ellen Meloy '¢ Doug Peacock '¢ Michael Pollan

Author Biography

Robert Finch is the author of five books of essays John Elder teaches English and environmental studies at Middlebury College

Table of Contents

Editors' Note	14	(1)
Introduction	15	(6)
Introduction to the 1990 Norton Book of Nature Writing	21	(12)
Gilbert White (1720-1793)	33	(18)
From The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne	34	(17)
Hector St. John De Crevecoeur (1735-1813)	51	(13)
From Letters from an American Farmer	52	(7)
From Sketches of Eighteenth century America	59	(5)
William Bartram (1739-1823)	64	(12)
From Travels Through North & South Carolina, Georgia, East & West Florida,...	65	(11)
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813)	76	(6)
From American Ornithology; or, The Natural History of the Birds of the United States	77	(5)
John Leonard Knapp (1767-1845)	82	(4)
From The Journal of a Naturalist	82	(4)
David Thompson (1770-1857)	86	(4)
From David Thompson's Narrative of His Explorations in Western America, 1784-1812	86	(4)
Dorothy Wordsworth (1771-1855)	90	(5)
From Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth	90	(5)
Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809)	95	(9)
From The Journals of Lewis and Clark	96	(8)
Charles Waterton (1782-1865)	104	(13)
From Wanderings in South America, the North-West of the United States, and the Antilles	105	(12)
John James Audubon (1785-1851)	117	(5)
From Ornithological Biography	117	(5)
John Clare (1793-1864)	122	(7)
The Natural World	122	(1)
From The Natural History Prose Writings of John Clare	123	(6)
George Catlin (1796-1872)	129	(11)
From Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Conditions of the North American Indians...	129	(11)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1903-1882)	140	(11)
From Nature	141	(3)
From The Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson	144	(7)
Charles Darwin (1809-1882)	151	(12)
From Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle	152	(8)
From On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection	160	(1)
From The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex	161	(2)
Susan Fenimore Cooper (1813-1894)	163	(5)
From Rural Hours	164	(4)
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)	168	(52)
From A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers	170	(2)
From Walden: or, Life in the Woods	172	(8)
Walking	180	(25)
From The Maine Woods	205	(6)
From Journals	211	(9)
Charles Kingsley (1819-1875)	220	(3)
From Glaucus; or, The Wonders of the Shore	220	(3)
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)	223	(7)
From Specimen Days and Collect	224	(6)
John Wesley Powell (1834-1902)	230	(6)
From Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and Its Tributaries	230	(6)
Samuel Clemens (1835-1910)	236	(3)
From Life on the Mississippi	237	(2)
Celia Thaxter (1835-1894)	239	(5)
From An Island Garden	239	(5)
John Burroughs (1837-1921)	244	(6)
In Mammoth Cave	245	(5)
John Muir (1838-1914)	250	(19)
A Wind-Storm in the Forests	251	(7)
The Water-Ouzel	258	(11)
W. H. Hudson (1841-1922)	269	(7)
My Friend the Pig	270	(4)
From Idle Days in Patagonia	274	(2)
Clarence King (1842-1901)	276	(5)
From Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada	276	(5)
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)	281	(6)
From Notebooks and Papers of Gerard Manley Hopkins	282	(5)
Richard Jefferies (1848-1887)	287	(12)
Out of Doors in February	287	(8)
Absence of Design in Nature	295	(4)
Mabel Osgood Wright (1859-1934)	299	(6)
The Story of a Garden	300	(5)
Ernest Thompson Seton (1860-1946)	305	(7)
From Wild Animals I Have Known	305	(7)
Gene Stration Porter (1863-1924)	312	(8)
From Moths of the Limberlost	313	(7)
Mary Austin (1868-1934)	320	(6)
The Land of Little Rain	321	(5)
Luther Standing Bear (1868-1939)	326	(5)
Nature	327	(4)
Edward Thomas (1878-1917)	331	(9)
Hampshire	331	(6)
The End of Summer	337	(3)
Rockwell Kent (1882-1971)	340	(3)
From N by E	340	(3)
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)	343	(3)
The Death of the Moth	343	(3)
Isak Dinesen (1885-1962)	346	(2)
From Out of Africa	346	(2)
D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930)	348	(14)
Flowery Tuscany	349	(13)
E. L. Grant Watson (1885-1970)	362	(4)
Unknown Eros	362	(2)
Wave and Cliff	364	(2)
Henry Beston (1888-1968)	366	(10)
From The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod	367	(9)
Aldo Leopold (1888-1948)	376	(21)
From A Sand Country Almanac	376	(21)
Joseph Wood Krutch (1893-1970)	397	(13)
Love in the Desert	398	(12)
Henry Williamson (1895-1977)	410	(5)
From Tarka the Otter	411	(4)
Donald Culross Peattie (1898-1964)	415	(8)
From An Almanac for Moderns	416	(7)
Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977)	423	(9)
Butterflies	423	(9)
Sigurd Olson (1899-1982)	432	(3)
Northern Lights	433	(2)
Edwin Way Teale (1899-1980)	435	(5)
The Lost Woods	436	(4)
E. B. White (1899-1985)	440	(8)
A Slight Sound at Evening	440	(8)
Meridel LeSueur (1900-1996)	448	(5)
The Ancient People and the Newly Come	449	(4)
Rene Dubos (1901-1982)	453	(4)
A Family of Landscapes	453	(4)
Norman Maclean (1902-1990)	457	(8)
From A River Runs Through It	458	(7)
John Steinbeck (1902-1968)	465	(3)
From The Log from the Sea of Cortez	466	(2)
Laurens Van Der Post (1906-1996)	468	(6)
From The Heart of the Hunter	469	(5)
T. H. White (1906-1964)	474	(5)
The Snakes Are About	475	(4)
Rachel Carson (1907-1964)	479	(6)
The Marginal World	480	(5)
Loren Eiseley (1907-1977)	485	(9)
The Judgment of the Birds	486	(8)
Richard Wright (1908-1960)	494	(3)
From Black Boy	494	(3)
Archie Carr (1909-1987)	497	(7)
The Lively Petes of Parque Vargas	497	(7)
Wallace Stegner (1909-1993)	504	(16)
Glen Canyon Submersus	504	(10)
Coda: Wilderness Letter	514	(6)
Jacquetta Hawkes (1910-1996)	520	(5)
From A Land	520	(5)
Josephine Johnson (1910-1990)	525	(8)
From The Inland Island	526	(7)
Lewis Thomas (1913-1993)	533	(6)
Death in the Open	533	(3)
The World's Biggest Membrane	536	(3)
John Hay (b. 1915)	539	(6)
The Common Night	539	(2)
The Dovekie and the Ocean Sunfish	541	(4)
Thomas Merton (1915-1968)	545	(9)
Rain and the Rhinoceros	546	(8)
Faith McNulty (b. 1918)	554	(7)
Mouse	554	(7)
Farley Mowat (b. 1921)	561	(5)
From Never Cry Wolf	561	(5)
John Haines (b. 1924)	566	(6)
Moments and Journeys	566	(6)
Maxine Kumin (b. 1925)	572	(5)
Silver Snaffles	573	(4)
Ann Haymond Zwinger (b. 1925)	577	(10)
Of Red-Tailed Hawks and Black-Tailed Gnatcatchers	577	(10)
J. A. Baker (b. 1926)	587	(5)
Beginnings	587	(5)
John Fowles (b. 1926)	592	(13)
From The Tree	592	(13)
Franklin Russell (b. 1926)	605	(9)
The Island of Auks	606	(8)
Edward Abbey (1927-1989)	614	(14)
The Serpents of Paradise	614	(6)
The Great American Desert	620	(8)
Peter Matthiessen (b. 1927)	628	(16)
From The Tree Where Man Was Born	628	(14)
From The Wind Birds	642	(2)
Noel Perrin (b. 1927)	644	(7)
Pig Tales	644	(7)
Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)	651	(7)
A Very Warm Mountain	651	(7)
Edward O. Wilson (b. 1929)	658	(4)
The Bird of Paradise	658	(4)
Gary Synder (b. 1930)	662	(22)
Ancient Forests of the Far West	663	(21)
John McPhee (b. 1931)	684	(6)
Under the Snow	684	(6)
Edward Hoagland (b. 1932)	690	(16)
Hailing the Elusory Mountain Lion	691	(13)
Thoughts on Returning to the City After Five Months on a Mountain Where the Wolves Howled	704	(2)
William Kittredge (b. 1932)	706	(12)
Owning It All	707	(11)
Wendell Berry (b. 1934)	718	(19)
An Entrance to the Woods	718	(10)
The Making of a Marginal Farm	728	(9)
N. Scott Momaday (b. 1934)	737	(6)
The Way to Rainy Mountain	737	(6)
Sue Hubbell (b. 1935)	743	(7)
From A Country Year	743	(7)
Tim Robinson (b. 1935)	750	(4)
Timescape with Signpost	750	(4)
Chet Raymo (b. 1936)	754	(5)
The Silence	754	(5)
Jim Harrison (b. 1937)	759	(7)
The Beginner's Mind	760	(6)
Freeman House (b. 1937)	766	(7)
In Salmon's Water	767	(6)
William Least Heat-Moon (b. 1939)	773	(8)
Under Old Nell's Skirt	773	(5)
Atop the Mound	778	(3)
Bruce Chatwin (1940-1989)	781	(6)
From The Songlines	782	(5)
Maxine Hong Kingston (b. 1940)	787	(3)
A City Person Encountering Nature	787	(3)
John Hanson Mitchell (b. 1940)	790	(7)
From Living at the End of Time	791	(6)
Richard K. Nelson (b. 1941)	797	(14)
The Gifts	797	(14)
Joseph Bruchac (b. 1942)	811	(8)
The Circle Is the Way to See	811	(8)
Franklin Burroughs (b. 1942)	819	(13)
Of Moose and a Moose Hunter	819	(13)
Doug Peacock (b. 1942)	832	(9)
The Big Snow	833	(8)
Robert Finch (b. 1943)	841	(4)
Death of a Hornet	842	(3)
Linda Hasselstrom (b. 1943)	845	(5)
Nighthawks Fly in Thunderstorms	845	(5)
Trudy Dittmar (b. 1944)	850	(13)
Moose	850	(13)
Alice Walker (b. 1944)	863	(4)
Am I Blue?	863	(4)
Annie Dillard (b. 1945)	867	(24)
Heaven and Earth in Jest	868	(8)
Living Like Weasels	876	(4)
Total Eclipse	880	(11)
Jan Zita Grover (b. 1945)	891	(9)
Cutover	892	(8)
Barry Lopez (b. 1945)	900	(24)
From Arctic Dreams	901	(13)
The American Geographies	914	(10)
Scott Russell Sanders (b. 1945)	924	(6)
Buckeye	924	(6)
David Rains Wallace (b. 1945)	930	(7)
The Human Element	930	(7)
Alison Hawthorne Deming (b. 1946)	937	(7)
Wolf, Eagle, Bear: An Alaska Notebook	937	(7)
Gretel Ehrlich (b. 1946)	944	(6)
Friends, Foes, and Working Animals	944	(6)
Ellen Meloy (b. 1946)	950	(9)
The Flora and Fauna of Las Vegas	950	(9)
Emily Hiestand (b. 1947)	959	(7)
Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah	960	(6)
Linda Hogan (b. 1947)	966	(5)
The Bats	967	(4)
Robert Michael Pyle (b. 1947)	971	(8)
And the Coyotes Will Lift a Leg	972	(7)
Diane Ackerman (b. 1948)	979	(4)
Why Leaves Turn Color in the Fall	980	(3)
John Daniel (b. 1948)	983	(7)
A World in Favor of Rootlessness	984	(6)
David Quammen (b. 1948)	990	(13)
Strawberries Under Ice	991	(12)
Leslie Marmon Silko (b. 1948)	1003	(12)
Landscape, History, and the Pueblo Imagination	1003	(12)
Jamaica Kincaid (b. 1949)	1015	(7)
Alien Soil	1015	(7)
David James Duncan (b. 1952)	1022	(5)
Northwest Passage	1022	(5)
Ray Gonzalez (b. 1952)	1027	(7)
The Third Eye of the Lizard	1028	(6)
Vicki Hearne (1952-2001)	1034	(4)
Calling Animals by Name	1034	(4)
Gary Paul Nabhan (b. 1952)	1038	(5)
From The Desert Smells Like Rain: A Naturalist in Papago Indian Country	1039	(4)
Louise Erdrich (b. 1954)	1043	(4)
Big Grass	1043	(4)
David Mas Masumoto (b. 1954)	1047	(4)
Planting Seeds	1048	(3)
Sharman Apt Russell (b. 1954)	1051	(11)
Gila Wilderness	1052	(10)
Evelyn White (b. 1954)	1062	(6)
Black Women and the Wilderness	1063	(5)
Barbara Kingsolver (b. 1955)	1068	(10)
High Tide in Tucson	1068	(10)
Michael Pollan (b. 1955)	1078	(13)
Weeds Are Us	1079	(12)
Terry Tempest Williams (b. 1955)	1091	(7)
The Clan of One-Breasted Women	1091	(7)
Jane Brox (b. 1956)	1098	(3)
Baldwins	1099	(2)
David Abram (b. 1957)	1101	(13)
The Ecology of Magic	1102	(12)
Rick Bass (b. 1958)	1114	(6)
From The Ninemile Wolves	1114	(6)
Bill McKibben (b. 1960)	1120	(10)
From The End of Nature	1120	(10)
Janisse Ray (b. 1962)	1130	(7)
Built by Fire	1131	(2)
Forest Beloved	1133	(4)
Permissions	1137	(10)
Index	1147