The Nature of Home: A Lexicon and Essays

by Knopp, Lisa

• ISBN13: 9780803227545
• ISBN10: 080322754X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-09-01
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

For Lisa Knopp, homesickness is a literal sickness. During a lengthy sojourn away from the Nebraska prairie she fell ill, and only when she decided to return home did she recover. Homesickness is the triggering event for this memoir, and its subject is nothing less than what it means to feel at home. Knopp writes masterfully about subjects as seemingly far ranging as place, nature conservation, family, literary foremothers, and the values and beliefs that sustain the individual within an impersonal world. She is passionate about her subject whether it be an endangered beetle in the salt marshes near Lincoln, Nebraska, a forgotten Nebraska inventor, or the roots of Arbor Day as a misguided attempt to "correct" a perceived lack in the Great Plains landscape as seen from the sensibilities of eastern settlers. Here is a writer who has read widely and judiciously, and for whom everything resonates within the intricately structured definition of home. Lisa Knopp is on the faculty of the Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Nonfiction at Goucher College and lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. She is the author ofFlight Dreams: A Life in the Midwestern LandscapeandField of Vision.

Author Biography

Lisa Knopp is on the faculty of the Master of Fine Arts program in creative nonfiction at Goucher College and lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. She is the author of Flight Dreams: A Life in the Midwestern Landscape and Field of Vision.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xiii
Nostalgia	1	(2)
Homecoming	3	(13)
Home	15	(1)
Far Brought	16	(13)
Alien and Native	28	(1)
The Memory of Trees	29	(12)
Creative	39	(2)
Affinity	41	(14)
Citizen	54	(1)
A Salt Marsh Reclamation	55	(12)
Body	65	(2)
Staples	67	(7)
Consume	73	(1)
Braided	74	(9)
Beauty	81	(2)
Inherent Value	83	(6)
Faith	87	(2)
In the Air	89	(11)
Adaptation	98	(2)
Necessary, Honorable Work	100	(5)
Niche	104	(1)
Backdrop	105	(14)
Sojourner	117	(2)
True Travel	119	(9)
History	126	(2)
Trail's End	128	(7)
Settle	134	(1)
Homestead National Monument Album	135	(15)
Hearth	149	(1)
Ideal Home	150	(15)
Neighbor	163	(2)
Witness	165	(8)
Community	171	(2)
Round	173	(6)
Relic	177	(2)
Mammoth Bones	179	(16)
Metaphor	193	(2)
Common Miracles	195	(5)
Quintessence	198	(2)
Spiral-Bound	200	(6)
Heaven	204	(2)
My Place of Many Times	206	(9)
Homewell	213	(2)
Everyplacetime	215	(6)
References	221