Sharp Eyes : John Burroughs and American Nature Writing

by WALKER CHARLOTTE ZOE (ED)

• ISBN13: 9780815606376
• ISBN10: 0815606370
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-07-01
• Publisher: Syracuse Univ Pr

Summary

The essays collected here -- the first critical compendium about Burroughs -- show the breadth and depth of his achievement.

John Burroughs, the genial and tremendously popular author of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, has gained renewed appreciation at the end of the twentieth century. His quiet approach to nature writing -- a combination of scientific observation and poetic spirit, has informed generations of readers. This book is a testament to the importance of his work in modern literature.

In addition to exploring the historical aspects of Burroughs's life and character, these works illuminate his role as a writer and his relationships with such contemporaries as Whitman, Thoreau, Emerson, and Muir.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	xi
Acknowledgments	xiii
Contributors	xv
Abbreviations	xxi
Introduction	xxiii
Charlotte Zoe Walker
Part One Burroughs as Nature Essayist
The Bluebird of Perception John Burroughs and the Nature Essay	3	(9)
Jack Kligerman
The Call of the Not So Wild	12	(7)
Bill McKibben
``Sensitive to the Verge of the Horizon'' The Environmentalism of John Burroughs	19	(7)
Frank Bergon
John Burroughs The Later Writings	26	(13)
Edward Kanze
Part Two Burroughs and His Contemporaries
The Imperative of Seeing John Burroughs and the Poetics of Natural History	39	(12)
Ralph Black
``The Best Read Naturalist''? Burroughs, Emerson, and the Text of Nature	51	(13)
T. S. McMillin
Comrades Scenes from the Friendship of John Burroughs and Walt Whitman	64	(16)
Edward J. Renehan Jr.
Kindred Spirits The Relationship Between John Burroughs and John Muir	80	(15)
Jim Butler
Elaine Butler
Part Three Far and Near
John Burroughs in Great Britain	95	(10)
Elizabeth Burroughs Kelley
John Burroughs's (Re) Presentations of Alaska in His ``Narrative'' for the Harriman Alaska Expedition	105	(15)
Patrick Wasley
The Compleat Quest Pilgrimage, Treasure, Transformation---Burroughs and Fishing	120	(12)
H. R. Stoneback
``The First Cut from the Log'' John Burroughs and the Art of Finding	132	(8)
Richard Parisio
Making the Self at Home John Burroughs, Wendell Berry, and the Sacred Economy	140	(25)
Rebecca Kneale Gould
Part Four Burroughs and the Issues
John Burroughs and the Honey Bee Bridging Science and Emotion in Environmental Writing	165	(13)
Ralph H. Lutts
The Egg and the Nest Gender Politics, John Burroughs, and Popular Ornithology	178	(14)
Elizabeth Donaldson
Boyhood Rock Burroughs at the Dawn of the Modern Scientific Age	192	(9)
Robert Titus
The Enduring Legacy of John Burroughs's Religion of Nature	201	(10)
Daniel G. Payne
Part Five Burroughs and Education
Introduction Burroughs and Education	211	(2)
Charlotte Zoe Walker
The Influence of John Burroughs on Education	213	(7)
John E. Lutz
Sense, Nonsense, and Sensibility Teaching the ``Truth'' of Nature in John Burroughs and Mary Austin	220	(12)
Carol E. Dickson
The Writing of John Burroughs An Affective Supplement for Teaching High School Biology	232	(8)
Tom Alworth
The Tremendous Power of a Quiet Nudge Birch Browsings in the Seminar Room	240	(11)
Patrick D. Murphy
Part Six Burroughs Today
Thankfully, the Center Cannot Hold	251	(14)
Justin Askins
John Burroughs, Regionalist for the Millennium	265	(14)
H. R. Stoneback
Rediscovering John Burroughs A Bookman's Odyssey	279	(18)
William Kaufmann
Appendix
The John Burroughs Association Today and the Indexes to the Collected Works of John Burroughs	289	(8)
Frank Knight
References	297	(12)
Index	309