Nature Writing: The Tradition in English

Front Cover
Robert Finch, John Elder
W. W. Norton & Company, 2002 - 1152 pages
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

From inside the book

Selected pages

Contents

EDITORS NOTE
14
INTRODUCTION
15
to the 1990 Norton Book of Nature Writing
21
GILBERT WHITE 17201793
33
From The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne
34
HECTOR ST JOHN de CREVECOEUR 17351813
51
From Letters from an American Farmer
52
From Sketches of Eighteenth Century America
59
THE WORLDS BIGGEST MEMBRANE
536
JOHN HAY b 1915
539
The Dovekie and the Ocean Sunfish
541
THOMAS MERTON 19151968
545
Rain and the Rhinoceros
546
FAITH McNULTY b 1918
554
FARLEY MOWAT b 1921
561
JOHN HAINES b 1924
566

WILLIAM BARTRAM 17391823
64
From Travels Through North South Carolina Georgia East West Florida
65
ALEXANDER WILSON 17661813
76
From American Ornithology or The Natural History of the Birds of the United States
77
JOHN LEONARD KNAPP 17671845
82
DAVID THOMPSON 17701857
86
DOROTHY WORDSWORTH 17711855
90
MERIWETHER LEWIS 17741809
95
From The Journals of Lewis and Clark
96
17821865
104
From Wanderings in South America the NorthWest of the United States and the Antilles
105
JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 17851851
117
JOHN CLARE 17931864
122
From The Natural History Prose Writings of John Clare
123
GEORGE CATLIN 17961872
129
RALPH WALDO EMERSON 18031882
140
From Nature
141
From The Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson
144
CHARLES DARWIN 18091882
151
From Voyage of HMS Beagle
152
From On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
160
From The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex
161
SUSAN FENIMORE COOPER 18131894
163
From Rural Hours
164
HENRY DAVID THOREAU 18171862
168
From A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
170
or Life in the Woods
172
Walking
180
From The Maine Woods
205
From Journals
211
CHARLES KINGSLEY 18191875
220
WALT WHITMAN 18191892
223
From Specimen Days and Collect
224
JOHN WESLEY POWELL 18341902
230
MARK TWAIN 18351910
236
From Life on the Mississippi
237
CELIA THAXTER 18351894
239
JOHN BURROUGHS 18371921
244
In Mammoth Cave
245
JOHN MUIR 18381914
250
A WindStorm in the Forests
251
The WaterOuzel
258
WILLIAM HENRY HUDSON 18411922
269
My Friend the Pig
270
From IDLE DAYS IN PATAGONIA
274
CLARENCE KING 18421901
276
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS 18441889
281
From Notebooks and Papers of Gerald Manley Hopkins
282
18481887
287
Absence of Design in Nature The Prodigality of Nature and Niggardliness of Man
295
MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT 18591934
299
The Story of a Garden
300
ERNEST THOMPSON SETON 18601946
305
GENE STRATTON PORTER 18631924
312
From Moths of the Limberlost
313
MARY AUSTIN 18681934
320
The Land of Little Rain
321
LUTHER STANDING BEAR 18681939
326
NATURE
327
EDWARD THOMAS 18781917
331
The End of Summer
337
ROCKWELL KENT 18821971
340
VIRGINIA WOOLF 18821941
343
ISAK DINESEN 18851962
346
DAVID HERBERT LAWRENCE 18851930
348
Flowery Tuscany
349
E L GRANT WATSON 18851970
362
Wave and Cliff
364
HENRY BESTON 18881968
366
A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod
367
18881948
376
JOSEPH WOOD KRUTCH 18931970
397
Love in the Desert
398
HENRY WILLIAMSON 18951977
410
From Tarka the Otter
411
DONALD CULROSS PEATTIE 18981964
415
From An Almanac for Moderns
416
VLADIMIR NABOKOV 18991977
423
SIGURD OLSON 18991982
432
Northern Lights
433
EDWIN WAY TEALE 18991980
435
The Lost Woods
436
ELWYN BROOKS WHITE 18991985
440
MERIDEL LESUEUR 19001996
448
The Ancient People and the Newly Come
449
RENÉ DUBOS 19011982
453
NORMAN MACLEAN 19021990
457
From A River Runs Through It
458
JOHN STEINBECK 19021968
465
From The Log from the Sea of Cortez
466
LAURENS VAN DER POST 19061996
468
From The Heart of the Hunter
469
TERENCE HANBURY WHITE 19061964
474
The Snakes Are About
475
RACHEL CARSON 19071964
479
The Marginal World
480
LOREN EISELEY 19071977
485
The Judgment of the Birds
486
RICHARD WRIGHT 19081960
494
ARCHIE CARR 19091987
497
WALLACE STEGNER 19091993
504
Wilderness Letter
514
JACQUETTA HAWKES 19101996
520
JOSEPHINE JOHNSON 19101990
525
From The Inland Island
526
LEWIS THOMAS 19131993
533
MAXINE KUMIN b 1925
572
SILVER SNAFFLES
573
ANN HAYMOND ZWINGER b 1925
577
JOHN ALEC BAKER b 1926
587
JOHN FOWLES b 1926
592
FRANKLIN RUSSELL b 1926
605
The Island of Auks
606
EDWARD ABBEY 19271989
614
The Great American Desert
620
PETER MATTHIESSEN b 1927
628
From The Wind Birds
642
NOEL PERRIN b 1927
644
URSULA K LE GUIN b 1929
651
EDWARD O WILSON b 1929
658
GARY SNYDER b 1930
662
Ancient Forests of the Far West
663
JOHN McPHEE b 1931
684
EDWARD HOAGLAND b 1932
690
Hailing the Elusory Mountain Lion
691
Throughts on Returning to the City After Five Months on a Mountain Where the Wolves Howled
704
WILLIAM KITTREDGE b 1932
706
Owning It All
707
WENDELL BERRY b 1934
718
The Making of a Marginal Farm
728
N SCOTT MOMADAY b 1934
737
SUE HUBBELL b 1935
743
TIM ROBINSON b 1935
750
CHET RAYMO b 1936
754
JIM HARRISON b 1937
759
The Beginners Mind
760
FREEMAN HOUSE b 1937
766
In Salmons Water
767
WILLIAM LEAST HEATMOON WILLIAM TROGDON b 1939
773
BRUCE CHATWIN 19401989
781
From The Songlines
782
MAXINE HONG KINGSTON k 1940
787
JOHN HANSON MITCHELL b 1940
790
From Living at the End of Time
791
RICHARD K NELSON b 1941
797
JOSEPH BRUCHAC b 1942
811
FRANKLIN BURROUGHS b 1942
819
DOUG PEACOCK b 1942
832
The Big Snow
833
ROBERT FINCH b 1943
841
Death of a Hornet
842
LINDA HASSELSTROM b 1943
845
TRUDY DITTMAR b 1944
850
ALICE WALKER b 1944
863
ANNIE DILLARD b 1945
867
Heaven and Earth in Jest
868
Living Like Weasels
876
Total Eclipse
880
JAN ZITA GROVER b 1945
891
Cutover
892
BARRY LOPEZ b 1945
900
From Arctic Dreams
901
The American Geographies
914
SCOTT RUSSELL SANDERS b 1945
924
DAVID RAINS WALLACE b 1945
930
ALISON HAWTHORNE DEMING b 1946
937
GRETEL EHRLICH b 1946
944
ELLEN MELOY b 1946
950
EMILY HIESTAND b 1947
959
ZipADeeDoDah
960
LINDA HOGAN b 1947
966
The Bats
967
ROBERT MICHAEL PYLE b 1947
971
And the Coyotes Will Lift a Leg
972
DIANE ACKERMAN b 1948
979
Why Leaves Turn Color in the Fall
980
JOHN DANIEL b 1948
983
A Word in Favors of Rootlessness
984
DAVID QUAMMEN b 1948
990
Strawbetties Under Ice
991
LESLIE MARMON SILKO b 1948
1003
JAMAICA KINCAID b 1949
1015
DAVID JAMES DUNCAN b 1952
1022
RAY GONZALEZ b 1952
1027
The Third Eye of the Lizard
1028
VICKI HEARNE 19522001
1034
GARY PAUL NABHAN b 1952
1038
A Naturalist in Papago Indian Country
1039
LOUISE ERDRICH b 1954
1043
DAVID MAS MASUMOTO b 1954
1047
Planting Seeds
1048
SHARMAN APT RUSSELL b 1954
1051
Gila Wilderness
1052
EVELYN WHITE b 1954
1062
Black Women and the Wilderness
1063
BARBARA KINGSOLVER b 1955
1068
MICHAEL POLLAN b 1955
1078
Weeds Are Us
1079
TERRY TEMPEST WILLIAMS b 1955
1091
JANE BROX b 1956
1098
Baldwins
1099
DAVID ABRAM b 1957
1101
The Ecology of Magic
1102
RICK BASS b 1958
1114
BILL McKIBBEN b 1960
1120
JANISSE RAY b 1962
1130
Built by Fire
1131
Forest Beloved
1133
PERMISSIONS
1137
INDEX
1147
Copyright

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About the author (2002)

Robert Finch has lived on Cape Cod for forty years, currently in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. He is the author of seven collections of essays, most recently of his radio scripts for his weekly commentary, "A Cape Cod Notebook," on the Cape and Islands NPR Station, WCAI. John Elder is chair of the environmental studies department at Middlebury College. His books include Reading the Mountains of Home.

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