Refiguring the Map of Sorrow: Nature Writing and Autobiography (Under the Sign of Nature: Explorations in Ecocriticism) PDF
Preview Refiguring the Map of Sorrow: Nature Writing and Autobiography (Under the Sign of Nature: Explorations in Ecocriticism)
Refiguring the Map of Sorrow Under the Sign of Nature: Explorations in Ecocriticism . , , , Lawrence Buell, John Elder, Scott Slovic Michael P. Cohen, Richard Kerridge, Gretchen Legler, Ian Marshall, Dan Peck, Jennifer Price, Kent Ryden, Rebecca Solnit, Hertha D. Sweet Wong Refiguring the Map of Sorrow Nature Writing and Autobiography University Press of Virginia Charlottesville and London The University Press of Virginia © by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper First published -- Allister, Mark Christopher. Refiguring the map of sorrow : nature writing and autobiography / Mark Allister. p. cm. — (Under the sign of nature) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN ---(alk. paper) — ISBN ---(pbk. : alk. paper) . American prose literature—th century—History and criticism. . Autobiography. . Authors, American—Biography—History and criticism. . Natural history—United States—Historiography. . Naturalists— Biography—History and criticism. . Nature in literature. I. Title. II. Series. PS.AA ′.—dc Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 1 Writing the Self through Others 11 2 Living the Questions, Writing the Story 34 Sue Hubbell’s A Country Year 3 An Unnatural History Made Natural 58 Terry Tempest Williams’s Refuge 4 When All the World Is Cancerous 81 Bill Barich’s Laughing in the Hills 5 Constructing a Self on the Road 101 William Least Heat-Moon’s Blue Highways 6 A Pilgrimage to Fashion a Zen Self 125 Peter Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard 7 Making a Home on the Range 145 Gretel Ehrlich’s The Solace of Open Spacesand Western Myths Epilogue: “We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live” 169 Notes 173 Bibliography 183 Index 193 Acknowledgments Reading and writing about autobiographies has given me great ap- preciation for the innumerable chain of events necessary to get a per- son to a particular point in a life, such as acknowledging the debts in- curred in the writing of a book. My first such debt, for obvious and less obvious reasons, is to my parents, George and Shirley Allister. This book was years in the making, and over those years I have been helped by numerous people. Malcolm Griffith, Mark Patterson, and Chris Anderson provided ideas and support at early stages, Carol Holly, John Barbour, and John Eakin at later stages. My sister and brother-in-law, Daphne and Don Rosenblitt, patiently explained psy- choanalytic theory to me. Don Scheese turned the direction of the project at a crucial time, helping me to understand better the true sub- ject of this book and encouraging me when I needed it. I am grate- ful to St. Olaf College for their support in the form of a summer re- search grant and a sabbatical leave. Earlier versions of two chapters appeared elsewhere. I would like to thank the editors of Southern Illinois University Press for permis- sion to reprint “Writing Documentary as a Therapeutic Act: Bill Barich’s Laughing in the Hills,” from Literary Nonfiction: Theory, Criti- cism, Pedagogy, edited by Wayne C. Anderson (© by the Board of Trustees, Southern Illinois University); and I would like to thank Dr. James B. M. Schick, editor in chief of the Midwest Quarterly,for per- mission to use “Living the Questions, Writing the Story: Sue Hubbell’s A Country Year” (vol. , no. []: ‒). No writer could have a better editor than Boyd Zenner at the Uni- versity Press of Virginia. She responded promptly at every step of the process, and I appreciate deeply her warmth and goodwill. I owe Acknowledg- much thanks to the two readers for the press: John Tallmadge and ments Scott Slovic gave the manuscript the careful reading a writer can only hope for, and their lengthy critiques helped me immensely. Thanks also to my copy editor, Dennis Marshall, and Sue Oines at St. Olaf viii College for help with the manuscript. Creation of this book took years, in part, because my life as a fa- ther is more important than my life as a scholar, and I would like to acknowledge my wonderful children, Betsy and Nat, who are and al- ways will be my best creations. And greatest thanks to my wife, Jan, who listens to my ideas, asks me to explain again what isn’t clear, and then uses her professional copyediting skills, her knowledge of liter- ature, and her experience to make my writing into something far bet- ter than it was. Refiguring the Map of Sorrow
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