The Practice of the Wild: Essays

by Gary Snyder, Robert Hass (Introduction)

Overview

A collection of captivatingly meditative essays that display a deep understanding of Buddhist belief, wildness, wildlife, and the world from an American cultural force.

With thoughts ranging from political and spiritual matters to those regarding the environment and the art of becoming native to this continent, the nine essays in The Practice of the Wild display the deep understanding and wide erudition of Gary Snyder. These essays, first published in 1990, stand as the mature centerpiece of Snyder's work and thought, and this profound collection is widely accepted as one of the central texts on wilderness and the interaction of nature and culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781640094215
Publisher:	Catapult
Publication date:	09/08/2020
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	275,595
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Gary Snyder is the author of more than twenty collections of poetry and prose. Since 1970 he has lived in the watershed of the South Yuba River in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1975, Snyder has also been awarded the Bollingen Prize for Poetry and the Robert Kirsch Lifetime Achievement Award. His 1992 collection, No Nature, was a National Book Award finalist, and in 2008 he received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Snyder is a poet, environmentalist, educator and Zen Buddhist.

Robert Hass served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1995 to 1997 and as a Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets from 2001 to 2007. He lives in California with his wife, poet Brenda Hillman, and teaches at the University of California, Berkeley.

Table of Contents

An Introduction Robert Hass ix

Preface xxvii

The Etiquette of Freedom 3

The Compact; The Words Nature, Wild, and Wilderness; Wildness; The World Is Watching; Back Home

The Place, the Region, and the Commons 27

The World is Places; Understanding the Commons; Bioregional Perspectives; Finding "Nisenan County"

Tawny Grammar 52

The Same Old Song and Dance; The Kuuvangmiut and the Humanities; Nature's Writing; Mother Leopards

Good, Wild, Sacred 84

Weeding Out the Wild; Waterholes; Shrines; True Nature

Blue Mountains Constantly Walking 104

Fudo and Kannon; This; Homeless; Larger Than a Wilf, Smaller Than an Elk; Decomposed; Walking on Water

Ancient Forests of the Far West 124

After the Clearcut; At Work in the Woods; Evergreen; Excursus: Sailor Meadow, Sierra Nevada; Us Yokels

On the Path, Off the Trail 154

Work in Place of Place; Freedom at Work

The Woman Who Married a Bear 166

The Story; On "The Woman Who Married a Bear"; Maria Johns and the Telling of This Story; Arkadia; At the Bear Dance

Survival and Sacrament 187

An End to Birth; Cultured or Crabbed; Grace

Bibliography 199

By Way of Thanks 203

Editorial Reviews

Praise for The Practice of the Wild

“Essayist and Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Snyder (Turtle Island) offers nine sensitive and thoughtful essays blending his personal Buddhist beliefs, respect for wildlife and the land, and fascination with language and mythic tradition into a ‘meditation on what it means to be human.'” —Publishers Weekly

“Snyder is, of course, an important writer, a Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry, and a spokesperson for the wilderness. Here in spare, eloquent prose, he presents a series of essays that probe the essence of humanity, nature, and their symbiosis... This is an important book for anyone interested in the ethical interrelationships of things, places, and people, and it is a book that is not just read but taken in. ” —Library Journal

“Gary Snyder’s deep hope—that someday we might all be native Americans, at home in our grand place—is the only hope we have. This is an exquisite book, and a hard one. Read it—and then live it, as best as you can.” —Bill McKibben, author of Earth

“I have always found it difficult to imagine this century without the life and work of Gary Snyder. After reading this collection of essays, I now find it impossible.” —Wes Jackson, author of Nature as Measure: The Selected Essays of Wes Jackson

“What thoughtful beauty! How skillfully Gary Snyder interfuses the practical knowledge of an animal sense with story, language, and song. True teachers in America are now an endangered species. I learn so much from this good man’s perception, humor, discipline, and love for this world. I am honored to praise this book.” —James Hillman, author of A Terrible Love of War

“Contemplating Gary Snyder’s depth of journey into nature here, I think of what D.H. Lawrence said of Whitman: he’s camped out alone, way beyond everybody. But it’s looking like where Snyder is, would be a wise bet for all of us. He makes a good trail in this book, laid out expertly and fun to walk on.” —Thomas J. Lyon, author of This Incomparable Land

From the Publisher

Essayist and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Snyder ( Turtle Island ) offers nine sensitive and thoughtful essays blending his personal Buddhist beliefs, respect for wildlife and the land, and fascination with language and mythic tradition into a ``meditation on what it means to be human.'' In ``The Place, the Region, and the Commons,'' he relates the old English concept of the common to publicly held U.S. forests, expressing concern that Americans, who lack an intimate familiarity with the land, ``are not actually living here intellectually, imaginatively, or morally.'' ``Tawny Grammar,'' referring to a Spanish phrase for knowledge of nature, examines this knowledge through a school curriculum in northwest Alaska that combines traditional native values and marketable skills. ``Ancient Forests of the Far West'' contrasts Snyder's experience as a logger in the 1950s, when the industry still exercised restraint, with the current depletion of American woodlands. And ``The Woman Who Married a Bear'' comments on relations between bears and humans through a Native American myth about a girl who is carried off by a grizzly that assumes the form of a man. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

More people should read this book than will. Snyder is, of course, an important writer, a Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry, and a spokesperson for the wilderness. Here in spare, eloquent prose, he presents a series of essays that probe the essence of humanity, nature, and their symbiosis. Sometimes Thoreauvian, sometimes way out past Thoreau, he argues, ``Nature is not a place to visit, it is home . . . .'' ``I want to talk about place as an experience,'' he proposes, and he really does. This is an important book for anyone interested in the ethical interrelationships of things, places, and people, and it is a book that is not just read but taken in. It is lamentable that many readers will spend their time taking in much lesser writers. Essential for all serious collections.-- Robert E. Brown, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse, N.Y.

Library Journal

The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and counter-culture hero offers a prescription for recovering our humanness by giving it away--by giving back to the earth more than we take. No index. Published by North Point Press, 850 Talbot Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94706. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Gary Snyder's deep hope-that someday we might all be native Americans, at home in our grand place-is the only hope we have. This is an exquisite book, and a hard one. Read it-and then live it, as best as you can.

Bill McKibben

What thoughtful beauty! How skillfully Gary Snyder interfuses the practical knowledge of an animal sense with story, language, and song. True teachers in America are now an endangered species. I learn so much from this good man's perception, humor, discipline, and love for this world. I am honored to praise this book.

James Hillman

A primer, an etiquette, a book of instruction, Gary Snyder's The Practice of the Wild is an exquisite, far-sighted articulation of what freedom, wildness, goodness, and grace mean, using the lessons of the planet to teach us how to live.

Gretel Ehrlich

I have always found it difficult to imagine this century without the life and work of Gary Snyder. After reading this collection of essays, I now find it impossible.

Wes Jackson