Wilderness Essays

出版者:Gibbs Smith

作者:Muir, John

页数:292

出版时间:1989-3

价格:$ 16.89

装帧:Pap

isbn号码:9780879053017

具体描述

John Muir was one of our first and finest writers on the wilderness of the American West. Part of Muir's attractiveness to modern readers is the fact that he was an activist. He not only explored the West and wrote about its beauties-- he fought for their preservation. His successes dot the landscape in all the natural features that bear his name: forests, lakes, trails, glaciers. Here collected are some of his finest wilderness essays, ranging from Alaska to Yellowstone, from Oregon to the Range of Light-- the High Sierra. This series celebrates the tradition of literary naturalists-- writers who embrace the natural world as the setting for some of our most euphoric and serious experiences. Their literary terrain maps the intimate connections between the human and natural worlds, a subject defined by Mary Austin in 1920 as "a third thing... the sum of what passed between me and the Land." Literary naturalists transcend political boundaries, social concerns, and historical milieus; they speak for what Henry Beston called the "other nations" of the planet. Their message acquires more weight and urgency as wild places become increasingly scarce. This series, then, celebrates both a wonderful body of work and a fundamental truth: that nature counts as a model, a guide to how we can live in the world.

作者简介

John Muir (1838 – 1914) was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is now one of the most important conservation organizations in the United States. One of the best-known hiking trails in the U.S., the 211-mile (340 km) John Muir Trail, was named in his honor. Other such places include Muir Woods National Monument, Muir Beach, John Muir College, Mount Muir, Camp Muir and Muir Glacier.

In his later life, Muir devoted most of his time to the preservation of the Western forests. He petitioned the U.S. Congress for the National Park bill that was passed in 1890, establishing Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. The spiritual quality and enthusiasm toward nature expressed in his writings inspired readers, including presidents and congressmen, to take action to help preserve large nature areas. He is today referred to as the "Father of the National Parks" and the National Park Service has produced a short documentary about his life.

Muir's biographer, Steven J. Holmes, believes that Muir has become "one of the patron saints of twentieth-century American environmental activity," both political and recreational. As a result, his writings are commonly discussed in books and journals, and he is often quoted by nature photographers such as Ansel Adams. "Muir has profoundly shaped the very categories through which Americans understand and envision their relationships with the natural world," writes Holmes. Muir was noted for being an ecological thinker, political spokesman, and religious prophet, whose writings became a personal guide into nature for countless individuals, making his name "almost ubiquitous" in the modern environmental consciousness. According to author William Anderson, Muir exemplified "the archetype of our oneness with the earth".

Muir was extremely fond of Henry David Thoreau and was probably influenced more by him than even Ralph Waldo Emerson. Muir often referred to himself as a "disciple" of Thoreau. He was also heavily influenced by fellow naturalist John Burroughs.

During his lifetime John Muir published over 300 articles and 12 books. He co-founded the Sierra Club, which helped establish a number of national parks after he died and today has over 1.3 million members. Author Gretel Ehrlich states that as a "dreamer and activist, his eloquent words changed the way Americans saw their mountains, forests, seashores, and deserts." He not only led the efforts to protect forest areas and have some designated as national parks, but his writings gave readers a conception of the relationship between "human culture and wild nature as one of humility and respect for all life," writes author Thurman Wilkins.

His philosophy exalted wild nature over human culture and civilization. Turner describes him as "a man who in his singular way rediscovered America. . . . an American pioneer, an American hero." Wilkins adds that a primary aim of Muir’s nature philosophy was to challenge mankind’s "enormous conceit," and in so doing, he moved beyond the Transcendentalism of Emerson and Thoreau to a "biocentric perspective on the world."

In the months after his death, many who knew Muir closely wrote about his influences.

用户评价

如果说文学作品有温度，那么《荒野随笔》的温度是偏冷的，带有一种高山之巅的清冽和锐利。它拒绝提供廉价的安慰或明确的答案，相反，它更热衷于提出更深刻、更难回答的问题。作者对于人类在自然面前的局限性有着清醒而近乎残忍的认知。这种坦诚非常可贵，它避开了那种矫揉造作的浪漫主义，直面原始的、未经驯化的力量。我能感受到一种强烈的疏离感，但这种疏离感是健康的，它迫使我审视自己与社会构建的现实之间的关系。其中探讨环境伦理的部分尤其发人深省，他没有进行说教，而是通过细致入微的观察，让读者自己得出结论：我们对世界的干预究竟是驯化还是破坏。这本书的语言密度极高，我不得不经常查阅一些古旧的词汇，这反过来也拓宽了我的词汇量，提升了我对语言精确性的理解。它挑战了当代阅读习惯的浅尝辄止，要求读者进行深潜。

那本《荒野随笔》真的让我着迷了。这本书的叙事风格非常独特，作者似乎总能捕捉到那些转瞬即逝的情感瞬间，然后用一种近乎诗意的语言将其凝固在纸上。我记得其中有一篇关于清晨迷雾的描写，简直让人身临其境，仿佛能闻到空气中泥土和湿润植被混合的味道。他不是简单地描述风景，而是通过风景来揭示更深层次的人类体验——那种与自然共存时的敬畏与渺小感。阅读的过程就像进行了一次漫长的、沉思式的散步，每走一步都能发现新的风景和新的感悟。有些篇章探讨了孤独的主题，但这种孤独并非负面的，而是一种主动选择的、与自我对话的宁静状态，这对我理解现代生活的喧嚣提供了一个很好的平衡视角。这本书的排版和用词都极其考究，每一次翻页都像揭开一幅精心绘制的画卷，文字的韵律感让人欲罢不能。它迫使我放慢节奏，去关注那些日常生活中容易被忽略的细微之处，比如光线穿过树叶的纹理，或是风拂过草地的声音。这本书的魅力在于它的留白，很多深刻的见解都隐藏在那些看似不经意的观察之中，需要读者自己去填补和体会。

从文学技巧的角度来看，作者对“意象的堆叠”运用得出神入化。他不会一遍又一遍重复一个主题，而是用一系列相互关联但又各自独立的意象来构建一个复杂的思想迷宫。比如，他可能会连续用岩石、苔藓、风蚀的木头这些意象来象征时间的不可逆转性与坚韧，但每次出现时，它们所承载的情感重量和上下文意义都会略有不同。这种精妙的层次感使得每一章都可以被反复阅读，而每次都会有新的发现，这绝对是一本值得珍藏的反复研读之作。它不像市面上许多流行的自然写作那样，充满了人情味的温暖或煽情，相反，它保持了一种近乎冷酷的客观性，这种客观性反而赋予了它更强的力量。它不是一本让你感觉“舒服”的书，而是一本让你感觉“被触动”的书，它刺破了日常生活的表象，让你看到了其下潜藏的、更为原始和永恒的秩序。阅读完毕后，我感觉自己的感官被重新校准了，看世界的视角变得更加敏锐和复杂。

这本书的引人入胜之处在于它如何将最宏大的主题——比如死亡、永恒、存在的意义——融入到最微小的观察之中。读到某处描写一滴露水如何折射整个天空时，我简直要惊叹于作者的洞察力。这种“见微知著”的手法，使得全书的气氛保持了一种既亲密又疏远的张力。你感觉作者就在你身边低语，分享着只有你们两人才懂的秘密，但你又清晰地意识到，他所描述的那个世界，是你我日常经验之外的另一个维度。这本书的节奏非常舒缓，几乎没有高潮迭起的戏剧性情节，它的力量来自于稳定而持续的内在涌动。它像一首漫长的冥想曲，每一个音符都经过精心校准，共同营造出一种近乎催眠的氛围。我发现，这本书特别适合在清晨或深夜阅读，当外界的噪音被降到最低时，作者的声音才能真正穿透进来。对我个人而言，它重塑了我对“沉思”这个行为的认知，不再将其视为一种消极的逃避，而是一种积极的、探寻真理的方式。

这本书的结构松散，但内核极其坚韧，它更像是一系列关于存在本质的碎片化思考的集合，而不是一个线性的叙事。我特别欣赏作者处理“时间”的方式。他似乎并不受制于传统的时间线性流动，而是将记忆、当下和对未来的模糊感知交织在一起，形成一种复调式的体验。比如，他会突然从对一棵古树的描绘跳跃到对童年某个夏日的记忆，这种跳跃看似随机，实则精准地捕捉了心绪流动的轨迹。这种写作技巧要求读者必须全神贯注，否则很容易跟不上他的思维跳跃。对我来说，阅读它就像在迷宫中探索，每一次岔路口都可能通往一个意想不到的哲学洞见。我发现自己经常需要停下来，合上书本，仅仅是盯着窗外发呆，因为书中的某些句子会像石子一样投入平静的心湖，激起久久不能平息的涟漪。这不是一本用来“快速阅读”的书，它需要你投入时间、耐心，以及一颗愿意被挑战的心。它对语言的运用达到了近乎冷峻的美学高度，很少有冗余的词汇，每一个词都像是经过千锤百炼才被安放在那个位置上的。