Jacob's Wound
A Search for the Spirit of Wildness
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- USD 13.99
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- USD 13.99
Descripción editorial
The award-winning author of River in a Dry Land explores the Nature that we – and our religions – sprang from
The Genesis story of Jacob, the patriarch of the Judeo-Christian tradition, wrestling with a spirit has been interpreted in a multitude of ways, but never more persuasively than by Trevor Herriot in Jacob’s Wound. He sees it as a struggle between Jacob and his wilder twin brother, Esau, whose birthright Jacob has swindled. The central idea of Herriot’s brilliantly written, observant, and groundbreaking book is the wound that Jacob, the farmer, the civilized man, suffered in vanquishing Esau, the hunter, the primitive man. And the central question posed is whether we, as Jacob did with Esau, can eventually reconcile with the wildness we conquered and have been estranged from for so long.
As if ambling through the author’s beloved Qu’Appelle Valley in Saskatchewan, Jacob’s Wound takes readers on an untrodden path through history, memoir, science, and theology. Along the way, Herriot tells us stories of the past and present that illuminate what we once were and what we have become. It’s a measured journey motivated by curiosity rather than by destination, and at every turn there is insight and beautiful writing.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In a series of meditations on nature and wildness, religion and spirituality, sojourning and home, Herriot (River in a Dry Land) demonstrates both the contemplative mysticism that returned him to his Catholic roots and the sharp eye of a naturalist distinctly aware of his physical surroundings. In the first half of the book, "Ascending Hakkarmel," Herriot describes the intimate practice of living occasionally in a tipi on "the Land," his family's retreat, in chapters alternating with meditations on the Bible, such as the conflict between Jacob and Esau, and religious or spiritual teachings and experiences, such as Teilhard de Chardin's. In the book's second half, titled "From Mount Carmel," the author continues, in writing that is lush and evocative, to toggle between personal anecdote and thoughts on scripture and religious tradition. The chapter titles of this half, such as "Wild Grace," "Scapular 1" and "Into the Presence of God 1. Descend," belie the author's poetic style. Herriot provides, rather than a sustained ecological or theological argument, an engaged reflection on nature and God.
