EMBRACE FEARLESSLY THE BURNING WORLD
Essays
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- USD 14.99
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- USD 14.99
Descripción editorial
An urgent final work from the award-wining author whose writing, fieldwork and mentorship inspired generations of writers and activists.
An ardent steward of the land, fearless traveller and unrivalled observer of nature and culture, Barry Lopez died after a long illness on Christmas Day in 2020. The previous summer, a wildfire had consumed much of what was dear to him in his home and the community around it – a tragic reminder of the climate change of which he'd long warned.
At once a cri de Coeur and a memoir of both pain and wonder, this remarkable collection of essays adds indelibly to Lopez's legacy, and includes previously unpublished works, some written in the months before his death. They unspool memories, both personal and political, among them tender, sometimes painful stories of his childhood in New York and California, reports from expeditions to study animals and sea life, recollections of travels to Antarctica and other extraordinary places on earth, and mediations on finding oneself amid vast, dramatic landscapes. He reflects on those who taught him, including Indigenous elders and scientific mentors who sharpened his eye for the natural world. We witness poignant returns from his travels to the sanctuary of his Oregon backyard and in prose of searing candour, he reckons with the cycle of life, including own and – as he has done throughout his career – with the dangers the earth and its people are facing.
With an introduction by Rebecca Solnit that speaks to Lopez's keen attention to the world, including its spiritual dimensions, Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World opens our minds and sounds to the important of being wholly present to the beauty and complexity of life.
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Memoir and nature writing come together in this lyrical collection from National Book Award winner Lopez (Horizon). As Lopez (1945–2020) writes of his encounters with wildlife, he pulls back to comment on larger environmental and emotional concerns. "On Location" considers an unusual type of Pacific walrus that lives alone and hunts "other marine mammals smaller than itself," and muses on climate disruption: "To survive what's headed our way... we will need to trust each other, because today, it's as if every safe place has melted into the sameness of water. We are searching for the boats we forgot to build." "Residence," meanwhile, is an ode to the flora and fauna of his home outside of Santa Fe. The most memorable sections deal with his victimization, beginning when he was six and continuing for more than five years, by a pedophile doctor and family friend; that torment was exacerbated by Lopez's mother's defenses of the man and a general refusal to believe a doctor could abuse his power. "I thought of myself as a man walking around with shrapnel sealed in his flesh, and I wanted to get the fragments out," Lopez writes in "Sliver of Sky." Fans and newcomers alike will be enlightened by these roving explorations.
