Muir nature writings6/29/2023 Muir was born in 1838 in Dunbar, Scotland, on the North Sea. And now the Library of America has certified his place in the national literary canon by publishing a generous selection of his works, laudably edited by William Cronon, professor of history at the University of Wisconsin. Quotations from his writings have recently graced President Clinton’s address to the United Nations Earth Summit-as well as a television commercial selling Chevy Tahoes. In California, Washington, Alaska, and Scotland, glaciers, gorges, trails, mountains, woods, and parks bear Muir’s name. Yet on the other hand, for people who can afford such a luxury, the worship of nature becomes in itself a mark of the civilized temperament, with results both benign and destructive of human happiness.Ĭertainly Muir and the environmentalist movement, which reveres him as its founding father, have never been more in fashion than they are at present. In this sense, nature-or the environment, to give it its contemporary name-tends to get in the way of the civilized pursuit of happiness. On the one hand, the conquest of nature remains the great modern project, and virtually everyone wants what it offers: material comfort, freedom from disease or debility, a longer life. Just what that significance is continues to be a matter of contention. More Eloquently than any other American writer, John Muir, a man of the wilds, explored the significance that the wilds hold for civilization.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |