Billy Watson's Croker Sack

by Franklin Burroughs

Overview

In South Carolina, a croker sack is any big cloth sack. When opened, it sometimes reveals more than expected, as do these deceptively simple narratives about fishing trips, flora and fauna, and memories of the past. Observing a snapping turtle, recounting the old age and death of a hunting dog, or talking with neighbors who shot a moose and hung it in their garage, Franklin Burroughs reflects on how human and natural histories interconnect. His writing is clear and still as a pond, and his distinctive and evocative voice resonates through the details.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780820319995
Publisher:	University of Georgia Press
Publication date:	03/01/1998
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.39(d)

About the Author

FRANKLIN BURROUGHS grew up in South Carolina and now lives in Maine, where he teaches at Bowdoin College.

FRANKLIN BURROUGHS grew up in South Carolina and now lives in Maine, where he teaches at Bowdoin College.

Editorial Reviews

Elegant, unexpected, remarkable for their ability to weave through time and space and turns of emotion, these essays would do Montaigne or Samuel Johnson proud.

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Burroughs’ writing is eloquent and accomplished, whether he is describing his coastal South Carolina homeland or his adopted home in Maine. Those disparate lands are not so much compared and contrasted as joined by the striking narrative in this book . . . this book is full of delights.

Hellbender Press

An exquisitely wrought and unerringly graceful book.

Jim Harrison

[His] essays evoke William Faulkner's South and E. B. White's farm. But Burroughs's style is distinctly his own: always elegant, sometimes simple, plainly honest, and, perhaps most of all, completely authentic. . . . Burroughs is the kind of essayist whose vision transcends time and place. . . . He writes of the stuff of life and does so with a grace and honesty that left me aching for more.

Fourth Genre

"An exquisitely wrought and unerringly graceful book."--Jim Harrison

"Elegant, unexpected, remarkable for their ability to weave through time and space and turns of emotion, these essays would do Montaigne or Samuel Johnson proud."--Cleveland Plain Dealer

“[His] essays evoke William Faulkner's South and E. B. White's farm. But Burroughs's style is distinctly his own: always elegant, sometimes simple, plainly honest, and, perhaps most of all, completely authentic. . . . Burroughs is the kind of essayist whose vision transcends time and place. . . . He writes of the stuff of life and does so with a grace and honesty that left me aching for more."--Fourth Genre

"Burroughs’ writing is eloquent and accomplished, whether he is describing his coastal South Carolina homeland or his adopted home in Maine. Those disparate lands are not so much compared and contrasted as joined by the striking narrative in this book . . . this book is full of delights.”--Hellbender Press

From the Publisher

When he first saw a wild moose, the author was struck by its peaceable quality; it did not seem to belong in a world of predator and prey. Burroughs, who teaches English at Bowdoin College, goes on to discuss the moose-hunting controversy in Maine. In another essay, a snapping turtle on the highway reminds him of an eerie incident during his childhood in South Carolina. In these captivating tales Burroughs expatiates as well on fishing and duck-hunting. His ``daddy'' taught him to fish--a serious business during which it was important not to have a good time. He contrasts his fishing experiences with those of Nick Adams in Hemingway's ``Big Two-Hearted River.'' On duck-hunting, Burroughs conveys in vivid detail the allure of the sport, from decoys to the chill mornings in a blind. His most sensitive piece describes putting down the old family dog, Jacob. A pleasure to read, these essays contemplate the connections between humans and nature. Illustrated. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Burroughs, a transplanted South Carolinian now living in Maine, writes of fishing, hunting, and the rural life. A skillful stylist, he infuses such subjects as snapping turtles and moose with sensitivity and humor, illustrating the close connection between humans and the natural world. Of particular note is ``Of Moose and a Moose Hunter,'' a tragicomic account of taking his daughter to see a recently shot moose hanging in a neighbor's garage. Yet despite these insightful and entertaining pieces, too much of the book is devoted to the mysteries of hunting and fishing to make it appealing for general audiences.--Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo

Library Journal