The Woods Stretched for Miles: New Nature Writing from the South

by Marilou Awiakta (Contribution by), Gerald Thurmond (Editor), John Lane (Editor)

Overview

The Woods Stretched for Miles gathers essays about southern landscape and nature from nineteen writers with geographic or ancestral ties to the region. This remarkable group encompasses not only such well-known names as Wendell Berry and Rick Bass but also distinctive new voices, including Christopher Camuto, Susan Cerulean, and Eddy L. Harris.

From the savannas of south Florida through the hardwood uplands of Mississippi to the coastal rivers of the Carolinas and the high mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, the range in geography covered is equally broad. With insight and eloquence, these diverse talents take up similar themes: environmental restoration, the interplay between individual and community, the definition of wildness in an area transformed by human activity, and the meaning of our reactions to the natural world.

Readers will treasure the passionate and intelligent honorings of land and nature offered by this rich anthology. With the publication of The Woods Stretched for Miles, southern voices establish their abiding place in the ever-popular nature writing genre.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780820320885
Publisher:	University of Georgia Press
Publication date:	04/01/1999
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.64(d)

About the Author

JOHN LANE is professor emeritus of environmental studies at Wofford College. A 2014 inductee into the South Carolina Academy of Authors, his books include Circling Home, My Paddle to the Sea, and Coyote Settles the South (all Georgia). He is also coeditor of The Woods Stretched for Miles: New Nature Writing from the South (also Georgia), and he has published numerous volumes of poetry, essays, and novels. Coming into Animal Presence is his most recent work. He lives in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

JOHN LANE is professor emeritus of environmental studies at Wofford College. A 2014 inductee into the South Carolina Academy of Authors, his books include Circling Home, My Paddle to the Sea, and Coyote Settles the South (all Georgia). He is also coeditor of The Woods Stretched for Miles: New Nature Writing from the South (also Georgia), and he has published numerous volumes of poetry, essays, and novels. Coming into Animal Presence is his most recent work. He lives in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Editorial Reviews

The Woods Stretched for Miles is by turns lively, enchanting, provocative, amusing. It will be a great gift, and a great anthology for classroom use.

ISLE

I am delighted with the very concept of this anthology of Southern nature writing. There are dozens and dozens of recent scholarly books on environmental literature and anthologies of nonfiction nature writing, nature poetry, and environmental writing in general, including a number of regionally oriented collections. But, so far, other than Molly Westling's ecocritical studies of Southern fiction, few of these recent publications are explicitly devoted to Southern environmental literature. For this reason, there is a significant void that the The Woods Stretched for Miles is intended to fill—and I think it fills the void quite well.

author of Being in the World: An Environmental Reader for Writers - Scott Slovic

The Woods Stretched for Miles is by turns lively, enchanting, provocative, amusing. It will be a great gift, and a great anthology for classroom use.

ISLE<

"This is an important book—the first of its kind exclusively on the Southeast. It should appeal to general readers who wish to read about the genre in the Southeast, about the long and complex relationship between American culture and nature, and also about controversial environmental issues in the region."--John Murray, editor of American Nature Writing

"I am delighted with the very concept of this anthology of Southern nature writing. There are dozens and dozens of recent scholarly books on environmental literature and anthologies of nonfiction nature writing, nature poetry, and environmental writing in general, including a number of regionally oriented collections. But, so far, other than Molly Westling's ecocritical studies of Southern fiction, few of these recent publications are explicitly devoted to Southern environmental literature. For this reason, there is a significant void that the The Woods Stretched for Miles is intended to fill—and I think it fills the void quite well."--Scott Slovic, author of Being in the World: An Environmental Reader for Writers

"The Woods Stretched for Miles is by turns lively, enchanting, provocative, amusing. It will be a great gift, and a great anthology for classroom use.”--ISLE

"These writers are careful and accurate observers of both emotion and place. . . . The language is exceptional."--Library Journal

From the Publisher

I am delighted with the very concept of this anthology of Southern nature writing. There are dozens and dozens of recent scholarly books on environmental literature and anthologies of nonfiction nature writing, nature poetry, and environmental writing in general, including a number of regionally oriented collections. But, so far, other than Molly Westling's ecocritical studies of Southern fiction, few of these recent publications are explicitly devoted to Southern environmental literature. For this reason, there is a significant void that the The Woods Stretched for Miles is intended to fill—and I think it fills the void quite well.

author of Being in the World: An Environmental Reader for Writers - Scott Slovic

This is an important book—the first of its kind exclusively on the Southeast. It should appeal to general readers who wish to read about the genre in the Southeast, about the long and complex relationship between American culture and nature, and also about controversial environmental issues in the region.

editor of American Nature Writing - John Murray

Themes of lush landscapes, water, heat, and religion clearly identify the Southern sense of place in these 18 essays. All are well crafted, some by well-known nature writers, including Rick Bass, Wendell Berry, and E.O. Wilson, whose Paradise Beach is an exceptional description of a childhood summer. A majority of the essays describe a specific eventcanoeing, backpacking in Black Creek, evacuating Cape Hatteras as Hurricane Gloria storms up the coast, living with an alligatorexperienced in a Southern landscape. Although there is a sameness to many of the essays, these writers are careful and accurate observers of both emotion and place. Several unique reflections include Marilou Awiaktas Daydreaming Primal Space and Janisse Rays Whither Thou Goest. Some of the language is exceptional; Jan DeBlieu describes a tidal pull: At night, black waves crept almost to the dunes, wetting my feet with a velvety hiss. Recommended for public and academic libraries collecting nature writing and regional literature.Sue Samson, Univ. of Montana Lib., Missoula

Library Journal