"I was full of appreciation for all that I had seen."
December 27, 2020 4:12 PM Subscribe
Barry Lopez, author and story-teller, has passed away at the age of 75. (NYT, WP, NPR, ADN) Best know for his 1986 book Arctic Dreams detailing five years spent as a biologist in the Arctic, he wrote widely about environmental issues and travel, in addition to fictional works.
* post title taken from the last sentence in his final book Horizons.
* post title taken from the last sentence in his final book Horizons.
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posted by stellaluna at 5:49 PM on December 27, 2020
posted by stellaluna at 5:49 PM on December 27, 2020
• RIP, Sir. My brother, a serious writer, recommended Arctic Dreams to me long ago. I was skeptical upon his description. It was badly misplaced skepticism.
posted by bz at 6:14 PM on December 27, 2020
posted by bz at 6:14 PM on December 27, 2020
"The land does not give easily. The desert is like a boulder; you expect to wait. You expect night to come. Morning. Winter to set in. Be you expect sometime it will loosen into pieces to be examined.
"When it doesn't, you weary. You are no longer afraid of its secrets, cowed by its silence. You break away, angry, a little chagrined. You will tell anyone the story: so much time spent for nothing. In the retelling you sense another way inside; you return immediately to the desert. The opening evaporates, like a vision through a picket fence."
Desert Notes, 1976
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 7:08 PM on December 27, 2020
"When it doesn't, you weary. You are no longer afraid of its secrets, cowed by its silence. You break away, angry, a little chagrined. You will tell anyone the story: so much time spent for nothing. In the retelling you sense another way inside; you return immediately to the desert. The opening evaporates, like a vision through a picket fence."
Desert Notes, 1976
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 7:08 PM on December 27, 2020
Post title may be the last sentence of Horizons, which I haven't read, but it's certainly also the last sentence of Arctic Dreams, which I have, several times. Would be fitting if both were the case.
I heard him speak to a (depressingly small) contingent of students at my college shortly after 9/11. He was supposed to read from his most recent book, but there wasn't much of that at all--instead, he spoke (seemingly extemporaneously, and remarkably eloquently) about what was happening in the world and its implications for all of us. It was really one of the best talks I've ever heard--so often speakers don't seem involved in anything that's actually going on; just a "here is a book I wrote" blurb and then a reading.
There was a lot of silence, with maybe a dozen students in the auditorium (which was set for maybe 200) but it was the good kind of silence, where you wait and think and let the words set in. He was good at that, in his writing and his speech.
Afterward, I asked him to sign my copy of Arctic Dreams, which I probably got used and was in a desperate and sad condition regardless. I told him I was from Alaska and we passed a few idle words about sled dogs. I won't forget that exchange, or loan away that book, as long as I live.
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posted by lorddimwit at 7:20 PM on December 27, 2020 [9 favorites]
I heard him speak to a (depressingly small) contingent of students at my college shortly after 9/11. He was supposed to read from his most recent book, but there wasn't much of that at all--instead, he spoke (seemingly extemporaneously, and remarkably eloquently) about what was happening in the world and its implications for all of us. It was really one of the best talks I've ever heard--so often speakers don't seem involved in anything that's actually going on; just a "here is a book I wrote" blurb and then a reading.
There was a lot of silence, with maybe a dozen students in the auditorium (which was set for maybe 200) but it was the good kind of silence, where you wait and think and let the words set in. He was good at that, in his writing and his speech.
Afterward, I asked him to sign my copy of Arctic Dreams, which I probably got used and was in a desperate and sad condition regardless. I told him I was from Alaska and we passed a few idle words about sled dogs. I won't forget that exchange, or loan away that book, as long as I live.
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posted by lorddimwit at 7:20 PM on December 27, 2020 [9 favorites]
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“We simply do not understand our place in the universe and have not the courage to admit it.”
posted by BlueHorse at 7:34 PM on December 27, 2020 [4 favorites]
“We simply do not understand our place in the universe and have not the courage to admit it.”
posted by BlueHorse at 7:34 PM on December 27, 2020 [4 favorites]
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posted by mustard seeds at 7:37 PM on December 27, 2020
posted by mustard seeds at 7:37 PM on December 27, 2020
Shame on me lorddimwit -- you are correct that it is the final sentence of Arctic Dreams, not Horizons.
posted by kmkrebs at 9:24 PM on December 27, 2020
posted by kmkrebs at 9:24 PM on December 27, 2020
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posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 7:30 AM on December 28, 2020
posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 7:30 AM on December 28, 2020
Thank you for this, kmkrebs. Arctic Dreams was one of those books that every smart person I knew in college had, usually in the form of a well-thumbed paperback. I'm sorry it took his passing for me to putit on my library request list, but I look forward to it all the same.
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posted by minervous at 3:53 PM on December 28, 2020
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posted by minervous at 3:53 PM on December 28, 2020
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posted by lhputtgrass at 3:38 PM on December 29, 2020
posted by lhputtgrass at 3:38 PM on December 29, 2020
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posted by palmcorder_yajna at 4:44 PM on December 27, 2020