English 421: Annie Dillard & Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry and Annie Dillard died within a few days of each other, which makes one last connection between the two.
For me, that connection started with English 421 "Environmental Writing" at the University of Alberta. The reading list began and probably could have ended with Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Dillard, Berry's essay "Think Little" (collected here), and for a little more fire and volume, Edward Abbey.
It was a fine course, full of debates, passion, and sometimes humor. It was in the notoriously early (for college students) 8-9:40 AM time slot on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so we all arrived with our jumbo styrofoam cups from Java Jive, the coffee shop just around the corner. One day, a student noted that we were hypocrites, studying environmentalism but drinking from cups that were contributing to the destruction of the ozone layer.
So we all switched to reusable cups (cardboard coffee cups were still a few years away). That restored peace until a few weeks later, when another student noted that coffee as an industrial crop was also harmful to the environment. We all nodded but stuck to our coffee habits, however. There are limits.
Dillard, Berry, and Abbey all wrote about the environment in deeply personal ways, so they were less authors to admire than people to get to know. Abbey died in 1989 -- so about the time I was taking that class. It made Dillard and Berry seem somehow eternal, as they were still out there, writing, speaking, thinking, and setting examples of how to live with the Earth and not just on it. We are fortunate that their writing lives on. I encourage you to borrow a book or two of theirs. They are all worthy of your time.
I'm sure there are contemporary authors following in their footsteps. Suggestions are always welcome at randal@rutlandfree.org.