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Late Harvest: Rural American Writing
The contributions of thirty-five important contemporary authors--including Edward Abbey, Wendell Berry, Annie Dillard, Bobbie Ann Mason, and Garrison Keillor--highlight a superlative anthology that documents America's firm ties to its rural roots.
- GenresNonfiction
480 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1991
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About the author
David R. Pichaske
25 books1 followerDavid Richard Pichaske is Professor of English at Southwest Minnesota State University. He is editor-publisher of Spoon River Poetry Press and Ellis Press, and the author of many articles and books of his own, including collections of poetry, travel books, literary criticism, and works related to Midwest literature and themes.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 20, 2022
Late Harvest is made of 36 short pieces of writing divided among three categories: The Farm, The Small Town, and (my favorite) The Wilderness.
I absolutely loved this book. I think I’m its biggest fan. I didn’t love every piece of writing in here, however. I had a hard time getting into the poetry and the song lyrics and the other non-prose types of pieces. That surprised me, because I adore the nature poet Mary Oliver (whose writing is not in this book, by the way.)
But so many of the stories were wonderful. I got lost in these pages several times, lost in the descriptions of nature or the human-ness of the people, the musings about life, the variety of things to learn. The rural theme speaks to who I am — I love nature and simplicity and basic life values. And I’ve come to appreciate skillful writing more and more over the years (especially lately when I’m starting to feel the itch to write something myself). The power of the writing drew me in many times. So this is one of my favorite books!
You know when you and a friend listen to the same CD, and then you compare which songs were your favorites? And learning the other person’s favorites, you hear them again through their ears, and you gain a new appreciation for some songs? Let’s do that with this book. What were your favorite parts? Here are some of mine:
Eight Short Prose Pieces (Jim Heynen) - The humor in the one about the rats had me wanting to share this book with everyone I know so they could laugh out loud at it too. The style and the content and the whole point of these quick little stories were just so familiar-feeling. It made me think my uncles could have told these stories.
The Boundary (Wendell Berry) - Wonderful story, maybe my favorite. I’m not sure what to say about this one yet, but I will come back and add my words when I find them.
Thirty-Seven Days of Peril (Truman Everts) - This awe-inspiring story had me hanging on every word, and I couldn’t put the book down until I knew how his real-life wilderness survival journey resolved. (It’s not long, but I read really slowly.) Journey may be an overused word, or maybe just on reality TV, but it’s perfectly appropriate here. This guy takes a long perilous walk in the woods, lost from his group, and lives to share the events with us, with an almost day by day recollection.
The Streams (Ann Zwinger) - I have a thing for nature writing, and this is one piece of writing that helped me to fall in love with it.
Winter (Paul Gruchow) - Here is an excerpt:
“There is some principle of physics at work in the music of snow underfoot, just as there is a mathematical principle to explain why snow drifts at a fenceline in a scalloped pattern of elongated ovals rather than in the straight line of the fence. It does so for the same reason that a river meanders rather than advances in a straight line. I cannot explain the mathematics involved any more than I can articulate the structural underpinnings of the music of snow underfoot.
“If I could explain the sound of a footstep upon the snow or come to know the underlying principles that govern the meandering of the snow along a fenceline, I should then be attuned in a new way to the largely unheard and mysterious music of the universe. It has often been said, and I shall argue the case myself, that the only remark of nature is its silence, but that is not because the world around us has nothing to say. It is because we come unequipped with ears to hear.
“I am as unequipped as the next person. I listen in the dead of winter to the song the snow sings, and strain as I might, I cannot make it out. I listen to the coyotes howling in the nights, and to the crows cawing in the mornings and to the wind washing in the leaves of the cottonwoods in the evenings, and I know that I have not really heard anything of it except the mystery in it. But the mystery has captivated me, and under the spell of it, I have meandered, like the drifts of snow, across the wide prairies.”
Seeing (Annie Dillard) - The stories she tells about people born blind who have their sight fixed, and how they don’t see quite the same way as someone who has always had sight, are fascinating. It seems like Dillard is saying they never imagined size and distance the way I imagine it, their non-seeing brain didn’t use the information the same way mine does. You’ve got to read the story. I’m having trouble explaining how mind-blowing it is.
Meditations on a Small Lake (Norbert Blei) - I related to the writer’s thoughtful connection to and love for the small piece of the world where he comes to live. I didn’t get all of it, some of it was deep, maybe too deep, but I wanted to get it and I tried to. Mostly I appreciated his appreciation for this awesome world we live in.
I absolutely loved this book. I think I’m its biggest fan. I didn’t love every piece of writing in here, however. I had a hard time getting into the poetry and the song lyrics and the other non-prose types of pieces. That surprised me, because I adore the nature poet Mary Oliver (whose writing is not in this book, by the way.)
But so many of the stories were wonderful. I got lost in these pages several times, lost in the descriptions of nature or the human-ness of the people, the musings about life, the variety of things to learn. The rural theme speaks to who I am — I love nature and simplicity and basic life values. And I’ve come to appreciate skillful writing more and more over the years (especially lately when I’m starting to feel the itch to write something myself). The power of the writing drew me in many times. So this is one of my favorite books!
You know when you and a friend listen to the same CD, and then you compare which songs were your favorites? And learning the other person’s favorites, you hear them again through their ears, and you gain a new appreciation for some songs? Let’s do that with this book. What were your favorite parts? Here are some of mine:
Eight Short Prose Pieces (Jim Heynen) - The humor in the one about the rats had me wanting to share this book with everyone I know so they could laugh out loud at it too. The style and the content and the whole point of these quick little stories were just so familiar-feeling. It made me think my uncles could have told these stories.
The Boundary (Wendell Berry) - Wonderful story, maybe my favorite. I’m not sure what to say about this one yet, but I will come back and add my words when I find them.
Thirty-Seven Days of Peril (Truman Everts) - This awe-inspiring story had me hanging on every word, and I couldn’t put the book down until I knew how his real-life wilderness survival journey resolved. (It’s not long, but I read really slowly.) Journey may be an overused word, or maybe just on reality TV, but it’s perfectly appropriate here. This guy takes a long perilous walk in the woods, lost from his group, and lives to share the events with us, with an almost day by day recollection.
The Streams (Ann Zwinger) - I have a thing for nature writing, and this is one piece of writing that helped me to fall in love with it.
Winter (Paul Gruchow) - Here is an excerpt:
“There is some principle of physics at work in the music of snow underfoot, just as there is a mathematical principle to explain why snow drifts at a fenceline in a scalloped pattern of elongated ovals rather than in the straight line of the fence. It does so for the same reason that a river meanders rather than advances in a straight line. I cannot explain the mathematics involved any more than I can articulate the structural underpinnings of the music of snow underfoot.
“If I could explain the sound of a footstep upon the snow or come to know the underlying principles that govern the meandering of the snow along a fenceline, I should then be attuned in a new way to the largely unheard and mysterious music of the universe. It has often been said, and I shall argue the case myself, that the only remark of nature is its silence, but that is not because the world around us has nothing to say. It is because we come unequipped with ears to hear.
“I am as unequipped as the next person. I listen in the dead of winter to the song the snow sings, and strain as I might, I cannot make it out. I listen to the coyotes howling in the nights, and to the crows cawing in the mornings and to the wind washing in the leaves of the cottonwoods in the evenings, and I know that I have not really heard anything of it except the mystery in it. But the mystery has captivated me, and under the spell of it, I have meandered, like the drifts of snow, across the wide prairies.”
Seeing (Annie Dillard) - The stories she tells about people born blind who have their sight fixed, and how they don’t see quite the same way as someone who has always had sight, are fascinating. It seems like Dillard is saying they never imagined size and distance the way I imagine it, their non-seeing brain didn’t use the information the same way mine does. You’ve got to read the story. I’m having trouble explaining how mind-blowing it is.
Meditations on a Small Lake (Norbert Blei) - I related to the writer’s thoughtful connection to and love for the small piece of the world where he comes to live. I didn’t get all of it, some of it was deep, maybe too deep, but I wanted to get it and I tried to. Mostly I appreciated his appreciation for this awesome world we live in.
December 8, 2018
Not everyone will enjoy this book. And I don't know that anyone will enjoy every chapter or contribution. I borrowed it from a local library and don't feel strongly enough about it to add it to my personal bookshelf but ...
There are stories that will stay with me for a very long time and I anticipate myself saying, "I know of a story you would appreciate" when talking to others...
The young boy on the farm and his sheep...
The aging gentleman and his adventures on the far reaches of his property (?)....
The Dillard observations about observing and truly seeing and noticing...
There are stories that will stay with me for a very long time and I anticipate myself saying, "I know of a story you would appreciate" when talking to others...
The young boy on the farm and his sheep...
The aging gentleman and his adventures on the far reaches of his property (?)....
The Dillard observations about observing and truly seeing and noticing...
December 26, 2018
Beautiful collection. The selection of readings was clearly lovingly chosen for a display of the good, bad, and ugly of rural life.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews