What do you think?
Rate this book
Search for the Genuine, The: Nonfiction, 1970-2015
The first general nonfiction title in thirty years from a giant of American letters, The Search for the Genuine is a sparkling, definitive collection of Jim Harrison's essays and journalism--some never before published
New York Times bestselling author Jim Harrison (1937-2016) was a writer with a poet's economy of style and trencherman's appetites and ribald humor.
In The Search for the Genuine, a collection of new and previously published essays, the giant of letters muses on everything from grouse hunting fishing to Zen Buddhism and matters of the spirit, including reported pieces on Yellowstone and shark-tagging in the open ocean, commentary on writers from Bukowski to Neruda to Peter Matthiessen, and a heartbreaking essay on life-- and, for those attempting to cross in the ever-more-dangerous gaps, death--on the US/Mexico border.
Written with Harrison's trademark humor, compassion, and full-throated zest for life, this chronicle of a modern bon vivant is a feast for fans who may think they know Harrison's nonfiction, from a true "American original" (San Francisco Chronicle).
New York Times bestselling author Jim Harrison (1937-2016) was a writer with a poet's economy of style and trencherman's appetites and ribald humor.
In The Search for the Genuine, a collection of new and previously published essays, the giant of letters muses on everything from grouse hunting fishing to Zen Buddhism and matters of the spirit, including reported pieces on Yellowstone and shark-tagging in the open ocean, commentary on writers from Bukowski to Neruda to Peter Matthiessen, and a heartbreaking essay on life-- and, for those attempting to cross in the ever-more-dangerous gaps, death--on the US/Mexico border.
Written with Harrison's trademark humor, compassion, and full-throated zest for life, this chronicle of a modern bon vivant is a feast for fans who may think they know Harrison's nonfiction, from a true "American original" (San Francisco Chronicle).
336 pages, Hardcover
First published September 13, 2022
114 people are currently reading
355 people want to read
About the author
Jim Harrison
185 books1,487 followersJim Harrison was born in Grayling, Michigan, to Winfield Sprague Harrison, a county agricultural agent, and Norma Olivia (Wahlgren) Harrison, both avid readers. He married Linda King in 1959 with whom he has two daughters.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
His awards include National Academy of Arts grants (1967, 68, 69), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1969-70), the Spirit of the West Award from the Mountain & Plains Booksellers Association, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2007).
Much of Harrison's writing depicts sparsely populated regions of North America with many stories set in places such as Nebraska's Sand Hills, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Montana's mountains, and along the Arizona-Mexico border.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
His awards include National Academy of Arts grants (1967, 68, 69), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1969-70), the Spirit of the West Award from the Mountain & Plains Booksellers Association, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2007).
Much of Harrison's writing depicts sparsely populated regions of North America with many stories set in places such as Nebraska's Sand Hills, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Montana's mountains, and along the Arizona-Mexico border.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
May 23, 2022
Fantastic. Jim Harrison the man as recorded by Jim Harrison the writer is basically a refined version of Brown Dog, the character invented by Jim Harrison the author. Harrison’s prose on fishing, hunting and the outdoors reads like an essay adaptation of Hemingway’s Michigan tales. Harrison takes Hem’s Big Two Hearted and raises it with Montana brown trout, Mexican rooster fish and black marlin off the coast of Ecuador. He takes the drunken aspirations of Three Day Blow, imagining beating down the bottomlands, with actual endless bird hunts around Traverse Bay, the UP, Arizona and the Yellowstone valley. Harrison lived the life that Up in Michigan hints at, a simple and admirable existence tied to living off the land and not forgetting where you come from. He also casually name drops the many friends and acquaintances collected through a remarkable life writing in Hollywood and trotting across the globe. This collection made me want to rewatch the Parts Unknown episode he featured in and just listen to him and Bourdain shoot the shit again: two savvy and literary gourmands reflecting on higher issues than simply food and travel, yet somehow bringing back to the forefront the truth that perhaps nothing is actually higher than those simple pleasures truly enjoyed.
February 23, 2023
What a truly interesting guy! I loved this collection of articles. I was able to pick it up and read it in bits and pieces. I especially loved Harrison's articles about hunting and fishing, giving voice to that hard to describe allure of those pursuits.
August 12, 2023
Harrison was a prolific, obsessively creative writer. He loved literature to an imprudent degree from very early years of his Michigan boyhood. This collection of short, often entertaining prose pieces, written during a span of more than four decades, verifies how absorbed he was in finding the genuine in himself and in the fascinating people he came into contact with.
To me, the era & style of these autobiographic essays places him as a late-Beat-Generation writer. Hey, he even became a serious practitioner of Zen meditation; as it did for some other Beat writers, it offered a way — for an imaginative person with a sharp intellect and upsurging creativity — to keep oneself in balance or inner integration. But as well, his compulsion to write was also harmonized by his love of the outdoors, including fishing & bird-hunting outings.
This collection includes writings from 1970 to 2015, not ordered chronologically, but rather in an invigoratingly jumbled sequence. Harrison produced work between the early ‘60s till the last years of his life. He published many novels and novellas that earned him renown; he also published poetry (initially & through the years). I was delighted when the journal-type prose in this collection was at times provided a dash of unique metaphor, or lyricism… which made for an odd contrast with occasional sentences that, to me, seemed awkwardly worded. Oh well.
No matter. What actually made this anthology engaging is the guy himself.
To me, the era & style of these autobiographic essays places him as a late-Beat-Generation writer. Hey, he even became a serious practitioner of Zen meditation; as it did for some other Beat writers, it offered a way — for an imaginative person with a sharp intellect and upsurging creativity — to keep oneself in balance or inner integration. But as well, his compulsion to write was also harmonized by his love of the outdoors, including fishing & bird-hunting outings.
This collection includes writings from 1970 to 2015, not ordered chronologically, but rather in an invigoratingly jumbled sequence. Harrison produced work between the early ‘60s till the last years of his life. He published many novels and novellas that earned him renown; he also published poetry (initially & through the years). I was delighted when the journal-type prose in this collection was at times provided a dash of unique metaphor, or lyricism… which made for an odd contrast with occasional sentences that, to me, seemed awkwardly worded. Oh well.
No matter. What actually made this anthology engaging is the guy himself.
July 9, 2024
Very much enjoyed the tribute by Luis Alberto Urrea introducing the book with authorial confraternity. Harrison’s writing is clearly instructive and fascinating, but after a few good doses into it, the selfish rant and boorish attitude, somewhat exhausts patience, reminiscent of a pompous Papa Hemingway pontificating about this and that, with all the womanising, celebrity name-dropping, wine-bibbing and erudite gourmandising, over-peppering his yarns.
Reminiscent of Diderot’s portrayal of “Rameau’s nephew,” another peripatetic “tell it like it is” character — perhaps blowhard is too strong but edging closer to a description? (a coincident reading.)
I have to admit though, because of his outstanding writing ability and fluency, despite his off-putting posturing, there is an uncanny perhaps somewhat voyeuristic attraction in his blunt honesty, warts and all.
Perhaps such ego was one way that helped him survive the fight with tough times.
Reminiscent of Diderot’s portrayal of “Rameau’s nephew,” another peripatetic “tell it like it is” character — perhaps blowhard is too strong but edging closer to a description? (a coincident reading.)
I have to admit though, because of his outstanding writing ability and fluency, despite his off-putting posturing, there is an uncanny perhaps somewhat voyeuristic attraction in his blunt honesty, warts and all.
Perhaps such ego was one way that helped him survive the fight with tough times.
December 17, 2022
I revere Jim Harrison's fiction and poetry which has a magical quality. I will give those five stars every time.
Some of the entries in this book were interesting and had some similarly thoughtful gems. But I didn't enjoy reading about sports and fishing. And a hefty percentage of the book is just that--articles that had been published in men's magazines aimed at a different audience.
Fair enough.
"As my consciousness begins its paint job I frequently, but not always, go outside and bow to the six directions, mindful of the ironies involved. I don’t mind if the gesture appears absurd to someone else as I eventually have to die all by myself."
Some of the entries in this book were interesting and had some similarly thoughtful gems. But I didn't enjoy reading about sports and fishing. And a hefty percentage of the book is just that--articles that had been published in men's magazines aimed at a different audience.
Fair enough.
"As my consciousness begins its paint job I frequently, but not always, go outside and bow to the six directions, mindful of the ironies involved. I don’t mind if the gesture appears absurd to someone else as I eventually have to die all by myself."
November 27, 2022
A book to be enjoyed little by little, and then, perhaps, read again. What a life. How did he get away with it? How did he afford it? How did he eat that much, how did he drink that much and live to be 78? How did he get that much living into to a life that included so much writing and reading.
January 13, 2025
Read for book club. Many of these nonfiction pieces focus on subjects of which I'm not interested: hunting, bird dogs, fishing. My favorite section was "Michigan, Montana, and Other Sacred Places."
May 21, 2023
This was a good listen. This is a collection of Harrison’s nonfiction work. It is mostly about hunting and fishing. A number of the stories are set in the woods of Northern Michigan (Leelanau Peninsula and the UP), places I am very familiar with. Harrison’s voice is unique. There are many literary references that have me scrambling (Faulkner is his literary hero). The narrator’s voice is perfect for this book.
March 17, 2023
What a pleasure. I’d want to have a beer (or three) with Jim Harrison if he still graced this Earth.
October 19, 2024
Near 5 stars. Engrossing! I wish I could have known Jim Harrison. We would have been fast friends.
January 24, 2023
Jim Harrison was one of the great writers of the last 100 years. Known mostly for his poetry and his fiction, Jim was also an essayist and a journalist, and he did his best to capture some of the beauty of life’s small moments.
This book of essays represents a body of work that stretches from his beginnings as a professional writer, to the year before his death in 2016. In this wide-ranging nonfiction anthology, Jim writes of his passions on multiple subjects: love, literature, life, food and drink, hunting, dogs, birds, travel, the places he lived, travel, and possibly his greatest passion and pastime, fishing.
Jim was a native of Grayling, Michigan and lived for a time on a farm in the Upper Peninsula. A lifelong claustrophobe, later in his life he divided his time between Livingston, Montana and Patagonia, Arizona, on the Mexican border. He was a poet, novelist, world traveler, raconteur, outdoorsman, and gourmand. His work shows that Jim did not just live, he consumed life, as if he knew it was only a temporary state and he needed to do as much with it as he could before he left it behind. He spent his life in a search for the genuine, and I think he found it. He died, I’m told, at his desk in Arizona with pen in hand.
“I won’t say I’ve reached the location of that improbably banal word ‘closure.’ You don’t start fishing a lot in the same place you left for the same reason you can’t restart or renew a marriage back to the state of innocent, blissful passion. It’s quite a different person bating the hook or, better yet, tying on the fly. It is, however, find indeed to know that if you’ve lost something very good in your life it’s still possible to go looking for it.”
-From the essay “Starting Over”
Rest well, Jim.
This book of essays represents a body of work that stretches from his beginnings as a professional writer, to the year before his death in 2016. In this wide-ranging nonfiction anthology, Jim writes of his passions on multiple subjects: love, literature, life, food and drink, hunting, dogs, birds, travel, the places he lived, travel, and possibly his greatest passion and pastime, fishing.
Jim was a native of Grayling, Michigan and lived for a time on a farm in the Upper Peninsula. A lifelong claustrophobe, later in his life he divided his time between Livingston, Montana and Patagonia, Arizona, on the Mexican border. He was a poet, novelist, world traveler, raconteur, outdoorsman, and gourmand. His work shows that Jim did not just live, he consumed life, as if he knew it was only a temporary state and he needed to do as much with it as he could before he left it behind. He spent his life in a search for the genuine, and I think he found it. He died, I’m told, at his desk in Arizona with pen in hand.
“I won’t say I’ve reached the location of that improbably banal word ‘closure.’ You don’t start fishing a lot in the same place you left for the same reason you can’t restart or renew a marriage back to the state of innocent, blissful passion. It’s quite a different person bating the hook or, better yet, tying on the fly. It is, however, find indeed to know that if you’ve lost something very good in your life it’s still possible to go looking for it.”
-From the essay “Starting Over”
Rest well, Jim.
February 3, 2022
I remember two or three decades ago reading all the fiction Harrison had published at that time. After reading this collection of short nonfiction, I’m tempted to read all the fiction again.
After I finished this book, I went back and made a list of my favorite pieces. One thing that struck me was that those favorites were spread out through his writing career, from 1972 to 2015, which seems a good sign to me. Since I’m not a fan of hunting or fishing, two of his favorite topics, it didn’t surprise me that my favorites were almost all on topics of writing, the environment, or travel in places which were important to me, from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to Montana and Yellowstone.
On the other hand, I’ve seen reviews by people who liked that he wrote about hunting and fishing and strippers and big SUVs, but were horrified to learn that he was a liberal, condemned many types of hunting, and would probably even be considered an ecoradical by some. I was quite leery of reading the sections on hunting and fishing, (as well as a piece on Thoreau which turned out to be positive), but they were less offensive than I feared, in part because I did skim through most of the lengthy ocean fishing descriptions.
I’m not sure Harrison and I would have liked each other in person, but I do enjoy his writing which I think can appeal to variety of open-minded people, and I recommend this collection. Occasionally there is a little repetition or conflict between articles, or information which is a little dated, but I didn’t consider any of it a major problem.
Thanks to Grove Press and NetGalley for an advance copy to review.
After I finished this book, I went back and made a list of my favorite pieces. One thing that struck me was that those favorites were spread out through his writing career, from 1972 to 2015, which seems a good sign to me. Since I’m not a fan of hunting or fishing, two of his favorite topics, it didn’t surprise me that my favorites were almost all on topics of writing, the environment, or travel in places which were important to me, from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to Montana and Yellowstone.
On the other hand, I’ve seen reviews by people who liked that he wrote about hunting and fishing and strippers and big SUVs, but were horrified to learn that he was a liberal, condemned many types of hunting, and would probably even be considered an ecoradical by some. I was quite leery of reading the sections on hunting and fishing, (as well as a piece on Thoreau which turned out to be positive), but they were less offensive than I feared, in part because I did skim through most of the lengthy ocean fishing descriptions.
I’m not sure Harrison and I would have liked each other in person, but I do enjoy his writing which I think can appeal to variety of open-minded people, and I recommend this collection. Occasionally there is a little repetition or conflict between articles, or information which is a little dated, but I didn’t consider any of it a major problem.
Thanks to Grove Press and NetGalley for an advance copy to review.
July 8, 2023
Jim Harrison may be gone but this eclectic collection of short pieces from various magazines edited by Luis Urrea brings him to life in all his glory – nature, sex, hunting/fishing, FOOD, reading, writing, travel - these pieces touch on all Harrison’s pre-occupations. I was fortunate to meet him a number of times over the years as he came through town on another book tour. Always generous and entertaining, his last visit to Elliot Bay Books was the most memorable. He had aged considerably since the last visit, put on a lot of weight and walked with a cane but was ever mischievous. At the end of the reading for “Returning To Earth” Harrison was seated at a table ready to greet a long line of readers; the first thing he did after sitting down was light up a cigarette IN A BOOKSTORE surrounded by thousands of books! The store manager was shocked to say the least. Next, he opened up a bottle of red wine (probably a Chateau Margaux or a Lafite Rothschild (both vintages he was known to favor on his myriad hunting and fishing trips). By the time we reached the table to get his latest book signed Jim was feeling-no-pain. I thanked him for coming, said something bland about the book and was ready to leave. He was staring up at my wife with his one good eye when she said to him, ‘Mr. Harrison, what did you like best about Key West?’ Grinning and staring back he smiled and said, “The Whores!” ... What a character, I miss him but this volume brings him back to life in living color.
July 8, 2022
I have long been a fan of Jim Harrison's writing, mainly because he is such a dichotomous person. He is a craggy outdoorsmen and environmentalist, and at the same time extremely literate. His stories that have female main characters seem the most polarized to me, particularly Dalva and The Woman Lit by Fireflies. In this book he discussed these female characters, and how he believed the death of his teenage sister caused him to want to bring her back to life by creating a female characters in his writing. At the same time, I started watching a new documentary series by Ken Burns on mental health. Burns said his mother passed away when he was very young, and this circumstance helped shape his career as a documentary filmmaker. He credited his father-in-law, a psychologist, with a significant insight: "He told me that my whole work was an attempt to make people long gone come back alive."
January 11, 2023
The New Yorker called Jim Harrison Mozart of the Prairie. The New York Times titled a review of his "Complete Poems" thusly: "Famed for Fiction, Jim Harrison Was Also a Poet of Prodigious."
You see the word prodigious a lot with Harrison. In this latest, posthumous offering "The Search for the Genuine: Nonfiction, 1970-2015," he gets to demonstrate that word and others often attached to him. I had not previous seen some of these essays, since I didn't subscribe to some of the publications for which he wrote, like Automobile, or Men's Journal. I did see the occasional piece in Esquire, when I was subscribing. But I've read most of his fiction, including the masterful "Dalva" and "Brown Dog" and his last offerings "The Great Leader" and "The Big Seven" referred to as The Detective Gunderson Series.
There's lots to delight in visiting with Jim Harrison here: bird hunting, trout fishing, chasing big ocean species - all while looking at the world from his one good eye.
You see the word prodigious a lot with Harrison. In this latest, posthumous offering "The Search for the Genuine: Nonfiction, 1970-2015," he gets to demonstrate that word and others often attached to him. I had not previous seen some of these essays, since I didn't subscribe to some of the publications for which he wrote, like Automobile, or Men's Journal. I did see the occasional piece in Esquire, when I was subscribing. But I've read most of his fiction, including the masterful "Dalva" and "Brown Dog" and his last offerings "The Great Leader" and "The Big Seven" referred to as The Detective Gunderson Series.
There's lots to delight in visiting with Jim Harrison here: bird hunting, trout fishing, chasing big ocean species - all while looking at the world from his one good eye.
December 19, 2022
It's an excellent compilation, and it's best enjoyed piecemeal - you can even skip around, if you'd like. Harrison's narrative ability slots in nicely with the old-school sportsman authors that were his contemporaries, but he's such an anachronism by today's standards, that his perspective is timeless. His tales of off-grid living hit different, because he probably could've rolled with George Plimpton as easily as Jon Krakauer. A gift is required to be able enjoy the weather in northern Michigan as much as Nogales, Zihuatanejo as the Nebraska sandhills, let alone to write about them all and make them sound romantic and relatable.
May 17, 2022
I have always been impressed with Harrison’s indifference to celebrity almost to the degree of another contemporary named Bob Dylan. Neither artist could give a rat’s ass what anybody thinks and both were glad to get a living through their art. And somewhat surprisingly. There isn’t anybody working successfully today (that I can think of) with that level of indifference given to their own success. Please read the rest of my review here:
https://rogueliterarysociety.com/f/th...
https://rogueliterarysociety.com/f/th...
August 16, 2022
What a gift to have one more book from a writer who is so missed. These pieces span Harrison's career, and will delight both those who are just coming to his work and those who will be glad to have just one more bit. His compassion, humor, and voracious appetite for life that is so much a part of his work is all here. A worthy companion to his already published works.
December 24, 2022
Reading this collection takes me back to the many non-fiction magazine pieces that served as my intro to Jim Harrison’s world. Coming across a Harrison piece, about fishing, hunting, dogs, pickup trucks, rambling walks or gourmand exploits always led to wanting more. Those articles were always a highlight, and this book is full of them.
December 27, 2022
I enjoyed reading the essays in the first 70 pages of the book, then lost interest as the essay topics turned to hunting, fishing, hunting dogs, outdoor vehicles and similar. Not my cup of tea, as they say.
December 11, 2022
I loved every single piece, and would love to see more. This book made me happy to be a writer. I love people who spend time in nature, as the wilderness’s influence runs deep and into our art.
February 22, 2023
Love this man.
Great writer, insane, attacked life with enthusiasm.
Great writer, insane, attacked life with enthusiasm.
September 18, 2023
This website's synopsis of The Search for the Genuine is succinct and accurate, and I see no need to add to it except to say that I agree with the oft-repeated comparison of Jim Harrison to Ernest Hemingway concerning the persona embracing the vigorously masculine pursuits of hunting, fishing, hard drinking, and occasional debauchery (also, just look at the cover photo), but I would note that Harrison deviates from Papa's insecurity-driven mean spirited attacks upon anyone else who he might perceive as challenging his manhood or literary bona fides. Harrison is unstinting in his praise of other writers and sportsmen and appears sincere in each instance.
While I don't subscribe to the periodicals in which Harrison's essays previously appeared--Esquire, Men's Journal, True, Sports Afloat, Automobile, and Field & Stream--I do share his reverence for and desire to protect largely untrammeled wilderness as a place to escape the pressures and inanities of urban life and to reconnect, directly, with the natural world that sustains us. Harrison understood the obvious, palpably and viscerally, that humans are just one strand in the larger web of life, and that we can't live without the natural world. Its destruction will lead inexorably to our own.
In the introduction to The Search for the Genuine, Luis Alberto Urrea refers to Jim Harrison as a "big river in flood" and mentions attending an event at the Tucson Festival of Books at which both of them were to be speakers and that "nobody there knew what Jim was going to say." The big river overflowed with a spirited, meandering effusion of anecdotes and observations that engaged the audience and riveted Urrea, who was seated next to the podium, until, about a half hour into the remarks, the master of ceremonies sent Urrea a note asking if he could get Harrison to stop. Urrea shook his head no. He didn't want to.
I feel the same way. If there is any weakness in this collection, it is in the shorter pieces that I suspect were constrained by space limitations of the journals in which they appeared and editorial trimming and shaping to fit those journals' demographic targets. In the longer essays, Harrison ruminates and expounds widely and deeply and goes where he will, and it's a treat to be swept along on the shining currents of his prose. Also, noting that he wrote for different audiences at different times over the 45 years covered by these pieces, there are frequent instances of repetitions of Harrison providing backstory to those audiences--his loss of vision in one eye due to an accident as a child, the loss of his father and sister in a car accident, and other episodes--and in those instances it may feel as if the reader is crossing the same river twice. But these simply remind me of the family reunions I attended as a child, when grandparents and uncles and aunts and cousins I saw only sporadically sometimes told stories that I'd already heard, but I had grown and they had grown and the stories had grown, and we were all there to relate.
While I don't subscribe to the periodicals in which Harrison's essays previously appeared--Esquire, Men's Journal, True, Sports Afloat, Automobile, and Field & Stream--I do share his reverence for and desire to protect largely untrammeled wilderness as a place to escape the pressures and inanities of urban life and to reconnect, directly, with the natural world that sustains us. Harrison understood the obvious, palpably and viscerally, that humans are just one strand in the larger web of life, and that we can't live without the natural world. Its destruction will lead inexorably to our own.
In the introduction to The Search for the Genuine, Luis Alberto Urrea refers to Jim Harrison as a "big river in flood" and mentions attending an event at the Tucson Festival of Books at which both of them were to be speakers and that "nobody there knew what Jim was going to say." The big river overflowed with a spirited, meandering effusion of anecdotes and observations that engaged the audience and riveted Urrea, who was seated next to the podium, until, about a half hour into the remarks, the master of ceremonies sent Urrea a note asking if he could get Harrison to stop. Urrea shook his head no. He didn't want to.
I feel the same way. If there is any weakness in this collection, it is in the shorter pieces that I suspect were constrained by space limitations of the journals in which they appeared and editorial trimming and shaping to fit those journals' demographic targets. In the longer essays, Harrison ruminates and expounds widely and deeply and goes where he will, and it's a treat to be swept along on the shining currents of his prose. Also, noting that he wrote for different audiences at different times over the 45 years covered by these pieces, there are frequent instances of repetitions of Harrison providing backstory to those audiences--his loss of vision in one eye due to an accident as a child, the loss of his father and sister in a car accident, and other episodes--and in those instances it may feel as if the reader is crossing the same river twice. But these simply remind me of the family reunions I attended as a child, when grandparents and uncles and aunts and cousins I saw only sporadically sometimes told stories that I'd already heard, but I had grown and they had grown and the stories had grown, and we were all there to relate.
January 31, 2022
The Search for the Genuine: Nonfiction, 1970-2015by J. Harrison, published by Grove Atlantic Press.
Blurb:
The first general nonfiction title in thirty years from a giant of American letters, The Search for the Genuine is a sparkling, definitive collection of Jim Harrison's essays and journalism--some never before published
New York Times bestselling author Jim Harrison (1937-2016) was a writer with a poet's economy of style and trencherman's appetites and ribald humor.
In The Search for the Genuine, a collection of new and previously published essays, the giant of letters muses on everything from grouse hunting fishing to Zen Buddhism and matters of the spirit, including reported pieces on Yellowstone and shark-tagging in the open ocean, commentary on writers from Bukowski to Neruda to Peter Matthiessen, and a heartbreaking essay on life.
I never read this author and I thought why not, give it a try.
It took me a minute to get into the author's writing - it's unique. But the I was in for a treat. I loved the essays, artikles te al. 4,5 stars.
Blurb:
The first general nonfiction title in thirty years from a giant of American letters, The Search for the Genuine is a sparkling, definitive collection of Jim Harrison's essays and journalism--some never before published
New York Times bestselling author Jim Harrison (1937-2016) was a writer with a poet's economy of style and trencherman's appetites and ribald humor.
In The Search for the Genuine, a collection of new and previously published essays, the giant of letters muses on everything from grouse hunting fishing to Zen Buddhism and matters of the spirit, including reported pieces on Yellowstone and shark-tagging in the open ocean, commentary on writers from Bukowski to Neruda to Peter Matthiessen, and a heartbreaking essay on life.
I never read this author and I thought why not, give it a try.
It took me a minute to get into the author's writing - it's unique. But the I was in for a treat. I loved the essays, artikles te al. 4,5 stars.
January 24, 2023
I've been reading Harrison's fiction since the '90s, as well as an earlier volume of essays not included in this version. Several volumes still adorn my bookshelf, but in later years I became jaded concerning the last two novels and considered them the work of an author whose muse had departed without him. The essays here and those I've read in the past were all well-written and cogent, but it is Harrison's discussions about other writers I find most satisfying. Hemingway, he writes, "struggled with his manhood"; for Peter Matthiessen, he has only praise. I would agree with his observations about Matthiessen, and am harsher in my criticism of Hemingway. All of these essays are worthwhile reads nonetheless, particularly for those familiar with Harrison's work. For any others, any true survey of American literature has to include Jim Harrison, if only for his versatility and broad production in a variety of genres.
July 11, 2023
Satisfying book about the real-life adventures of Jim Harrison, from his time as a young man on his father's farm, until well past "retirement age" living in Montana and Arizona. The stories of the predicaments he finds himself in during his sporting adventures throughout the western hemisphere are if not somewhat grandiose, certainly mesmerizing. Harrison's fascination with and appreciation for nature is applaudable--and in some ways similar to the attributes of Hemingway, who Harrison has varying levels of admiration for. Harrison's writing is typically simple to understand and digest--even his metaphorical references. And his genuine, self-deprecating passages are interspersed appropriately in the book, mixed with sprinkles of humor. A great light read, with some messages about life values Harrison found along life's path, still holding true today.
December 22, 2024
A relaxing read for Harrison fans.
The best thing about The Search for the Genuine is the way Harrison’s storytelling wanders from fishing hole to hunting tract to give rise to the fact that he has found it. The real value of a Life for him wasn’t found in the emails, faxes, rejection letters, or hotel stays that filled his day job, but rather in the campfire feasts, drunken nights, and freezing morning encounters with Nature in all her Glory. The Truth that he came to know as a ten year old boy was still true for the seventy year old man and he reveled in it.
This collection lets the Reader feel the joy as he takes us around the World loving every new challenge, close call, or wrong turn. Good decisions and bad, all part of the Game, the Real. Parts of a Real, True, Genuine Life!
I enjoyed sharing those moments, as only he could tell of them. Four Stars. ****
The best thing about The Search for the Genuine is the way Harrison’s storytelling wanders from fishing hole to hunting tract to give rise to the fact that he has found it. The real value of a Life for him wasn’t found in the emails, faxes, rejection letters, or hotel stays that filled his day job, but rather in the campfire feasts, drunken nights, and freezing morning encounters with Nature in all her Glory. The Truth that he came to know as a ten year old boy was still true for the seventy year old man and he reveled in it.
This collection lets the Reader feel the joy as he takes us around the World loving every new challenge, close call, or wrong turn. Good decisions and bad, all part of the Game, the Real. Parts of a Real, True, Genuine Life!
I enjoyed sharing those moments, as only he could tell of them. Four Stars. ****
March 10, 2023
I hadn’t read Harrison before but when my book club chose it for our 20th anniversary I was game. The essays in the book span his writing career and includes previously published works- especially from magazines like Field and Stream. There are lots of fishing and hunting stories that range across mostly North America. He likes to be outside and describes an earlier age especially without cell phones. I liked most of the essays and I bet I would have enjoyed them even more in my post college days when I did some of my own rambling. He takes some lessons from Hemingway including lots of work based in Michigan.
January 18, 2023
4.5 stars.
This is an excellent grouping of essays and some prose poems that read like essays.
Jim Harrison weaves humor, intelligence, and humility in his writing. I absolutely love it. I have had the privilege to live in various parts of the US (including the East Coast, Arizona, Texas), and I really enjoyed the breadth of his writing.
Above all, I am enamored by his full love for life, and his willingness not to take himself too seriously. I'm terrible at writing reviews, but I loved, loved this book.
This is an excellent grouping of essays and some prose poems that read like essays.
Jim Harrison weaves humor, intelligence, and humility in his writing. I absolutely love it. I have had the privilege to live in various parts of the US (including the East Coast, Arizona, Texas), and I really enjoyed the breadth of his writing.
Above all, I am enamored by his full love for life, and his willingness not to take himself too seriously. I'm terrible at writing reviews, but I loved, loved this book.
October 9, 2022
With the passing of Jim Harrison in 2016, American letters lost a giant. In the wake of his passing, though, numerous compilations of his poetry have arisen and now we have a collection of articles, some never before published, others from Esquire and other publications, that demonstrate the poet's keen mind, love of language, books, fishing, hunting, and nature. A treasure. Highly recommended.
[I received an advanced copy from the publisher for review.]
[I received an advanced copy from the publisher for review.]
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews