The Good Life of Helen K. Nearing

by Margaret Killinger

In 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, Helen and Scott Nearing moved from their small apartment in New York City to a dilapidated farmhouse on 65 acres in Vermont. For over 20 years, they created organic gardens, handcrafted stone buildings, and practiced living simply on the land. In 1952, they moved to the Maine coast, where they later built what became their last stone home. Through their 60 years of living on the land in rural New England, their commitment to social and economic justice, their numerous books and articles, and the time they shared with thousands of visitors to their homestead, the Nearings embodied a philosophy that now is recognized as a centerpiece of America's "Back-to-the-Land" and "Simple Living" movements.

Although both Nearings wrote a variety of autobiographical works, this is the first comprehensive biography of Helen Knothe Nearing (1904-1995). Killinger examines Helen's spiritual formation as a member of the early-20th-century Theosophical Society, her complex relationship to "old left" socialist Scott Nearing, and their lives together first in New York City and later as pioneer homesteaders in Vermont and then in Maine.

Although deeply respectful of her subject, Killinger brings to light some of the central paradoxes of Helen Nearing's life. The Nearings' door was always open despite Helen's impatience with "company." And her abiding belief in living the principles of a simple "good life" did not impede her willingness and ability to market those principles with great success. As Killinger shows, Helen K. Nearing almost single-handedly created the Nearing mythos, still very much a factor in the ongoing interest in this remarkable couple.

Genres: Nonfiction

146 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2007

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

AN EXCELLENT AND INFORMATIVE BIOGRAPHY OF HELEN NEARING AND SCOTT

Author and university professor Margaret O. Killinger wrote in the Prologue to this 2007 book, “The Nearing wrote several other autobiographies, which might suggest that this biography of Helen Nearing is an unnecessary exercise… [But] the Nearings’ autobiographical texts were narratives that illustrated far-too-neat versions of their past personas… that sealed off truths and obscured facts… [This] was especially pronounced as she created and mythologized their good life story. For example, in her audiotape, ‘The Good Life of Helen Nearing,’ [she] made spurious claims regarding the construction of their homestead, inflating the Nearings’ building contributions and denying the abundant help that they received… she then offered a romantic, idealized version of [her husband’s] death that … excluded Nancy Berkowitz, a principal caregiver to Nearing throughout his dying process.” (Pg. 2-3)

She continues, “This biography … traces the evolution of this influential spokesperson for organic farming and for simple, purposeful living, particularly during the second half of the last century. It dispels certain myths but upholds the basic integrity of the good life that HKN created, promoted, and lived. As Helen Nearing expressed endless enthusiasm for the way of life she had chosen, this biographer believes that her good life story merits yet another retelling.” (Pg. 5)

She recounts, “HK became the most devoted follower of theosophy in her family and a lifelong spiritual seeker. By age thirteen, she learned to read people’s palm… She analyzed handwriting and collected autographs… HK later communed with fairies and would become a dowser who skillfully located water sources through a diving rod, as well as an inveterate practitioner of the Ouija board.” (Pg. 10-11)

She points out, “HK’s involvement in theosophy became particularly complex in September 1921, when Jiddu Krishnamurti visited Amsterdam and claimed to fall in love with the seventeen-year-old… HK’s deepening immersion in the Theosophical Society as HK grew increasingly close to both Krishnamurti and president Annie Besant.” (Pg. 14-15) She adds, “As Krishnamurti’s primary love interest… HK had gained significant stature within the Theosophical Society. Nonetheless, her position as an ‘independent’ New Woman and devotee of theosophy and music was financed by her parents and sustained by her emotional and spiritual dependence upon Besant and Krishnamurti.” (Pg. 17)

She states, “HK did not divulge in her dairy whether they actually were having sex, but she claimed, ‘many things I can’t even write.’” (Pg. 21) She continues, “HK’s physical, romantic role in Krishna’s process had ceased temporarily … much to her relief… Yet they traveled on the steamship to the United States without a chaperone and lapsed back into their amorous relationship… HK described being in Krishna’s bed as well as [his brother] Nitya’s and noted Krishna’s anger over her closeness to Nitya, along with her own duplicitous feelings.” (Pg. 22) But “Rumors spread in newspapers that HK and Krishnamurti were engaged to be married, which Krishna emphatically denied… this controversy solidified Krishna’s loss of interest in her… HK did not receive another love letter from Krishnamurti after 1926.” (Pg. 28)

Scott Nearing, on the other hand, “was not only fired from the University of Toledo but, under the Espionage and Sedition Acts, indicted for ostensibly obstructing recruitment and enlistment in the armed forces… he was blacklisted from academia from that time forward.” (Pg. 31) She continues, “[Scott] Nearing remained married to [Nellie] Seeds… Nearing’s sexual affairs with other women did indeed prove to be a source of conflict with HK… He would have many such relations with other women in the future.” (Pg. 34-35) She adds, “in these early years, not having a child, not being married to Nearing, and not having a faithful partner were sources of great pain for her.” (Pg. 52) [Scott didn’t want a child; pg. 51]

But she summarizes, “Helen Nearing’s political formation under the tutelage of Scott Nearing propelled her development as a rebellious, spiritual woman. Nearing encouraged her to realize ‘her’ purpose through their austerity and hard work. Health, vigor, and simple living shaped their daily regime and would prove central to their homesteading life in Vermont, where they would begin to create their life story.” (Pg. 43)

She points out, “They anticipated the broader organic gardening movement that would burgeon in the United States during the 1940s. HK and Nearing used simple, second-hand tools… and they avoided the use of domesticated animals… They sought a ‘no-money economy’ … Theirs was to be an extraordinarily austere, frugal, out-Yankeeing-the-Yankee existence as they would adhere to Nearing’s mantra: ‘Live within your income; spend less than you get; pay as you go.’” (Pg. 49)

She states, “HK exaggerated the extent to which she and Nearing were self-sufficient builders as they hired a number of co-workers from the community… Their disdain for the local people was reciprocated as Vermonters distrusted Nearing’s communism and radicalism… HK and Nearing furthermore were perceived in the community as excessively stern taskmasters.” (Pg. 54)

She argues, “The Nearings called for recognition of Russian and Chinese people as fellow world citizens. However, the Nearings’ claim that the New World they encountered was changing for the better denied the reality of the human rights violations that the respective socialist governments had incurred. Their argument maintained Nearing’s unflagging defense of the Soviet Union, a puzzling aspect of his dogmatism that otherwise was rooted in nonviolence and social justice… Nearing was rigidly idealistic, denying realities that might contradict concepts that he embraced… Nearing severed all ties with his son John because of their conflicting views regarding the Soviet Union… The Nearings likewise lauded the Chinese Communist party and Mao Zedong.” (Pg. 69)

She also notes, “In 1980, HKN sold their old clapboard house … for $75,000, ten times what they had paid… in 1952. HKN justified her profits from this sale… ‘… We were not as pure in Maine as we were in Vermont.’ Vermont land sales, however, also had not been ‘pure’ or devoid of profit. Their back-to-the-land existence continued to require revenue.” (Pg. 86-87)

She summarizes, “’Loving and Leaving the Good Life’ exemplified the inherent tension between the mythical, romanticized good life story that HKN tenaciously promoted and the realities that she omitted.” (Pg. 100) “On Sunday, September 17, 1995… HKN crashed her tan Subaru station wagon into an oak tree. Some people speculated that she had a ‘mini stroke,’ through roads were slick with rain, and HKN---who never wore a seat belt---was a notoriously fast, reckless driver.” (Pg. 102) She concludes, “Helen Knothe Nearing became a free-standing, energetic promoter of her good life through her daring leaps into theosophy, travel, romance, communism, homesteading, building, writing, and dying. And she thoroughly enjoyed telling the story.” (Pg. 106)

This is a revealing, but generally “positive” account of HKN and Scott, that will be “must reading” for those interested in her life.

[Dereka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this slender book last night and finished it early this morning. I was particularly interested because my parents lived in Pikes Falls from 1947 to 1951 and were much involved with the Nearings and other Pikes Falls neighbors. Lois was friends with Helen and they drove together to Brattleboro because both sang with the chorale there. Lois told us that they often got a (totally forbidden) ice cream cone when in "Brat". Lois was not so fond of Scott, I think, and was mildly cynical about the fact that they claimed to live the "simple" life but had access to considerable financial resources. I learned a few things that I didn't know, particularly that Helen and Scott sponsored George and Hilda Wendland. I had always wondered how they managed to end up in Vermont. Margaret Killinger did a super job. An unairbrushed picture of Helen which left me admiring her very much.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is my friend Mimi's dissertation, so of course I love it. But I would love it anyway! It is a biography of Helen Nearing, who with her husband Scott "lived the good life" homesteading in Vermont and then Maine for several decades.
Between this book and the Omnivore's Dilemma, I may never be able eat anything but apples ever again (yeah, right!)

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admire the way the Nearings lived their lives and to actually hear Helens voice when she described their experiences and choices was inspiring. Their kindness to the world and each other, how they embodied simplicity in all its forms, and how they cared for their bodily vessels which allowed them to live long and well was good for me to review again.

[Cate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fascinating topic, but reads kind of like a book report.