Unknown Title

Title:

The search for the genuine : nonfiction, 1970-2015 / Jim Harrison.

Author:

Harrison, Jim, 1937-2016 author.

ISBN:

9780802157218

Personal Author:

Harrison, Jim, 1937-2016 author.

Uniform Title:

Essays. Selections

Edition:

First Grove Atlantic hardcover edition.

Physical Description:

xx, 314 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Content Type:

text

Media Type (RDA):

unmediated

Carrier Type:

volume

Contents:

The man who ate books -- Dogs in the manger : on love, spirit, and literature -- Dog years : on hunting -- Michigan, Montana, and other sacred places -- The beginner : and other journalism -- Floating : on fishing, and on the water.

Abstract:

"New York Times-bestselling author Jim Harrison (1937-2016) was a writer with a poet's economy of style and a trencherman's appetites. Best known for fiction and poetry, Harrison was also a prolific nonfiction writer, with columns running in Sports Illustrated and Esquire, and work in Outside, Field & Stream, and others. Written with Harrison's trademark ribald humor, compassion, and full-throated zest for life, The Search for the Genuine is a collection of pieces-from the near-classic to the never-published-that muse on everything from grouse hunting and ocean fishing to Zen Buddhism and matters of the spirit, as well as reporting on Yellowstone and shark-tagging in the open Atlantic, 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)"-- Provided by publisher.

Personal Subject:

Harrison, Jim, 1937-2016.

Subject Term:

Voyages and travels.

Hunting.

Life.

Geographic Term:

United States -- Description and travel.

Genre:

Essays.

Travel writing.

Format:

Books

Available:*

Library	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Batavia - Richmond Memorial Library	34020004057269	814.54 HARR	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

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 writerwith a poet's economy of style and a trencherman's appetites. Praised as a"national treasure" ( Chicago Tribune ) and published in twenty-seven languages, he was one ofthis country's most beloved and critically acclaimed authors. Best known forhis poetry and fiction such as Legends of theFall , Dalva , and Returningto Earth , Harrison was also a prolificnonfiction writer, with columns running in SportsIllustrated and Esquire ,and work in Outside , Field & Stream , and others. The first collection of Harrison's generalnonfiction in thirty years, TheSearch for the Genuine is asparkling, definitive volume of essays and journalism--from the near-classic tothe never-published.

With his trademark ribald humor,compassion, and full-throated zest for life, TheSearch for the Genuine paystribute to writers from Bukowski to Neruda to Peter Matthiessen, and examinesthe distance between literary reputation and the work itself; he attainssomething like satori in the field hunting grouse; he reports on Yellowstonefor the park's hundredth anniversary, when he was merely a tourist to the partof Montana he would eventually call home; he takes to the open sea in pursuitof roosterfish, marlin, tarpon, and, once, to observe a scientific missiontagging sharks; he delivers a heartbreaking essay on life--and, for thoseattempting to cross in the ever-more dangerous gaps, death--on the US-Mexicoborder. Always he comes back to the spirit and to connection with the naturalworld and the people who sustained him; throughout the book his feeling for theAmerican landscape rings out.

Lovingly introduced by acclaimednovelist, poet, and essayist Luis Alberto Urrea, The Search for the Genuine is a feast that captures a lifetime of reading, writing,and living to the fullest, from a true "American original" ( San Francisco Chronicle ).

Author Notes

JIM HARRISON (1937-2016) was the author of thirty-nine other works of poetry, nonfiction, and fiction, including Legends of the Fall , The Road Home , Returning to Earth , and The English Major . A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship, he had work published in twenty-seven languages.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

New and previously published essays, reviews, and travelogues by Harrison (1937--2016) come together in this rewarding trove of true-life tales and reflections from the restless Legends of the Fall author. The entries are grouped thematically and take readers through Harrison's thoughts on "love, spirit, and literature," lifelong passion and reverence for hunting (mostly game birds, with lovingly astute attention paid to his hunting dogs), contemplation of his home turf in "Michigan, Montana and other sacred places," and passion for fishing and being on the water. In "Meditations on Hunting," he muses that "the natural world is an enormous mystery and I married her very early," while in "Thoreau," he covers his "idiosyncratic relation" to the writer's work. One of the longer pieces, "Life on the Border," delivers a picturesque take on the frontier region where Arizona and Mexico meet: "Those in the border states see the horror no one else sees," he notes, "because it is not a discursive media abstraction, but flesh-and-blood suffering." When read chronologically, the pieces evince an evolution in tone and style and document the author's assured knack for his craft. Harrison devotees will eat this up. (Sept.)

Kirkus Review

The boozy gourmand and superb writer recounts a long life of misbehavior, fishing, books, and wandering. "I excel at taking naps, pouring drinks, lighting my cigarettes, writing too many novels, and, some say, cooking," writes Harrison (1937-2016) in this collection of magazine pieces and other oddments. All of those things are true, but the author also confesses to early troubles in childhood--e.g., when he left a hard-earned fishing rod in the driveway, where his father ran over it. Quoth Dad, "Get your head out of your ass, Jimmy," to which, decades later, Harrison appends the rueful, "They're still saying that." The author had numerous specific loves, most of which he puts on show here: sturdy hunting dogs, fine shotguns, good company out on the chase, and, of course, the finer things of life, especially expensive wines and whiskeys. These coincide in several pieces, as when he recounts getting lost in the company of Philip Caputo and spending a dangerously cold night in the New Mexico mountains with grizzly bear whisperer Doug Peacock, misadventures made more palatable by an unending quaff of Bordeaux. Indeed, Harrison loves laughing at himself in episodes marked by pointed apothegms: "Of course, drugs and fishing don't mix"; "I could live here," he writes about walking over the Brooklyn Bridge, "though for reasons of claustrophobia it would have to be in a one-room cabin in the middle of the bridge." Challenged at a book festival for his love of hunting, he delivered a stock response: "Perhaps I'm less evolved than you are." Readers who don't object to pages full of trout, elk, and day drinking will find the essays endlessly charming, and the more adventurous of them will want to retrace Harrison's travels in places like the northerly canyons of the Yellowstone River and the Sandhills of Nebraska. An essential installment in the Harrison canon. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Harrison (1937-2016) was a larger-than-life force during his prolific career, creating 18 poetry collections, 21 works of fiction, several screenplays, five volumes of of nonfiction, and one children's book. Spanning 45 years, this new bevy of essays and musings bursts with insight, adventure, and well-lived experiences, from literature to fishing and hunting to life in Michigan's UP, Montana, Patagonia, and Arizona. Harrison considered himself a poet who pushed himself to write fiction, screenplays, and magazine assignments to support his family. In "Why I Write, Or Not," he shares an exchange between himself and fellow poet Charles Simic, observing, "We know a great deal but not very much." And: "historically art and literature are as natural as the migration of birds or the inevitable collision of love and death." Although the subjects in Harrison's rich, vibrant, and enjoyable essays were at times steered by who was footing the bill, his writing is always and truly "genuine." Forthright, perpetually curious, and compassionate, Harrison remains wholly compelling and readers will be grateful that this buoyant, observant, and caring writer took time away from his sublime poetry to create these enriching essays.

This Immense River: Notes on Jim Harrison's Nonfiction	p. ix
The Man Who Ate Books	p. xvii
Dogs in the Manger: On Love, Spirit, and Literature
Why I Write	p. 3
Sitting Around	p. 5
Dogs in the Manger	p. 10
My Leader	p. 16
Nesting in Air	p. 18
First Person Female	p. 21
Great Poems Make Good Prayers	p. 27
Peter Matthiessen and a Writer's Sport	p. 31
The Pleasures of the Damned	p. 41
Steinbeck	p. 46
Lauren Hutton's ABCs	p. 48
Introduction to Residence on Earth by Pablo Neruda	p. 53
Why I Write, Or Not	p. 59
Thoreau	p. 66
Dream as a Metaphor of Survival	p. 70
Blue Panties	p. 83
Wisdom	p. 87
Dog Years: On Hunting
Dog Years	p. 91
A New Map of the Sacred Territory	p. 100
Delta Hunt	p. 105
The Misadventure Journals	p. 110
Hunting with a Friend: On Good Friends and Foul Weather	p. 117
Marching to a Different Drummer	p. 122
Meditations on Hunting	p. 133
Spring Coda	p. 144
Michigan, Montana, and Other Sacred Places
A Prairie Prologue in Nebraska	p. 151
Not Quite Leaving Michigan	p. 157
Old, Faithful, and Mysterious	p. 165
Safely without Portfolio in Key West	p. 178
Pie in the Sky	p. 183
The Beginner's Mind	p. 188
Learning Montana, or Turn Me Loose	p. 197
Life on the Border	p. 205
The Beginner and Other Journalism
The Beginner Meets the Eight Samurai	p. 223
A Delicate Creature	p. 231
Real Big Brown Truck	p. 242
Floating: On Fishing, and on the Water
On the Water	p. 249
Starting Over	p. 258
The Mad Marlin of Punta Carnero	p. 271
Fishing a Watershed	p. 282
The Beauty of the Jump	p. 287
A River Never Sleeps	p. 299
Floating	p. 303
Early Fishing	p. 309
Publisher's Acknowledgments	p. 311
Photo Credits	p. 313

Available:*

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Booklist Review

Table of Contents