WENDELL BERRY
Wendell Berry (1934 - present and going strong, we hope) holds a special place here at Whistlestop. For years we have enjoyed the experience of customers coming in and asking tentatively if we had any Wendell Berry, to which we answer confidently, "what area of his writings are you seeking? Essays, novels, or poetry?" We stock almost all we can (and we can order what little is missing). Berry is a clear strong voice for remembering your roots, thinking clearly and calmly in times of stress and danger, and living truly in relation to your family, your community, and your conscience. He articulates the philosophical and practical advantages of living locally (know local, eat local, shop local, read global). In our quest to fashion our website to be like our store, we thought it necessary to provide a special place for Wendell Berry.
Remembering
Remembering
Published in 1990 by the legendary North Point Press, this is a poetic novel of despair, hope, and the redemptive power of work. After losing his hand in an accident, Andy Catlett confronts an agronomist whose surreal vision can see only industrial farming. This vision is powerfully contrasted with that of modest Amish farmers content to live outside the pressures brought by capitalist postindustrial progress, and by working the land to keep "away the three great evils, boredom, vice, and need."
As Andy's perspective filters through his anger over his loss and the harsh city of San Francisco surrounding him, he begins to remember: the people and places that wait 2,000 miles away in his Kentucky home, the comfort he knew as a farmer, and his symbiotic relationship to the soil. Andy laments the modern shift away from the love of the land, even as he begins to accept his own changed relationship to the world. Wendell Berry's continued fascination with the power of memory continues in this treasured novel set in 1976.