Description
Book SynopsisIn 1985 Boria Sax inherited an area of forest in New York State that had been purchased by his Russian, Jewish Communist grandparents as a buffer against what they felt was a hostile world. For Sax, in the years following, the woodland came to represent a link with those who lived and had lived there, including Native Americans, settlers, bears, deer, turtles and migrating birds. In this personal and eloquent account, Sax explores the meanings and cultural history of forests from prehistory to the present, taking in Gilgamesh, Virgil, Dante, the Gawain poet, medieval alchemists, the Brothers Grimm, the Hudson River painters, Latin American folklore, contemporary African novelists and much more. Combining lyricism with contemporary scholarship, Sax opens new emotional, intellectual and environmental perspectives on the storied history of the forest.
Trade Review'Put on your hiking boots and prepare for an adrenaline-fueled journey around the world with Boria Sax as your expert guide. Make stops with Gilgamesh at the Cedar Forest of Lebanon, with Dante as he enters a dark forest, and with Joseph Conrad’s Marlow as he navigates his way down a river to the Congo. Behold Yggdrasil of Nordic mythologies, the Cosmic Tree that grows in Siberia, or the Waq Waq tree in medieval Arab belief systems. Beauty and wisdom flash out at us on every page of this captivating volume.' – Maria Tatar, author of The Heroine with 1001 Faces; 'We generally take forests for granted, but Boris Sax, in this elegant history, reveals their glory and importance. When we look at our devastation of forests throughout the world, and how ignorant we are about the value of trees, it is a crime that we don't know more about their existence. Sax's graceful analysis guides us through all kinds of enchanted forests throughout history that need more respect than they have received.' – Jack Zipes, Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Forests and Memory 1 Wood and Leaves 2 The World Tree 3 Mythic Beings 4 Conquest of the Woods 5 The Royal Hunt 6 The Forest and Death 7 Lord of the Forest 8 Lady of the Forest 9 The Classical, Rococo and Gothic Woods 10 The Primeval Forest 11 The Forest of Dreams 12 The Law of the Jungle 13 The Man with the Big Axe 14 The Politics of Trees 15 The River in the Forest Epilogue Timeline of Forests in Culture References Further Reading Acknowledgements Photo Acknowledgements Index
