|
Showing 1 - 9 of
9 matches in All Departments
Though popular opinion would have us see Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There
as whimsical, nonsensical, and thoroughly enjoyable stories told
mostly for children; contemporary research has shown us there is a
vastly greater depth to the stories than would been seen at first
glance. Building on the now popular idea amongst Alice enthusiasts,
that the Alice books - at heart - were intended for adults as well
as children, Laura White takes current research in a new,
fascinating direction. During the Victorian era of the book's
original publication, ideas about nature and our relation to nature
were changing drastically. The Alice Books and the Contested Ground
of the Natural World argues that Lewis Carroll used the book's
charm, wit, and often puzzling conclusions to counter the emerging
tendencies of the time which favored Darwinism and theories of
evolution and challenged the then-conventional thinking of the
relationship between mankind and nature. Though a scientist and
ardent student of nature himself, Carroll used his famously playful
language, fantastic worlds and brilliant, often impossible
characters to support more the traditional, Christian ideology of
the time in which mankind holds absolute sovereignty over animals
and nature.
Though popular opinion would have us see Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There
as whimsical, nonsensical, and thoroughly enjoyable stories told
mostly for children; contemporary research has shown us there is a
vastly greater depth to the stories than would been seen at first
glance. Building on the now popular idea amongst Alice enthusiasts,
that the Alice books - at heart - were intended for adults as well
as children, Laura White takes current research in a new,
fascinating direction. During the Victorian era of the book's
original publication, ideas about nature and our relation to nature
were changing drastically. The Alice Books and the Contested Ground
of the Natural World argues that Lewis Carroll used the book's
charm, wit, and often puzzling conclusions to counter the emerging
tendencies of the time which favored Darwinism and theories of
evolution and challenged the then-conventional thinking of the
relationship between mankind and nature. Though a scientist and
ardent student of nature himself, Carroll used his famously playful
language, fantastic worlds and brilliant, often impossible
characters to support more the traditional, Christian ideology of
the time in which mankind holds absolute sovereignty over animals
and nature.
When she couldn't find hiking boots that fit, Laura White Brunner
explored Yosemite backcountry barefoot, and at times alone, in an
era when grizzly bears still roamed the park. When told she
couldn't hike in pants, she pinned up her skirt. Brunner showed
admirable pluck, but, more remarkably, she did it as a teenager in
the 1910s-and she wrote it all down. Her memoir, recovered from the
Yosemite archives and published here for the first time, recounts
two summers spent working and hiking in Yosemite Valley during a
time of great change-in the park and in the world beyond. In
captivating prose Brunner describes her unlikely adventures in the
summers of 1915 and 1917, as well as what she calls "the interlude"
between them. Sometimes funny, sometimes painful, always engaging,
her account captures the "trails" and tribulations of a young woman
coming of age in America's most beautiful national park. Lightly
edited and put into biographical, geographical, and historical
context by Jared N. Champion, the book is also illustrated with
historic photographs, many taken by Brunner herself. It provides an
indelible picture of a bygone time, of awakening young womanhood in
a pristine natural world just opening to tourism on a grand scale.
Late in life, Laura White Brunner (1899-1973) told a reporter that
she had always wanted to be a national park ranger, but, sadly, was
"born too soon." Nonetheless she made Yosemite her own-in her
hiking, photographs, and memoir, but also in a practical sense,
when her ascent of Half Dome by the "Clothes-Line Rope" inspired
the park administration, who feared more women might summit the
monolith, to install the iconic "Cables on Half Dome" route that
remains in place today. Brunner went on to a career in journalism
and though she tried for decades to publish her memoir, this is its
first appearance in print.
When she couldn't find hiking boots that fit, Laura White Brunner
explored Yosemite backcountry barefoot, and at times alone, in an
era when grizzly bears still roamed the park. When told she
couldn't hike in pants, she pinned up her skirt. Brunner showed
admirable pluck, but, more remarkably, she did it as a teenager in
the 1910s-and she wrote it all down. Her memoir, recovered from the
Yosemite archives and published here for the first time, recounts
two summers spent working and hiking in Yosemite Valley during a
time of great change-in the park and in the world beyond. In
captivating prose Brunner describes her unlikely adventures in the
summers of 1915 and 1917, as well as what she calls "the interlude"
between them. Sometimes funny, sometimes painful, always engaging,
her account captures the "trails" and tribulations of a young woman
coming of age in America's most beautiful national park. Lightly
edited and put into biographical, geographical, and historical
context by Jared N. Champion, the book is also illustrated with
historic photographs, many taken by Brunner herself. It provides an
indelible picture of a bygone time, of awakening young womanhood in
a pristine natural world just opening to tourism on a grand scale.
Late in life, Laura White Brunner (1899-1973) told a reporter that
she had always wanted to be a national park ranger, but, sadly, was
"born too soon." Nonetheless she made Yosemite her own-in her
hiking, photographs, and memoir, but also in a practical sense,
when her ascent of Half Dome by the "Clothes-Line Rope" inspired
the park administration, who feared more women might summit the
monolith, to install the iconic "Cables on Half Dome" route that
remains in place today. Brunner went on to a career in journalism
and though she tried for decades to publish her memoir, this is its
first appearance in print.
|
You may like...
Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
|