Next to Nature
Autor Ronald Blytheen Limba Engleză Paperback
Descoperim în Next to Nature nu doar o cronică a satului englezesc, ci un mod de a fi. Totul începe cu liniștea primei zile de ianuarie, când zăpada proaspătă acoperă drumul spre Bottengoms Farm, vechea casă de fermier unde Ronald Blythe și-a petrecut aproape 50 de ani. Această deschidere ne introduce într-un ritm de viață dictat de natură, unde observarea atentă a unui ghiocei sau a luminii pe dealurile din Stour Valley devine un act de meditație. Reținem din aceste pagini o precizie aproape picturală a detaliului, moștenită probabil din istoria casei sale, care a aparținut anterior artistului John Nash.
Credem că farmecul volumului stă în capacitatea autorului de a împleti viața de zi cu zi — de la munca câmpului la slujbele din biserica satului — cu reflecții profunde despre credință, artă și istorie literară. Fanii volumului The Life of the Fields de Richard Jefferies vor recunoaște aceeași atenție la texturile naturii și la „parfumul verde” al vegetației, aplicată aici unui context modern, unde tradiția se întâlnește cu schimbările inevitabile ale peisajului rural.
Next to Nature reprezintă chintesența operei lui Blythe. Dacă în Akenfield autorul analiza structura socială a satului, iar în Under a Broad Sky explora legătura dintre spiritualitate și peisaj, acest nou volum funcționează ca un jurnal de o viață. Este o lectură care trebuie savurată lent, asemenea ritmului lent al anotimpurilor pe care îl descrie, oferindu-ne o perspectivă rară asupra modului în care peisajul în care trăim ne modelează identitatea.
Preț: 78.52 lei
Carte nepublicată încă
Specificații
ISBN-10: 1399840169
Pagini: 480
Editura: Quercus Books
Colecția John Murray Press
De ce să citești această carte
Recomandăm această carte celor care caută un refugiu în simplitate și observație atentă. Next to Nature nu este doar despre peisaje, ci despre găsirea unui sens în repetiția ciclică a naturii. Cititorul câștigă o stare de liniște și o apreciere reînnoită pentru detaliile mici ale vieții rurale. Este cadoul ideal pentru iubitorii de literatură de meditație și pentru cei care vor să înțeleagă spiritul autentic al regiunii East Anglia prin ochii unui maestru al cuvintelor.
Despre autor
Ronald Blythe (1922–2023) a fost una dintre cele mai importante figuri literare ale Marii Britanii, fiind distins cu prestigioasa Medalie Benson de către Royal Society of Literature. Este cunoscut la nivel mondial pentru Akenfield, un studiu clasic al vieții rurale care a fost și ecranizat. Stilul său poetic și capacitatea de a documenta lumea rurală din perspectiva unui fin observator al naturii și al credinței i-au adus recunoașterea drept cel mai mare scriitor de viață la țară din Anglia. A trăit și a scris cea mai mare parte a vieții sale la Bottengoms Farm, lângă Colchester, transformându-și propriul stil de viață într-o operă de artă literară.
Descriere
'All the charm, wonder, eccentricity and vigour of country life is here in these pages, and told with such engaging directness, detail and colour . . . Bliss' STEPHEN FRY
'A capacious work that contains multitudes . . . a work to amble through, seasonally, relishing the vivid dashes of colour and the precision and delicacy of the descriptions' THE SPECTATOR
'My favourite read of the year . . . warm, funny and moving' SUNDAY TIMES
'A writer whose pages you turn and then turn back immediately to re-read, relish and get by heart' SUSAN HILL, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
Ronald Blythe lived at the end of an overgrown farm track deep in the rolling countryside of the Stour Valley, on the border between Suffolk and Essex. His home was Bottengoms Farm, a sturdy yeoman's house once owned by the artist John Nash. From here, Blythe spent almost half a century observing the slow turn of the agricultural year, the church year and village life in a series of rich, lyrical rural diaries.
Beginning with the arrival of snow on New Year's Day and ending with Christmas carols sung in the village church, Next to Nature invites us to witness a simple life richly lived. With gentle wit and keen observation Blythe meditates on his life and faith, on literature, art and history, and on our place in the landscape.
It is a celebration of one of our greatest nature writers, and an unforgettable ode to the English countryside.
Recenzii
Blythe is a writer whose pages you turn and then turn back immediately to re-read, relish and get by heart particular phrases and images . . . We should be grateful to have him and his beautiful pages, and for the privilege of spending so many ordinary and yet rare and precious days in his company
A capacious book that contains multitudes . . . It is a work to amble through, seasonally, relishing the vivid dashes of colour and the precision and delicacy of the descriptions
The greatest living writer on the English countryside . . . Blythe's writing dances with self-deprecating wit, rebellious asides, sharp portraits of fellow writers and notes of worldliness
Ronald Blythe's eye and voice bring the countryside alive like a Brueghel painting. All the charm, wonder, eccentricity and vigour of country life is here in these pages, and told with such engaging directness, detail and colour. To immerse yourself in this East Anglian year is be reminded of why we love and value the rhythms and realities of rural life. Bliss
A book of priceless wisdom . . . to read as the year unfolds. My Blythe has a great, often droll sense of humour . . . and writes with a spry, unforced elegance
[His diary] is the best of his writing, its light as air and full of philosophy. . . a wonderful, original, pure tapestry. He could time travel within a single sentence, going from personal to local to global. Being with Ronnie Blythe in one of his books is like being on a magic carpet, the exhilaration of being alive, and of nature, and the world
Next to Nature is the perfect memorial, a latter-day Book of Hours . . . I'm resolved to return to this monthly for amusement, inspiration and comfort
A near-legendary chronicler of a particular patch of countryside and country life
The prose is fresher than most contemporary nature writing and, unlike many still-living nature writers, Blythe is concerned with people who live and work in the countryside
Praise for Ronald Blythe
England's greatest living country writer
Blythe's observations of nature are as unforced as breathing, and his descriptions are precise, celebratory and unexpected . . . [He] seduces even the irreligious reader into an appreciation of the meshing of the temporal and the timeless
One of our best writers . . . Next to Nature is a hoard of observation, gossip and stories designed to take you through the year, with something rich and strange on every page
[Ronald Blythe] is an English institution . . . he lives with a deep, authentic sense of wonder
Some of the most beautiful and precise prose in modern English . . . an expansive exploration of how landscapes, humans, and words interact, touched with great humanity. . . He is our tribal storyteller, plugged into a common stream of inquisitive conversation that joins us as a species
One of the great prose stylists on the twentieth century . . . a modern Hazlitt
The finest rural historian of our times
It would be difficult to find . . . a sensibility which is richer or better fed, more deeply watered and manured, more drenched in Englishness
[His] minute observation of places, people and plants, his ear for scraps of dialogue and his feeling for poetry and painting make everything about those days immediate . . . [He has] a deep of love of the place - and of humanity
The best portrait of modern rural life in England, subtle and compassionate
The doyen of writers about the natural world in England
Reading this book is to be in the company of a supremely sensitive observer who has spent a lifetime seeing and scenting nature . . . His writing delights. His wry humour surprises.
An exquisite piece of observation, connection-making and presentation. Blythe is a master craftsman with words . . . Next to Nature is not a book to be rushed, but savoured