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I found this to be a strangely disjointed, self-conscious piece that struck an uncomfortable chord with me. I think everyone has a wild savage living somewhere

I found this to be a strangely disjointed, self-conscious piece that struck an uncomfortable chord with me. I think everyone has a wild savage living somewhere in the back of their head, telling them that they don't belong in modern society, and that life would be so much nicer out in the wilderness. It's awesome that the author embraced this voice and actually acted on it. At the same time, her writing provides no greater insight than that of a tourist on vacation. She describes a couple cool events and the day-to-day boredom/routine, but she never really commits to the lifestyle of the authors she idolizes. It's as if she knows she's just doing this for a little while so that she can write a meta piece about living in a cabin in Alaska. Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman - they are literary giants because they truly lived an experience, to the point of cultivating and inscribing beautiful insights about their experiences. Transcendentalism is about living in the moment, being one with nature, feeling every gentle gust and hearing every gurgle and lap of the stream. It's extremely self-conscious, but not in the modern way of - oh shit, I need to think about all of this stuff and write it in a way that other people will like. It is a celebration of the senses without paying lip service to what others might think. I respect the author for following Emerson's advice to "Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string," I just wish she had delved a bit deeper. Hope to see more pieces from her in the future.

skybrian 11y ago
re: "Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman - they are literary giants because they truly lived an experience." There were at one time millions who lived on the frontier all their lives without becoming great writers. Just being more "committed to the lifestyle" seems unlikely to help much with writing. More likely, you have to have some clear goals in mind when undertaking this sort of experiment. Either that, or luck into some good material. (Although often that sort of luck looks a lot like misfortune.)
- derefr 11y ago
  I would posit that most living on the frontier were workaholics trying to bootstrap a new society into being. They weren't doing much "living in tune with nature"; they were fighting nature tooth-and-nail for resources to survive and, almost as important, trade with. Living on a frontier with other humans—where you don't have time to listen to a burbling brook, because those other humans have urgent needs—is a very different experience to living isolated, with the rest of nature as the closest thing to a companion.
hugh4 11y ago
You could also see it as a refreshingly honest take. Most people who spend time in the wilderness feel the need to write about how great it was and how much wisdom they think they acquired in the process, because let's face it, if you do it and don't come back with some platitudes in tow then you look like a fool. This author's "been there, done that, got bitten by mosquitoes, saw a moose one time, that was cool" is perhaps more honest than Emerson, Whitman and Thoreau put together.
- roymurdock 11y ago
  It would've been refreshing if she hadn't tried to make it into a large, drawn-out essay and had just said "been there, done that, got bitten by mosquitoes, saw a moose one time, that was cool" rather than opening with an attention-grabbing anecdote of an eagle attack that turned out to be 3 grumpy owls, going off on tangents about running through the wilderness to get away from an ex boyfriend, her spiritual connection with the breeze at the end of her stay when the world seemed to be "alive with so much dance." It also wouldn't have been that interesting, to me at least.
q-base 11y ago
It is quite "fun" how two people can read the exact same text and get totally opposing views from it. I actually think this is an absolutely awesome essay exactly BECAUSE she talks about the mundane aspects. It's a fantastic take on peoples insatiable appetite for "longing" or "searching". She chases a romantic picture of solitude as a way to escape or re-shape her existence. And while the experience as a whole might do this, the everyday living will still be filled with mundane tasks. Having travelled alone for 30 days with a backpack in Myanmar, this just rings so true to me. The experience as a whole I would not be without - but there is a lot of mundane living no matter how you choose to live your life. The only constant is you.
- roymurdock 11y ago
  Agreed - that's why I think it's so important to live/travel in solitude occasionally, so that you can learn to live with yourself. You might like this piece about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail - it expresses a lot of the same themes: http://priceonomics.com/hiking-the-2650-mile-pacific-crest-trail/ http://priceonomics.com/hiking-the-2650-mile-pacific-crest-t...
  - q-base 11y ago
    Thanks a lot! Never heard of the Pacific Crest Trail - only heard about the The Camino de Santiago. Very interesting...
setpatchaddress 11y ago
Speak for yourself WRT wild savages in your head, mate. I'm perfectly comfortable in civilization. It's quite possible to live in solitude surrounded by people. It's all in your head.

skybrian 11y ago

re: "Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman - they are literary giants because they truly lived an experience." There were at one time millions who lived on the frontier all their lives without becoming great writers. Just being more "committed to the lifestyle" seems unlikely to help much with writing. More likely, you have to have some clear goals in mind when undertaking this sort of experiment. Either that, or luck into some good material. (Although often that sort of luck looks a lot like misfortune.)

derefr 11y ago
I would posit that most living on the frontier were workaholics trying to bootstrap a new society into being. They weren't doing much "living in tune with nature"; they were fighting nature tooth-and-nail for resources to survive and, almost as important, trade with. Living on a frontier with other humans—where you don't have time to listen to a burbling brook, because those other humans have urgent needs—is a very different experience to living isolated, with the rest of nature as the closest thing to a companion.

hugh4 11y ago

You could also see it as a refreshingly honest take. Most people who spend time in the wilderness feel the need to write about how great it was and how much wisdom they think they acquired in the process, because let's face it, if you do it and don't come back with some platitudes in tow then you look like a fool. This author's "been there, done that, got bitten by mosquitoes, saw a moose one time, that was cool" is perhaps more honest than Emerson, Whitman and Thoreau put together.

roymurdock 11y ago
It would've been refreshing if she hadn't tried to make it into a large, drawn-out essay and had just said "been there, done that, got bitten by mosquitoes, saw a moose one time, that was cool" rather than opening with an attention-grabbing anecdote of an eagle attack that turned out to be 3 grumpy owls, going off on tangents about running through the wilderness to get away from an ex boyfriend, her spiritual connection with the breeze at the end of her stay when the world seemed to be "alive with so much dance." It also wouldn't have been that interesting, to me at least.

q-base 11y ago

It is quite "fun" how two people can read the exact same text and get totally opposing views from it. I actually think this is an absolutely awesome essay exactly BECAUSE she talks about the mundane aspects. It's a fantastic take on peoples insatiable appetite for "longing" or "searching". She chases a romantic picture of solitude as a way to escape or re-shape her existence. And while the experience as a whole might do this, the everyday living will still be filled with mundane tasks. Having travelled alone for 30 days with a backpack in Myanmar, this just rings so true to me. The experience as a whole I would not be without - but there is a lot of mundane living no matter how you choose to live your life. The only constant is you.

roymurdock 11y ago
Agreed - that's why I think it's so important to live/travel in solitude occasionally, so that you can learn to live with yourself. You might like this piece about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail - it expresses a lot of the same themes: http://priceonomics.com/hiking-the-2650-mile-pacific-crest-trail/ http://priceonomics.com/hiking-the-2650-mile-pacific-crest-t...
- q-base 11y ago
  Thanks a lot! Never heard of the Pacific Crest Trail - only heard about the The Camino de Santiago. Very interesting...

setpatchaddress 11y ago

Speak for yourself WRT wild savages in your head, mate. I'm perfectly comfortable in civilization. It's quite possible to live in solitude surrounded by people. It's all in your head.