Peter DaSilva for The New York Times
On Christmas Day Barry Lopez, the celebrated nature writer, died at the age of 75. He wrote a number of influential books including Arctic Dreams: Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape, which I read decades ago and still have. Calling him a nature writer doesn't satisfy me because there was a mystical quality to his work, an ability to experience and write about the spiritual quality of landscapes and the creatures which dwell in them, As some have become more aware of the interconnectedness of living beings there has been even greater appreciation of his writing.
Lopez officially died of cancer at an age which I now consider relatively young. His home in Oregon was badly damaged by the fires which raged across the state last Fall and many of his original manuscripts and artwork were destroyed. His wife said that he developed heart issues after they were forced to leave the house and I am saddened at the thought that his losses hastened his death.
I read in the New York Times obituary that Lopez had considered a vocation in the Roman Catholic church as a young man, wondering about becoming a Trappist monk. I wonder if he was influenced by the writing of Thomas Merton, who was also a nature mystic. Christianity, with its rootedness in the sacredness of the Earth and the wonders of Creation somehow lost its way at times, and alienated those who could have shared deep wisdom.
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