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Paul's Reviews > Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
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This book didn't so much change my outlook, as give words to feelings I had had for many years but never been able to articulate. It's like Walden, if Thoreau had a passion for weird nature facts and wasn't so insufferably boring or arrogant half the time. It describes Dillard's time living in the mountains of VA when she was about 27 (I hate that) and is told through a series of remarkable vignettes, each lumped under perceptive thematic headings. It's a relentless parade of the horror, fear and intricate beauty of the world.
The funny thing is I've taught this book twice now. The first time it was amazing; the students got it, and that unit really solidified my connection with that class. This year I taught it again to a few students. There's an expression in Chinese "dui niu tan qin" which means roughly 'playing piano for the cows'. That's about what it was this time, and it completely killed me. They didn't get it at all. It is a terrible thing to have so much passion for and idea and want to communicate it to others, only to have them only see a dim outline. Dillard even mentions in the intro that she doesn't think this book should be taught to high schoolers, so maybe I was just lucky the first time. But I encourage all you smart people to read this one, it will affect you deeply, and it's one of those book s that you can enter at any point once you've read it and still find something new.
The funny thing is I've taught this book twice now. The first time it was amazing; the students got it, and that unit really solidified my connection with that class. This year I taught it again to a few students. There's an expression in Chinese "dui niu tan qin" which means roughly 'playing piano for the cows'. That's about what it was this time, and it completely killed me. They didn't get it at all. It is a terrible thing to have so much passion for and idea and want to communicate it to others, only to have them only see a dim outline. Dillard even mentions in the intro that she doesn't think this book should be taught to high schoolers, so maybe I was just lucky the first time. But I encourage all you smart people to read this one, it will affect you deeply, and it's one of those book s that you can enter at any point once you've read it and still find something new.
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Finished Reading
January 15, 2008
– Shelved
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Looking at what I studied in college or grad school this book is a synthesis of science philosophy and religion…Her chapter on seeing reads very much like the book in college I studied on seeing and perception. She was in her prime and did a great job of overlapping experience and truth…well done…I get that sometimes thinks do not fly and sorry u had that experience…when I teach I try to connect much of what I teach to my own experience or what is real in the world. This requires a lot of extra work and inspiration like milking blood from one's finger. Hope you teach it again afresh.
I have not yet read this book, but it was recommended over and over in a colloquium I took in college (geez, 20 years ago!). It popped into my mind the other day and I haven't been able to get it out.
I've also been thinking a lot about language and conveying feelings and thoughts to others. So often I've been thinking I could tell others and they would "get it." Just recently, I've been realizing how little I can actually do that. I'm thinking that reading a book like this one might give me ideas about how to do that (specifically about nature--which is so important to me).