Three Texts

When I began my thesis proposal, I had three main texts in mind: Walden by Henry David Thoreau, A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold, and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard. I had read Walden and A Sand County Almanac previously, as well as passages from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, so I knew that all three texts contained many references to birds. Set in three different geographic regions, (Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts; on a “sand farm” in Wisconsin; and at Tinker Creek in a valley in Virginia’s Blue Ridge, respectively), the three texts describe a variety of bird life found in different regions of North America. The three texts are also classic texts in environmental literature, read widely and covering a time period from 1845 (when Thoreau moved to Walden Pond) to 1949 (when Leopold first published A Sand County Almanac) to 1974 (when Dillard published Pilgrim at Tinker Creek). The time differences between these three major texts may reveal significant changes or similarities in how birds are viewed and treated in environmental writing and American culture through time. I also chose the books for a much simpler reason: they are three of my favorite texts in environmental literature.

Since reading the texts and looking for passages about birds this summer, however, I have not revisited them with more specific ideas for my thesis in mind. My next three blog entries will serve that purpose; in writing about what role the birds play in these texts, I hope to become more focused and discover the role these texts will play in my thesis.