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Bezig met laden... Edgelands: journeys into England's true wildernessdoor Michael Symmons Roberts, Paul Farley (Auteur)
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![]() Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. ![]() ![]() Most of the non-fiction I read has an element of nature writing about it, but this book is rather more than that. Farley and Roberts aim is to reclaim and celebrate the edgelands that surround our cities, and the book is a fascinating account of the way landscapes are developed either by human intervention or by nature reclaiming what is left behind after human activity. Both writers are poets, so the book is inevitably reflective and personal, despite the joint authorial voice which makes it impossible to deduce who wrote which parts of it. Many other poets and artists are cited. Each chapter has a one word title encapsulating its theme - most of them specific human activities ranging from den-building and mining to hotels and airports, and the whole makes a fascinating portrait of the England that many of us take for granted. I sometimes on the advice of an old friend just pick up books at the library which I had no intention or knowledge of before I went in there. Edge lands falls in that category and I didn't care if I read it or not - because only borrowed. However, it has become the downstairs book and you can read a chapter whenever. Inventively mines into the nooks and crannies of England that you recognise but perhaps only because the writers drew your attention to them. The two authors, both poets, describe the overlooked places on the edges of towns and cities and in-between. The titles of the chapters will give you an idea -- cars, paths, dens, containers, landfill, water, sewage, etc. Whilst this might not sound like an interesting subject matter for a book, it is the very fact that we as adults consciously ignore these spaces that makes it so refreshing to hear it written about. Like the authors, I found a sense of nostalgia in some of the subjects which as a child I might have had the leisure and curiosity to explore. Increasingly our lives are being spent in these edge lands, and it is clear that more could be done to understand them, appreciate them, and make them spaces we could feel comfortable in. The writing is excellent, as you might expect from vignettes written by poets. The short chapters make it a good book for dipping in and out of, but a flip- and down-side of this is that the book as a whole may lack a little coherence -- there is no overall point the authors are trying to make. But then that is of course reflective of its subject matter...
The wilderness is much closer than you think. Passed through, negotiated, unnamed, unacknowledged- the edgelands - those familiar yet ignored spaces which are neither city nor countryside - have become the great wild places on our doorsteps. In the same way the Romantic writers taught us to look at hills, lakes and rivers, poets Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts write about mobile masts and gravel pits, business parks and landfill sites, taking the reader on a journey to marvel at these richly mysterious, forgotten regions in our midst. Edgelandsforms a critique of what we value as 'wild', and allows our allotments, railways, motorways, wasteland and water a presence in the world, and a strange beauty all of their own. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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![]() GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)333.730942Social sciences Economics Economics of land & energy Land, recreational and wilderness areas, energy Land Use Planning History, geographic treatment, biography Europe England & WalesLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:![]()
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