Rick Bass

En el Valle del Yaak, en montana, viven apenas treinta personas y un número indeterminado de osos, lobos, coyotes, pumas, alces, etc... Un lugar sin duda remoto y salvaje. De hecho allí, la mayoría de casas carecen de electricidad o teléfono. Para sus habitantes, sin embargo, eso no parece ser un problema. Som leñadores, tramperos, guías de caza, domadores de caballos, tejedores de atrapasueños, veteranos de Vietnem. También hay un par de fugitivos, aunque, quizás de un modo u otro, todos lo sean: todos han llegado allí huyendo de algo y aquel aislamiento los hace sentir seguros. Desde el primer instante, Rick y su pareja se ven irremediablemente atraídos por quella realidad indómita. Y deciden rendirse a su silencio y a su misterio, encarnados en la lenta e imperturbable caida de la nieve, que parece ralentizar el tiempo y ofrecer perdón para todas las culpas. Alquilan una caa, conocen a los excentricos habitantes del valle, se emborranchan y empiezan a prepararse para el invierno: algo que en su texas natal no han vivido, menos aún a treinta grados bajo cero y sin más tecnología que una lámpara de aceite, una motosierra y una chimenea.… (mehr)

Published by McSweeney's Books and included with issue 40 of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, this book is a little revelation. The author, Rick Bass, his wife, daughter and author/activist Terry Tempest Williams go to Rwanda to teach creative writing classes to Rwandan students. First they take tours at memorials and learn about the horrific genocide of 1994. The descriptions of the violence is almost unbearable. They then teach students of a writing club encouraging the students to use the memories of the genocide they survived as youngsters to fuel their stories and heal themselves. Finally there is a trip to visit the mountain gorillas of which there are less than a 1000 left in the world.
It is all written beautifully and is incredibly moving, in fact, it's one of the most emotional pieces I've ever read.
The book concludes with some samples of the students' writing produced during the workshop.… (mehr)

I picked up this book in preparation for my trip to Montana this summer, expecting that it would feed my excitement. I hoped for stories about the glory and terror of the trees and rivers and animals, about how overwhelming and real and beautiful it felt to be in this unique space. By chapter four I had read exactly one story that conjured the beauty and specialness of the Yaak Valley. Everything else, including the Introduction and the Prologue, were depressing chronicles of how the government has no intention of protecting this area from the corporations who destroy it.

My conclusion is that this book is aimed at consciousness-raising, although frankly that seems like preaching to the choir since anyone who needs to be told to protect the wilderness will not pick up this book in the first place.

… (mehr)