In Wendell Berry’s Essays, a Little Earnestness Goes a Long Way

I haven't read Berry so I am incompetent to say much except, being a bit older than he is and lived through the same times I am equally despondent over the path humanity is traveling towards a finality of loss and suffering that seems Biblical in its horror. Humanity has always had large strains of insanity in its make-up and that quality seems to have emerged in these latter years to be dominant. With him I grieve over the coming end of all that was wonderful and beautiful in this world in a deep feeling one has over a death of a beloved family member.

Mr. Garner is an excellent critic, and I always look forward to his critiques in "Books of the Times." In this case, though, he seems a bit tin-eared. He acknowledges that the current collection is, well, way too much, and offers its excess in contrast to a one-volume selection that appeared last year. What he doesn't say, though, is that a "collected" ANYTHING is way too much. No one is exempt from hobbyhorses and foibles. Much as I love the late Susan Sontag, after you've read a dozen or so of her essays (despite their apparent spectrum of subjects), you always know where she's going to go. If Fran Leibowitz is ever graced with a "collected essays" edition, I'm pretty sure her voice and concerns will become tiring, too. The fact is: NO writer can possibly survive the publication of a "collected" anything. (For years, I've hoped some enterprising publisher would put out a "collected Laurie Colwin," but I'm pretty sure even she could not survive that treatment.) --So, given Mr. Garner's boredom and tiredness of the "dirt" in Mr. Berry's essays, I suspect two things: A) He (an intelligent critic) has forgotten that NO ONE reads a "collected" anything in a brief period of time; and B) that Mr. Garner is an accidental exemplar of erasing prose from "Flyover Territory." The tone of the review is more than a bit condescending, and if "earnestness" is a useful criterion for condemnation, I suggest he go back and read Johnson's "Rambler" essays.

Has Berry responded to criticism about his being a tobacco farmer (and accepting government checks related to that) during a period when the dangers of tobacco addiction and health problems were already clean?

Wendell Berry's poetry, then essays, then fiction have informed my life since I was introduced to them in 1975. More than any other writer, Wendell's espousal of a simpler way of life in cooperation with natural law has encouraged and informed my professional, cultural, social and spiritual choices. Yes, at times, his writing and message can be repetitive - so what? Do I agree with each stance? Not at all..... Of greater consequence, the writing provides an indispensable wake up call for a sane, civil, community based humanity. Bravo to any and all publishers who provide access to Wendell's voice - Wendell Berry deserves profound respect and appreciation. ps I believe his libation of choice is scotch .......

How quaint.

Berry is indeed a treasure of American letters but I agree with Garner that his tone can be exhausting if taken in too great a quantity. Nonetheless, few can articulate with such moral clarity the dignity of a life dedicated to responsible stewardship of the land we depend on, and the great sickness at the heart of our culture of consumption.

I've read at least 20 of Mr. Berry's books, and I find this review very odd. Berry is not a grump opining against a bunch of stuff. The whole of his writing leads me to a liveliness, a beauty, some sanity in an insane culture, a kind of spiritualism based on the physical world. Berry thoroughly spells out his reasons for his views. To pick out, from a thousand pages, several things that he is "against" distorts his messages. He believes in healthy communities, healthy places to live, healthy ways to love and connect and spend our lives. I risk distorting his messages, too, by trying to sum them up in this short space.

Wendell Berry is a treasure.

Yeah, a little dab'l do ya! My next book search is for a small volume by this writer for my kindle which Berry no doubt will not permit. There's nothing quite as comforting as finding an inexpensive book by a repetitive and maddening pecksniff, so you can throw it out the bedroom window after chapter three and watch it descend below the porch roof eaves in a graceful arc. It is immensely satisfying.

As a fellow Kentuckian, I've read a lot of Wendell Berry's work - both his fiction and non-fiction. I was amused by the reviewer's assessment that Berry "lacks a a certain crucial insouciance." True, it is a little short on insouciance, but I would argue it is not "crucial." Berry's writing is elegant, beautiful, occasionally wry, and full of difficult truths and common sense. I love the writing of Wendell Berry. Also, while Berry's negative commentary about "ballroom dancing" might just make him seem kind of grumpy, it makes perfect sense when one considers what a move away from his preferred "ring dancing" represents: another strike against social connection within a community. Commonly called "contra dancing" today, such dancing fosters a lot of laughter and strengthens friendly bonds with everyone who participates. I don't agree with all that Berry espouses, but I see where he is coming from on most issues and have tremendous respect for his philosophy. The two volume set may be a little ponderous and clunky, but I am tempted to add them to my bookshelves...