To the Wilderness

Marion K Stocking's (1922-2009) memoir is both an environmental history of Maine's wild places and an ode to wilderness as a means of connecting to the past as well as preserving hope for the future. The editor of the Beloit Poetry Journal for over fifty years, Stocking was an avid outdoorswoman who in the summer of 1948 canoed the backwaters of Maine from Canada to the Penobscot River with a friend, devising their route along the way--recounted here in fine detail. The previous summer's adventure, climbing Mt Katahdin, is also chronicled along with thoughts on Thoreau, wilderness as archetype of memory, and many other lovely literary ruminations. An autobiographical afterword is included. Annotation 穢2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)