Joseph Wood Krutch: Difference between revisions

Joseph Wood Krutch
Joseph Wood Krutch
Born	November 25, 1893; Knoxville, Tennessee
Died	May 22, 1970 (aged 76); Tucson, Arizona
Nationality	American
Education	University of Tennessee; Columbia University
Occupations	Writer; critic; naturalist;
Known for	Pantheistic philosophy; ecology; conservation;

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Joseph Wood Krutch (/kruːtʃ/;^[1] November 25, 1893 – May 22, 1970) was an American writer, critic, and naturalist who wrote nature books on the American Southwest. He is known for developing a pantheistic philosophy.

Biography

Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, he was educated at the University of Tennessee and received a Ph.D. in English literature from Columbia University.^[2] After serving in the army in 1918, he traveled in Europe for a year with his friend, Mark Van Doren. Following World War I, he taught English composition at Brooklyn Polytechnic.^[3]^: 118

In 1924, Krutch became the theater critic for The Nation, a position he held until 1952.^[3]^: 131

As an author, Krutch first achieved prominence when he published The Modern Temper in 1929. There he challenged then-fashionable notions of scientific progress and optimism, arguing that science leads logically to a bleak view of the human condition.^[3]^: 319 In the 1940s he wrote widely read biographies of Samuel Johnson and Henry David Thoreau and—largely inspired by Thoreau—published his first nature book, The Twelve Seasons (1949).

From 1937 to 1952, he served as a professor of English at Columbia University, where he was a popular lecturer. In 1955, Krutch won the National Book Award for The Measure of Man (1954). In that work, he partially retreated from the gloomy pessimism of his early years and argued that there are aspects of human beings, such as reason, consciousness, free will, and moral judgment, that cannot be explained by mechanistic, deterministic science.^[3]^{: 321–326}

After moving to Tucson, Arizona in 1952, partly for reasons of health, Krutch wrote several books about natural issues of ecology, the southwestern desert environment, and the natural history of the Grand Canyon, winning renown as a naturalist, nature writer, and an early conservationist. Like Aldo Leopold, who greatly influenced him, Krutch believed that human beings must move beyond purely human centered conceptions of "conservation" and learn to value nature for its own sake.^[4]

In The Great Chain of Life that he published in 1956, was a chapter entitled "The Vandal and the Sportsman". In that chapter he wrote, "When a man wantonly destroys one of the works of Man we call him Vandal. When he wantonly destroys one of the works of God we call him Sportsman".^[5]

Krutch developed a pantheistic philosophy.^[6] Historian Donald Worster commented that Krutch "became a kind of pantheist or ethical mystic, caught up in the joy of belonging to something greater than one's self."^[7]

Notable family members

His brother, Charles Krutch, was the renowned Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) photographer. His uncle, Charles Christopher Krutch, was a painter known for his depiction of Smoky Mountain scenes.^[8]^[9]

Death

At the age of 76, Krutch died from colon cancer in Tucson, Arizona on May 22, 1970. One of the last interviews with Krutch before his death was conducted by Edward Abbey and appears in Abbey's 1988 book, One Life at a Time, Please (ISBN 0-8050-0603-6).

Legacy

Many of Krutch's manuscripts and typescripts are held by the University of Arizona, where the Joseph Wood Krutch Cactus Garden was named in his honor in 1980.^[10] Upon his death, The New York Times lauded Krutch in an editorial, declaring that concern for the environment by many young Americans "should turn a generation unfamiliar with Joseph Wood Krutch to a reading of his books with delight to themselves and profit to the world."^[11]

Selected works

Edgar Allan Poe: A Study in Genius (1926)
The Modern Temper (1929)
Experience and Art: Some Aspects of the Esthetics of Literature (1932)
The American Drama Since 1918: An Informal History (1939)
Henry David Thoreau (1948)
The Twelve Seasons (1949)
A Kind of Pantheism The Saturday Review (10 June 1950) 33: 7-8, 30-34
The Desert Year (1951)
The Best of Two Worlds (1953)
The Measure of Man (1954)
The Voice of the Desert (1954)
The Great Chain of Life (1956)
The Grand Canyon: Today and All Its Yesterdays (1957)
The Sportsman or the Predator? A Damnable Pleasure The Saturday Review (August 17, 1957): pp. 8–10, 39-40. Concerning "killing for sport"^[12]^[13]
Human Nature and the Human Condition (1959)
The Forgotten Peninsula (1961)
The World of Animals; A treasury of lore and literature by great writers and naturalists from the 5th century B.C. to the present (1961)
More Lives Than One (1962)
And Even If You Do; Essays on Man, Manners, and Machines (1967)
The Best Nature Writing of Joseph Wood Krutch (anthology, University of Utah Press, 1995; ISBN 0-87480-480-9)

References

^ "Krutch". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary.
^ Rowley, Robert. (1995). Joseph Wood Krutch: The Forgotten Voice of the Desert. The American Scholar 64 (3): 438–443.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Joseph Wood Krutch, More Lives than One. New York: William Sloane Associates, 1962.
^ Joseph Wood Krutch, The Voice of the Desert: A Naturalist's Interpretation. New York: William Sloane Associates, 1954, pp. 186-207.
^ Krutch, Joseph Wood, "The Vandal and the Sportsman", The Great Chain of Life (1956), Chapter 9, Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2009, p. 148.
^ Holtz, William. (1974). We Didn't Mind His Saying So: Homage to Joseph Wood Krutch: Tragedy and the Ecological Imperative. The American Scholar 43 (2): 267–279.
^ Worster, Donald. (1994). Nature's Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-46834-3
^ "Charles Krutch, Tennessean; Photographed T.V.A. Growth". The New York Times. October 28, 1981.
^ "Krutch Park".
^ "The Joseph Wood Krutch Cactus Garden" Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, University of Arizona Alumnus magazine, Spring 2002.
^ Krutch, The Voice of the Desert, back cover.
^ Wildlife and People: The Human Dimensions Of Wildlife Ecology - Google Books Result, cited by Gary G. Gray (1995 University of Illinois Press), p. 64. Retrieved 8/4/09.
^ Article title detail at JSTOR. Found at Google search "a damnable pleasure krutch."

External links

[1] "Krutch". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary.

[2] Rowley, Robert. (1995). Joseph Wood Krutch: The Forgotten Voice of the Desert. The American Scholar 64 (3): 438–443.

[morelives-3] Joseph Wood Krutch, More Lives than One. New York: William Sloane Associates, 1962.

[4] Joseph Wood Krutch, The Voice of the Desert: A Naturalist's Interpretation. New York: William Sloane Associates, 1954, pp. 186-207.

[5] Krutch, Joseph Wood, "The Vandal and the Sportsman", The Great Chain of Life (1956), Chapter 9, Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2009, p. 148.

[6] Holtz, William. (1974). We Didn't Mind His Saying So: Homage to Joseph Wood Krutch: Tragedy and the Ecological Imperative. The American Scholar 43 (2): 267–279.

[7] Worster, Donald. (1994). Nature's Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-46834-3

[nyt-8] "Charles Krutch, Tennessean; Photographed T.V.A. Growth". The New York Times. October 28, 1981.

[9] "Krutch Park".

[10] "The Joseph Wood Krutch Cactus Garden" Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, University of Arizona Alumnus magazine, Spring 2002.

[11] Krutch, The Voice of the Desert, back cover.

[12] Wildlife and People: The Human Dimensions Of Wildlife Ecology - Google Books Result, cited by Gary G. Gray (1995 University of Illinois Press), p. 64. Retrieved 8/4/09.

[13] Article title detail at JSTOR. Found at Google search "a damnable pleasure krutch."

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@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 | education     = [[University of Tennessee]]<br>[[Columbia University]]
 | years_active  =
-| known_for     =
+| known_for     = {{flatlist|
+* Pantheistic philosophy
+* ecology
+* conservation
+}}
 | notable_works =
 }}
-'''Joseph Wood Krutch''' ({{IPAc-en|k|r|uː|tʃ}};<ref>{{cite Merriam-Webster|Krutch}}</ref> November 25, 1893 &ndash; May 22, 1970) was an American writer, critic, and [[naturalist]] who wrote nature books on the American Southwest and developing a [[Pantheism|pantheistic]] philosophy.
+'''Joseph Wood Krutch''' ({{IPAc-en|k|r|uː|tʃ}};<ref>{{cite Merriam-Webster|Krutch}}</ref> November 25, 1893 &ndash; May 22, 1970) was an American writer, critic, and [[naturalist]] who wrote nature books on the American Southwest. He is known for developing a [[Pantheism|pantheistic]] philosophy.
+== Biography ==
+Born in [[Knoxville, Tennessee]], he was educated at the [[University of Tennessee]] and received a Ph.D. in English literature from [[Columbia University]].<ref>Rowley, Robert. (1995). ''Joseph Wood Krutch: The Forgotten Voice of the Desert''. ''[[The American Scholar (magazine)|The American Scholar]]''  64 (3): 438–443.</ref> After serving in the [[United States Army|army]] in 1918, he traveled in [[Europe]] for a year with his friend, [[Mark Van Doren]]. Following World War I, he taught English composition at [[Brooklyn Polytechnic]].<ref name="morelives">Joseph Wood Krutch, ''More Lives than One''. New York: William Sloane Associates, 1962.</ref>{{rp|118}}
+In 1924, Krutch became the theater critic for ''[[The Nation]],'' a position he held until 1952.<ref name="morelives"/>{{rp|131}}
+As an author, Krutch first achieved prominence when he published ''The Modern Temper'' in 1929. There he challenged then-fashionable notions of scientific progress and optimism, arguing that science leads logically to a bleak view of the human condition.<ref name="morelives"/>{{rp|319}} In the 1940s he wrote widely read biographies of [[Samuel Johnson]] and [[Henry David Thoreau]] and—largely inspired by Thoreau—published his first nature book, ''The Twelve Seasons'' (1949).
+From 1937 to 1952, he served as a professor of English at [[Columbia University]], where he was a popular lecturer. In 1955, Krutch won the National Book Award for ''The Measure of Man'' (1954). In that work, he partially retreated from the gloomy pessimism of his early years and argued that there are aspects of human beings, such as reason, consciousness, free will, and moral judgment, that cannot be explained by mechanistic, deterministic science.<ref name="morelives"/>{{rp|321–326}}
-His brother was renowned TVA photographer [[Charles Krutch]] and his uncle painter of Smoky Mountain scenes [[Charles Christopher Krutch]].<ref name=nyt>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/28/obituaries/charles-krutch-tennessean-photographed-tva-growth.html|title=Charles Krutch, Tennessean; Photographed T.V.A. Growth|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 28, 1981}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://knoxvilletn.gov/government/city_departments_offices/parks_and_recreation/parks/krutch_park|title = Krutch Park}}</ref>
+After moving to [[Tucson]], [[Arizona]] in 1952, partly for reasons of health, Krutch wrote several books about natural issues of [[ecology]], the southwestern desert environment, and the natural history of the [[Grand Canyon]], winning renown as a naturalist, nature writer, and an early conservationist. Like [[Aldo Leopold]], who greatly influenced him, Krutch believed that human beings must move beyond purely human centered conceptions of "[[conservation (ethic)|conservation]]" and learn to value nature for its own sake.<ref>Joseph Wood Krutch, ''The Voice of the Desert: A Naturalist's Interpretation''. New York: William Sloane Associates, 1954, pp. 186-207.</ref>
-==Biography==
-Born in [[Knoxville, Tennessee]], he was educated at the [[University of Tennessee]] and received a Ph.D. in English literature from [[Columbia University]].<ref>Rowley, Robert. (1995). ''Joseph Wood Krutch: The Forgotten Voice of the Desert''. ''[[The American Scholar (magazine)|The American Scholar]]''  64 (3): 438–443.</ref> After serving in the [[United States Army|army]] in 1918, he traveled in [[Europe]] for a year with friend [[Mark Van Doren]]. After the war, he taught English composition at [[Brooklyn Polytechnic]].<ref name="morelives">Joseph Wood Krutch, ''More Lives than One''. New York: William Sloane Associates, 1962.</ref>{{rp|118}}
+In ''The Great Chain of Life'' that he published in 1956, was a chapter entitled "The Vandal and the Sportsman". In that chapter he wrote, ''"When a man wantonly destroys one of the works of Man we call him Vandal. When he wantonly destroys one of the works of God we call him Sportsman"''.<ref>Krutch, Joseph Wood, [http://books.google.com/books?id=Ydc0cooCB6QC&lpg=PA146&q=&quot;when+a+man+wantonly+destroys+one+of+the+works+of+man+we+call+him+vandal+when+he+wantonly+destroys+one+of+the+works+of+god+we+call+him+sportsman&quot;#v=onepage "The Vandal and the Sportsman"], ''The Great Chain of Life'' (1956), Chapter 9, Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2009, p. 148.</ref>
-In 1924, Krutch became theater critic for ''[[The Nation]],'' a position he held until 1952.<ref name="morelives"/>{{rp|131}} As an author, Krutch first achieved prominence when he published ''The Modern Temper'' in 1929. There he challenged then-fashionable notions of scientific progress and optimism, arguing that science leads logically to a bleak view of the human condition.<ref name="morelives"/>{{rp|319}} In the 1940s he wrote widely read biographies of [[Samuel Johnson]] and [[Henry David Thoreau]] and—largely inspired by Thoreau—published his first nature book, ''The Twelve Seasons'' (1949).
+Krutch developed a pantheistic philosophy.<ref>Holtz, William. (1974). ''We Didn't Mind His Saying So: Homage to Joseph Wood Krutch: Tragedy and the Ecological Imperative''. ''[[The American Scholar (magazine)|The American Scholar]]'' 43 (2): 267–279.</ref> Historian [[Donald Worster]] commented that Krutch "became a kind of pantheist or ethical mystic, caught up in the joy of belonging to something greater than one's self."<ref>Worster, Donald. (1994). [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Sb02AAAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PT296&lpg=RA1-PT296&dq=%22kind+of+pantheist+or+ethical+mystic%22&source=bl&ots=VRS2I2mxDF&sig=ACfU3U1O5I_JIRErWn9DNY10pwivYTypnw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwia5-PW7qboAhU_TRUIHXhxAv0Q6AEwAHoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22kind%20of%20pantheist%20or%20ethical%20mystic%22&f=false ''Nature's Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas'']. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-46834-3}}</ref>
-From 1937 to 1952 he served as a professor of English at [[Columbia University]], where he was a popular lecturer. In 1955, Krutch won the National Book Award for ''The Measure of Man'' (1954). In that work, he partially retreated from the gloomy pessimism of his early years and argued that there are aspects of human beings, such as reason, consciousness, free will, and moral judgment, that cannot be explained by mechanistic, deterministic science.<ref name="morelives"/>{{rp|321–326}}
+=== Notable family members ===
-After moving to [[Tucson]], [[Arizona]] in 1952, partly for reasons of health, Krutch wrote several books about natural issues of [[ecology]], the southwestern desert environment, and the natural history of the [[Grand Canyon]], winning renown as a naturalist, nature writer, and an early conservationist. Like [[Aldo Leopold]], who greatly influenced him, Krutch believed that human beings must move beyond purely human centered conceptions of "[[conservation (ethic)|conservation]]" and learn to value nature for its own sake.<ref>Joseph Wood Krutch, ''The Voice of'' ''the Desert: A Naturalist's Interpretation''. New York: William Sloane Associates, 1954, pp. 186-207.</ref> Krutch developed a pantheistic philosophy.<ref>Holtz, William. (1974). ''We Didn't Mind His Saying So: Homage to Joseph Wood Krutch: Tragedy and the Ecological Imperative''. ''[[The American Scholar (magazine)|The American Scholar]]'' 43 (2): 267–279.</ref> Historian [[Donald Worster]] commented that Krutch "became a kind of pantheist or ethical mystic, caught up in the joy of belonging to something greater than one's self."<ref>Worster, Donald. (1994). [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Sb02AAAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PT296&lpg=RA1-PT296&dq=%22kind+of+pantheist+or+ethical+mystic%22&source=bl&ots=VRS2I2mxDF&sig=ACfU3U1O5I_JIRErWn9DNY10pwivYTypnw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwia5-PW7qboAhU_TRUIHXhxAv0Q6AEwAHoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22kind%20of%20pantheist%20or%20ethical%20mystic%22&f=false ''Nature's Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas'']. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-46834-3}}</ref>
+His brother, [[Charles Krutch]], was the renowned Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) photographer. His uncle, [[Charles Christopher Krutch]], was a painter known for his depiction of Smoky Mountain scenes.<ref name=nyt>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/28/obituaries/charles-krutch-tennessean-photographed-tva-growth.html|title=Charles Krutch, Tennessean; Photographed T.V.A. Growth|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 28, 1981}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://knoxvilletn.gov/government/city_departments_offices/parks_and_recreation/parks/krutch_park|title = Krutch Park}}</ref>
 ==Death==
-Krutch died in [[Tucson, Arizona]] at age 76 from [[colon cancer]] in 1970. One of the last interviews with Krutch before his death was conducted by [[Edward Abbey]] and appears in Abbey's 1988 book, ''One Life at a Time, Please'' ({{ISBN|0-8050-0603-6}}).
+At the age of 76, Krutch died from [[colon cancer]] in [[Tucson, Arizona]] on May 22, 1970. One of the last interviews with Krutch before his death was conducted by [[Edward Abbey]] and appears in Abbey's 1988 book, ''One Life at a Time, Please'' ({{ISBN|0-8050-0603-6}}).
 ==Legacy==
-Many of Krutch's manuscripts and typescripts are held by the [[University of Arizona]], where the Joseph Wood Krutch Cactus Garden was named in his honor in 1980.<ref>[http://arizonaalumni.com/news-multimedia/traditions/cactus-garden "The Joseph Wood Krutch Cactus Garden"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928042413/http://www.uagrad.org/Alumnus/Spring02/cactus.html |date=2007-09-28 }}, University of Arizona ''Alumnus'' magazine, Spring 2002.</ref> Upon his death, ''The New York Times'' lauded Krutch in an editorial, declaring that concern for the environment by many young Americans "should turn a generation unfamiliar with Joseph Wood Krutch to a reading of his books with delight to themselves and profit to the world."<ref>Krutch, ''The Voice of the'' ''Desert'', back cover.</ref>
+Many of Krutch's manuscripts and typescripts are held by the [[University of Arizona]], where the Joseph Wood Krutch Cactus Garden was named in his honor in 1980.<ref>[http://arizonaalumni.com/news-multimedia/traditions/cactus-garden "The Joseph Wood Krutch Cactus Garden"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928042413/http://www.uagrad.org/Alumnus/Spring02/cactus.html |date=2007-09-28 }}, University of Arizona ''Alumnus'' magazine, Spring 2002.</ref> Upon his death, ''The New York Times'' lauded Krutch in an editorial, declaring that concern for the environment by many young Americans "should turn a generation unfamiliar with Joseph Wood Krutch to a reading of his books with delight to themselves and profit to the world."<ref>Krutch, ''The Voice of the Desert'', back cover.</ref>
 ==Selected works==
@@ Line 55: / Line 66: @@
 * ''The Great Chain of Life'' (1956)
 * ''The Grand Canyon: Today and All Its Yesterdays'' (1957)
-* ''The Sportsman or the Predator? A Damnable Pleasure'' ''[[Saturday Review (U.S. magazine)|The Saturday Review]]'' (August 17, 1957): pp.&nbsp;8–10, 39-40. Concerning "killing for sport"<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=-sQkzvM64aoC&pg=PA64&lpg=PA64&dq=a+damnable+pleasure+krutch&source=bl&ots=2sueN_1BSy&sig=hB6M8VcTqQyCC7bR66iRedeQ0mU&hl=en&ei=bTd4SrD2NeSEmQeq4K3KBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6 Wildlife and People: THE HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF WILDLIFE ECOLOGY - Google Books Result], cited by Gary G. Gray (1995 University of Illinois Press), p. 64. Retrieved 8/4/09.</ref><ref>[https://www.jstor.org/pss/3781278 Article title detail at JSTOR.] Found at Google search "a damnable pleasure krutch."</ref>
+* ''The Sportsman or the Predator? A Damnable Pleasure'' ''[[Saturday Review (U.S. magazine)|The Saturday Review]]'' (August 17, 1957): pp.&nbsp;8–10, 39-40. Concerning "killing for sport"<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=-sQkzvM64aoC&pg=PA64&lpg=PA64&dq=a+damnable+pleasure+krutch&source=bl&ots=2sueN_1BSy&sig=hB6M8VcTqQyCC7bR66iRedeQ0mU&hl=en&ei=bTd4SrD2NeSEmQeq4K3KBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6 Wildlife and People: The Human Dimensions Of Wildlife Ecology - Google Books Result], cited by Gary G. Gray (1995 University of Illinois Press), p. 64. Retrieved 8/4/09.</ref><ref>[https://www.jstor.org/pss/3781278 Article title detail at JSTOR.] Found at Google search "a damnable pleasure krutch."</ref>
 * ''Human Nature and the Human Condition'' (1959)
 * ''The Forgotten Peninsula'' (1961)
 * ''The World of Animals; A treasury of lore and literature by great writers and naturalists from the 5th century B.C. to the present'' (1961)
 * ''More Lives Than One'' (1962)
-* ''And Even If You Do; Essays on Man, Manners and Machines'' (1967)
+* ''And Even If You Do; Essays on Man, Manners, and Machines'' (1967)
 * ''The Best Nature Writing of Joseph Wood Krutch'' (anthology, University of Utah Press, 1995; {{ISBN|0-87480-480-9}})

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