John Burroughs (artist)
John Burroughs (born April 3, 1837 in Roxbury , Delaware County , New York , † March 29, 1921 on a train ride from California to New York ) was an American literary naturalist , as identified by his biographer Edward Renehan . In the genre of the North American natural history essay, he is considered the most important author after Henry David Thoreau .
Life
Burrough's childhood home was in the middle of the Catskill Mountains . He left when he was 17 because his father didn't want to hear about Burrough's need for education. He has to finance his studies in New York himself. During this time he reads the works of William Wordsworth and Ralph Waldo Emerson , which have a lasting influence on him. In 1856 he leaves the Cooperstown Seminary; a year later he married Ursula North (1836–1917). He achieved his first literary success in 1860 with an essay in the Atlantic Monthly published by James Russell Lowell . During the American Civil War (1861–65) he accepted a position as Secretary of the United States Department of the Treasury in Washington, DC ; later he was promoted to auditor for the Bundesbank. At the same time, he begins to write essays on natural history. During this time he met Walt Whitman , which resulted in a long friendship. The well-known poet encourages him to write. Since Burroughs' essays found enthusiastic readers, he soon ventured into books.
In 1874 he bought a farm in Westpark, New York (now part of the Town of Esopus ), grew fruit, continued to write natural history books and essays that made him popular. In 1895 he built a log cabin with his son Julian, which they named Slabsides . There he receives numerous celebrities in the midst of nature. In 1911 he chose a renovated farmhouse not far from his place of birth as his summer residence. Here at Woodchuck Lodge , the natural philosopher writes his bestsellers. During his lifetime he sold more than 1.5 million copies of his works. In 1901 he met his admirer Clara Barrus (1864–1931). The doctor becomes the great love of his life and ultimately also the caretaker of his estate. After Ursula's death (1917), she moved to Burroughs. In 1921, shortly before his death, he was accepted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters .
aftermath
Eleven North American schools are named after Burroughs. In Mount Rainier National Park , there is a Burroughs Mountain .
His retirement home, Woodchuck Lodge , is now operated by the John Burroughs Association as an open house for nature lovers. The society is based at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. It has been awarding the John Burroughs Medal for the best natural history book of the year since 1926 .
Works
- Notes on Walt Whitman as Poet and Person (1867)
- Wake Robin (1871)
- Winter Sunshine (1875)
- Birds and Poets (1877)
- Locusts and Wild Honey (1879) [Ger. "Locusts and Wild Honey". Jena: Costenoble, 1911.]
- Pepacton (1881)
- Fresh Fields (1884)
- Signs and Seasons (1886)
- Birds and bees and other studies in nature (1896)
- Indoor Studies (1889)
- Riverby (1894)
- Whitman: A Study (1896)
- The Light of Day (1900)
- Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers (1900)
- Songs of Nature (Editor) (1901)
- John James Audubon (1902)
- Literary Values and other Papers (1902)
- Far and Near (1904)
- Ways of Nature (1905)
- Camping and Tramping with Roosevelt (1906)
- Bird and Bough (1906)
- Afoot and Afloat (1907)
- Leaf and Tendril (1908)
- Time and Change (1912)
- The Summit of the Years (1913)
- The Breath of Life (1915)
- Under the Apple Trees (1916)
- Field and Study (1919)
- Accepting the Universe (1920)
- Under the Maples (1921)
- The Last Harvest (1922)
- My Boyhood, with a Conclusion by His Son Julian Burroughs (1922)
literature
- Clara Barrus: Our Friend John Burroughs. Including autobiographical sketches by Mr. Burroughs. With Illustrations from Photographs . Publisher: Houghton, Mifflin & Company, Boston and New York, 1914 Haskell, New York 1971 (reprinted from Houghton Mifflin, New York 1914).
- Clara Barrus: John Burroughs. Boy and Man . Doubleday, Page & Company, Garden City, NY 1920. Photo with dog
- Clara Barrus: The Life and Letters of John Burroughs, Vol. 1 . Russell & Russell, New York 1968 (reprinted by Houghton Mifflin, New York 1925).
- Edwin Wildman: John Burroughs (1837-1827) America's Great Naturalist in: Famous leaders of character in America, from the latter half of nineteenth century; the life stories of boys who have impressed their personalities on the life and history of the United States . Publisher: The Page company Boston, 1922
- Edward Kanze: The world of John Burroughs . Abrams Books, New York 1993, ISBN 0-8109-3970-3 .
- Edward J. Renehan Jr .: John Burroughs. An American Naturalist . Black Dome Press, Hensonville, NY 1998, ISBN 1-883-78916-8 (reprinted from the Chelsea edition, VT 1992).
- Ginger Wadsworth: John Burroughs. The Sage of Slabsides . Clarion Books, New York 1997, ISBN 0-395-77830-1 .
- Charlotte Zoë Walker (Ed.): Sharp Eyes. John Burroughs and American Nature Writing . Syracuse University Press, New York 2000, ISBN 0-8156-2842-0 .
- Charlotte Zoë Walker (Ed.): "The Art Of Seeing Things" by John Burroughs . Syracuse University Press, New York 2001, ISBN 0-8156-0678-8 .
- James Perrin Warren: John Burroughs and The Place of Nature . University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA 2006, ISBN 978-0-8203-2788-4 .
- Perry D. Westbrook: John Burroughs . Twayne, New York 1974, ISBN 0-8057-0117-6 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Burroughs, John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American writer, essayist, naturalist, social philosopher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 3, 1837 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | at Roxbury , Delaware County , New York |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 29, 1921 |
| Place of death | between California and New York |