In this series of moving recollections involving both his childhood and his work as a mature artist, Fowles explains the impact of nature on his li...
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Jun 10, 2011
Lauren
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This book is profoundly beautiful. I bought my own copy of this in paperback after reading a library copy. That alone should tell you how much this book moved me - I don't like to hold on to books, but this one is an exception. This book will travel with me and I will read it over and over.
While the entire essay is not more than 100 pages (in the 30th anniversary reprint edition), there are three sections: the first contrasts Fowles and his father and their views on nature, order More...
While the entire essay is not more than 100 pages (in the 30th anniversary reprint edition), there are three sections: the first contrasts Fowles and his father and their views on nature, order More...
Nov 02, 2010
Amy
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This is the 30th anniversary edition of John Fowles legendary essay about trees. Or rather, what trees mean in a greater sense than just the biological. At first, I expected this to be similar to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring-both were written decades ago. However, this slim text is more of a set of questions rather than answers. In fact, despite the title, it could be said that trees are just the smallest portion of his purpose.
"Do we feel that unless we create More...
"Do we feel that unless we create More...
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Oct 15, 2008
Guy
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You never know quite where you are with John Fowles: either he is opening one plot trapdoor after another beneath your feet (The Magus), or he is messing with your willing suspension of disbelief (The French Lieutenant's Woman), or he is doing something else that throws some other assumption of yours into question. And this little book is no different. He has written a book about nature and art that, without ever quite saying so explicitly, asserts that any review or critical assessment of hi
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Sep 05, 2010
I don’t know how to explain this book. It is a simple book, it is not a simple book, and it can speak for itself. I have never read anything else by John Fowles, and I don’t know when I will, but now I have read this. My brain is fried. This book, this tiny little volume, this tiny little essay, was everything I expected and more, and even more after that. It blew my mind.
I saw this book and bought it, though I have 80-something books I need to read. I saw the title and grabbed it, smiled More...
I saw this book and bought it, though I have 80-something books I need to read. I saw the title and grabbed it, smiled More...
Mar 16, 2011
Bob
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The Tree by John Fowles is a wonderful book on nature, man, and art. It’s being reissued this September for the 30th anniversary and would be a good fit for anyone who enjoys nature, philosophy or essays. Fowles covers many topics in the book but his most passionate statements are about untamed trees vs. espalier trees. He also touches on art, contemplating its modern formulaic recipes and judges the value of such pieces with wide eyes. He concludes that there is a big difference between knowing
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Jan 21, 2012
Stela
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"Art and nature are siblings, branches of one tree; and nowhere more than in the continuing inexplicability of many of their processes and above all those of creation and of effect on their respective audiences. Our approach to art, as to nature, has become increasingly scientized (and dreadfully serious) during this last century."
And so on. Art is just as beautiful and unpredictable as nature is, and every try to learn how to do it or to examine it is just as futile as the More...
And so on. Art is just as beautiful and unpredictable as nature is, and every try to learn how to do it or to examine it is just as futile as the More...
Jan 12, 2009
Mike
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A short and lovely little book about the nature of nature, and how we lose something anytime we try to capture it, whether in a photo, a poem or a small garden in our backyard. The original essay came in an illustrated book with color photographs. The library didn't have that copy, but I'd very much like to see it.
Oct 13, 2011
Erica
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Wish I had read this when I was writing my thesis on environmental aesthetics. Really fits Emily Brady's notion of environmental aesthetics, but in a more poetic, less fussy way. That is, that science, and even art, can't begin to comprehend the wild, the mystery of nature, nor can it comprehend the wild within us.
Sep 13, 2011
Araminta
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Brilliant take on the connection between nature, our historical domination (or attempts) and thus discrediting of nature, and flaws with the scientific method as evidenced by nature. It reminded me how I always hate landscapes (preferring portraiture), and made me realize I'm a little sad about that. Then again, if Fowles is right, then the reason is because I know no "picture" (or set of words) can ever capture nature. She's too wild, after all.
Oct 23, 2011
Amari
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Though I admire the basic premises of this meditation on nature and creativity, I found it a difficult book to enjoy. Perhaps the threads were a bit too tangled for me. Perhaps there were too many words I didn't know. Though there were moments of great resonance for me, which made me want very much to like the book, somehow I found the author/narrator a bit less than sympathetic. I wish that I were advanced enough to understand his thoughts more deeply, but I yam what I yam.
Jul 23, 2011
Tom
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This is a short book but it took me a while to finish it as the reading is intense. The gist of the book is excellent: that nature is of value in an of itself - and by trying to describe nature we loose sight of it. True nature has to be experienced. The writing is great - almost like poetry.
Aug 06, 2010
Erin
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I recieved an ARC of the 30th anniversary reprinting of this book through Shelf Awareness. I'd never read John Fowles before, and while I can see why he's considered to be a writer of substance, I disagreed with his standpoint on nature vs. science. I'm hoping I can relate better to some of his other books.
Oct 27, 2011
Ninety-one pages of mind-stretching philosophy, some about nature and some about the nature of man. He explores the wildness of nature and man's folly in trying to tame it, name it and own it. This novel and its themes could keep a person occupied for hours or years.
Sep 07, 2010
Rachel
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If you have any interest in creativity, this book will appeal to you! So much to think about, so many questions raised, and an overall lovely meditation on the wildness of nature vs. the pruned vision of beauty we often pursue.
Jan 08, 2012
Tom
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Love this book. Just re-read it for the first time since I discovered it on the shelves while working at Ecco in 1993. Full post here: http://tomthompsonnews.blogspot.com/2012...
Feb 20, 2012
Glenn
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What a great read if you are at all captivated by the mystery and power of the natural world. Fowles describes the indescribable natural world in beautiful prose, while embracing the paradox of trying to do so with mere words.
I also was handed a better set of tools for understanding areas of immense complexity in my life. As if I stood before the truly perplexing with some sense of resignation, only to find his words layed out on pressed wood pulp and pounded into the door of a here More...
I also was handed a better set of tools for understanding areas of immense complexity in my life. As if I stood before the truly perplexing with some sense of resignation, only to find his words layed out on pressed wood pulp and pounded into the door of a here More...
Nov 02, 2010
Erma
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This slim book, really an essay that rambles, is not about trees in so much that it's about what nature means to human creativity, especially writing. Quite thought-provoking.
Nov 19, 2009
Craig
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Fowles' Naturalist views are vividly articulated in this non-fiction essay about the earth, the environment and the literary metaphor throughout his fiction about the relationship between human beings and their environment.
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