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River Notes: The Dance of Herons
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You will never again see a mountain river surging past an isolated home, cascading over ancient rocks and raising the gentle cries of birds, without being struck by its awesome influence, the turbulent life it encourages.
In Barry Lopez’s critically acclaimed first work of fiction, Desert Notes, he brought alive for the reader a desert sprung from his imagination into a fre ...more
In Barry Lopez’s critically acclaimed first work of fiction, Desert Notes, he brought alive for the reader a desert sprung from his imagination into a fre ...more
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Hardcover, 1st Edition, 100 pages
Published
October 1st 1979
by Andrews and McMeel
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While I am reading Barry Lopez's magnificent new book Horizon, I am also re-reading his other works between its chapters. I originally read his other books when they were published many years ago, expectantly purchasing them as soon as they were issued at bookstores throughout the West, following the career of an amazing writer, and occasionally getting them signed at author events.
At the time, I thought his fictional "Notes" series of three books (Desert Notes, River Notes, and Field Notes) was ...more
At the time, I thought his fictional "Notes" series of three books (Desert Notes, River Notes, and Field Notes) was ...more
Aug 11, 2007
Chris
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
Siddhartha and Andy Goldsworthy, among others
"To stick your hands into the river is to feel the chords that bind the earth together in one piece." - Barry Lopez
Lopez' short work is full of the loose mysticism of a man immersed in the eternal oneness of the world. If that's not your thing, so be it. If it is, few write it better than Barry. In his world, people (when still enough) slowly erode and dissolve into the river. You can talk to the trees to get the lowdown on the heron. It's natural/magical realism to be sure, but the real magic i ...more
Lopez' short work is full of the loose mysticism of a man immersed in the eternal oneness of the world. If that's not your thing, so be it. If it is, few write it better than Barry. In his world, people (when still enough) slowly erode and dissolve into the river. You can talk to the trees to get the lowdown on the heron. It's natural/magical realism to be sure, but the real magic i ...more
Profound. Take the keen observations of a Buddhist monk, the extraordinary style of an E.B. White and this is what you get. The negative space around the descriptions; the modesty of man's sense of himself in nature, makes a lot of other writing look manic, and like swagger. He has put himself in the service of nature by sitting by a river and just watching....for weeks.
...more
The companion to "Desert Notes," this book was my farewell to the water-rich country of my youth, when I moved to desert lands, and it was my look back to all the woodland places I explored when I was a child. Again, Lopez mystical touch and lyric skill with words is transporting, uplifting, and often haunting. These are stories whose point is in the reading, in the knowing more than the end.
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I do not really understand this book. I wish I did because I admire Barry Lopez greatly.
Eleven short stories, seemingly interconnected and sounding narrowly autobiographical at the levels of touch, sight and sense, present characters who share ways of life on an unnamed Pacific Northwest river but are separated from one another by their psychology and their flaws. Even when nature runs amok, with fire and flood, the human beings, so conflicted, so easily thwarted, show up poorly against Lopez's ...more
Eleven short stories, seemingly interconnected and sounding narrowly autobiographical at the levels of touch, sight and sense, present characters who share ways of life on an unnamed Pacific Northwest river but are separated from one another by their psychology and their flaws. Even when nature runs amok, with fire and flood, the human beings, so conflicted, so easily thwarted, show up poorly against Lopez's ...more
River Notes: The Dance of Herons is a mystical book about the life of a river. It’s simply beautiful nature writing at its best. I first read this book in the early 80’s and its beauty and impact remains true all these years later. This was the first book that made me cry. If you’ve never read Barry Lopez, this book and Desert Notes are great titles to start with.
This may be the most "traditional" of Lopez's NOTES trio, at least in its structure. The flow and shape of rivers guides all. But the book is still its own kind of ardent brew of fiction/nonfiction. Lopez isn't afraid of going over the top with language or love of place. For me, his patient attentiveness to flora and fauna outweighs the missteps. My favorites in this one: "The Falls" and "Hanner's Story." Those choices probably say more about me (in this century) than Lopez in the last. A potent
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I return to this slim volume often. The introduction and first essay/story, The Search for the Heron, I know almost by heart. No one evokes nature as Barry Lopez did.
If you are looking for a novel, this is not the book you are looking for. If you are looking for a piece of beautiful free-form poetry then this book will more than leave you satisfied. Take time with this book. Allow the river to flow through you at your own pace. Allow yourself to pick it up and put it down base on your mood and there is a good chance that you will find this slim volume immensely satisfying.
i can see why i loved this so much when it came out, and why i still love it. this is writing of the Green Revolution before it existed, poetic prose that is sacred in it's handling of the subject matter.
onto desert notes. ...more
onto desert notes. ...more
I was fully consumed by Lopez and the river at times. Poetic and beautiful, written by someone who feels a oneness with nature that I only brush the edges of at my finest moments. I read a few passages aloud to a friend that I found especially powerful.
Fabulous read on the nature of water and those who observe it closely.
Another rich collection of Lopez stories, more focused and vivid than Desert Notes, but still claiming that surreal quality that his landscape writing seems to possess so well.
Another small and uplifting book that connects us deeply to nature.
"There are those who say that things were once better in this valley, that many years ago there was a different kind of life. I have listened patiently to these stories. They are idyllic and farfetched. I believe they represent hopeful longing on the part of those who tell them..." In this poetic ode to a river and its many stories, the author speaks with awe and respect, wishing to honor the river and the power it possesses, but he does not idealize it. In a series of short stories, Lopez visit
...more
I may not fully comprehend of what is being told in this book, (because im from a foreign country) but as i read each and every word, phrases, sentences of it, i feel like i am relatively connected inside. I love the essence of reading this, i am bewildered by how good Barry is, from changing the perspective to another point of view, and how good he was to hearten the emotions of his reader. Sometimes it looks like He is narrating, telling or observing. I just love this book. 5⭐🖖
Such a wonderfully poetic collection of natural/mystical observations to completely lose yourself in. If memory serves, I sought this little work out after hearing patti smith praise it - and she was absolutely right. The writing is unusual, humble, so evocative.
Beautiful prose.
Having just crawled out of the second largest canyon in America, I stood at my bookshelf shuffling between this, A Sand County Almanac, and Loren Eiseley, so I suppose you could say I was in the mood for what is sometimes called nature writing. This little nugget did not disappoint.
As a reader who prefers their natura americana to lean more towards the poetic than the scientific, Lopez’s dreamy musings were medicinal. I’ll leave you with my favorite scene: the narrator, having been bedridden wi ...more
As a reader who prefers their natura americana to lean more towards the poetic than the scientific, Lopez’s dreamy musings were medicinal. I’ll leave you with my favorite scene: the narrator, having been bedridden wi ...more
This was really lovely, but I guess I went in expecting it to be more like Desert Notes: Reflections in the Eye of a Raven--so, not totally nonfiction, but certainly... semi-fictional stuff about a place. River Notes, turns out, is more a collection of actual fiction, place-focused but also largely about people, which isn't so much what I read Lopez for, much as I enjoy his prose.
...more
Ok, you're thinking why did she read this? It was in the library and 1)I'm looking for books guys at school would like to read that are also short 2)Ken just did a report about the Heron so I thought maybe it would be cool. No. Too much thinking, maybe if I was under the influence of something I would see the point but,....No.
81 Pages ...more
81 Pages ...more
12/19/2013
Feb 08, 2013
Mills College Library
added it
813.54 L8642 1979
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Barry Holstun Lopez is an American author, essayist, and fiction writer whose work is known for its environmental and social concerns.
Lopez has been described as "the nation's premier nature writer" by the San Francisco Chronicle. In his non-fiction, he frequently examines the relationship between human culture and physical landscape, while in his fiction he addresses issues of intimacy, ethics an ...more
Lopez has been described as "the nation's premier nature writer" by the San Francisco Chronicle. In his non-fiction, he frequently examines the relationship between human culture and physical landscape, while in his fiction he addresses issues of intimacy, ethics an ...more
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