Thursday, February 09, 2012

Jacqueline Trescott: Wendell Berry, poet and conservationist, selected to give 2012 Jefferson Lecture

(MB -- I was just talking to my students yesterday about Wendell Berry and how he was the person that I thought of when I used the word "conservative" in a positive way. Here is a collection of his writings I put together three years ago: Conservatism I Support: Wendell Berry.)

Wendell Berry, poet and conservationist, selected to give 2012 Jefferson Lecture
By Jacqueline Trescott
The Style Blog

It’s still a few months off, but mark your calendars now for April 23. Don’t miss the opportunity to see Wendell E. Berry at the Kennedy Center, where he’ll be giving the Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, an annual honor, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Poet Wendell Berry (Guy Mendes)

Berry, one of the country’s most gifted writers, never fails to deliver a memorable quote. Yes, he’s a prolific poet, farmer, staunch conservationist and one of Kentucky’s amiable ambassadors, but he’s also a thoughtful critic of our times and the natural world we live in.

Would that Berry, 77, was one of those nightly pundits, raising the national dialogue by saying, as he has, “Whether we or our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do.”

Instead we’ll have to make do with one night in Washington for the 2012 Jefferson Lecture. He follows the provocative speeches of past honorees, including Lionel Trilling, Arthur Miller and Tom Wolfe.

Berry published his first book of poetry in 1964, and since then has built a collection of more than 40 works that have examined the way we live with nature. Earlier this year, Berry received a National Humanities Medal from President Obama.

To Read the Rest of the Article

No comments: