‘To Imagine That A River Is Alive Causes Water to Glitter Differently’
Robert Macfarlane’s new book, Is A River Alive?, answers a resounding ‘yes’ to the question of its title. In this extract, he explores the limitations of the language we use to describe the natural world
As the living world has been further distanced and deadened into ‘brute matter’, so language use which recognises the liveliness of land and water – a ‘grammar of animacy’, in Robin Wall Kimmerer’s celebrated phrase – has become rarer.
We have largely lost a love language for rivers. Occasionally, these animate grammars can still be heard – and they deliver a jolt to the mind’s ear.
In April 2021, four women from an inter-tribal coalition wrote an open letter to Joe Biden, seeking his protection of their sacred lands of Bears Ears – the desert region in Utah which Donald Trump had sought to open for mining and drilling. The New York Times printed the women’s letter.
…
This is the Subscriber Paywall
Subscriptions are how we pay our journalists. So we make some of our best articles and investigations available exclusively to paying subscribers. This is one of those articles; to read it, sign in or subscribe.
Already a subscriber? Log in nowSubscribe to Byline Times Digital Edition to read this article now
A digital subscription costs £3.95/month or £39.95/year
Find out more and compare our subscriptions
Subscribe and read now