Introduction
The Man Who Ate Books (Télérama)
Playful “memoir” of voraciousness for books, beginning with a (probably fictional) scene where as a baby the unnamed third-person narrator chewed on a family Bible
Dogs in the Manger: On Love, Spirit, and Literature
Why I Write (written for France, unpublished in English, possibly not published at all)
Short early piece, likely unpublished, dated to 1970s
Sitting Around (Tricycle)
On Zen and meditation
Dogs in the Manger (unpublished)
Literary reputation, very funny section on the anxieties of “regional” writers. Originally written for the NYTBR, never published
My Leader (In Search of Small Gods)
A memorable meeting with a goat in a Mexican cemetery, originally published in In Search of Small Gods (as a prose poem)
Nesting in Air (Northern Lights, anthology)
First Person Female (New York Times Magazine)
Essay for the New York Times Magazine on writing in the voice/head of female characters
Great Poems Make Good Prayers (Esquire)
Peter Matthiessen and a Writer’s Sport (unpublished)
Unpublished interview/fanboy love letter to Peter Matthiessen
The Pleasures of the Damned (New York Times Book Review)
Charles Bukowski review, for the NYTBR
Steinbeck (Steinbeck society anthology)
Short essay on reading Steinbeck, Jim’s dad, and his own youthful hitchhiker travels in California
Lauren Hutton’s ABCs (Playboy)
Love letter to Lauren Hutton
Introduction to Residence on Earth by Pablo Neruda (New Directions edition of Residence on Earth)
Why I Write, Or Not (Why I Write: Thoughts on the Craft of Fiction ed Will Blythe)
Essay for Will Blythe anthology on writing, motivation, craft
Thoreau (written for Yves Jolviet in France, never published in English)
Dream as a Metaphor of Survival (Psychoanalytic Review)
An examination of dreams and compendium of some memorable ones, for the Psychoanalytic Review
Blue Panties (unpublished)
A whimsical meditation on the mysteries of sex and attraction, written after finding a pair of panties on a walk
Wisdom (written for France, unpublished as far as we know)
Dog Years: On Hunting
Dog Years (Field & Stream)
A life through the dogs he owned and hunted with, for Field & Stream
A New Map of the Sacred Territory (Esquire Sportsman)
On hunting and seeing one’s familiar territory anew
Delta Hunt (for Esquire, never published?)
Hunting wild turkey in the Mississippi Delta
The Misadventure Journals (Field & Stream)
Funny, thoughtful accounts of some major scrapes Jim got into in the great outdoors
Hunting with a Friend: On Good Friends and Foul Weather (For a Handful of Feathers intro, first serial to Sports Afield)
Essay about his long friendship with Guy de la Valdène, originally published as introduction to For a Handful of Feathers
Marching to a Different Drummer (Sports Illustrated)
Hunting grouse, who “drum” (a sustained burst of wing beating without flying, done as a display by the males)
Meditations on Hunting (unpublished)
Spring Coda (Esquire Sportsman)
On the coming of spring and a meditation on hunting in general
Michigan, Montana, and Other Sacred Places
A Prairie Prologue in Nebraska (New York Times)
Written for the New York Times, an homage to one of his favorite places, immortalized in Dalva and The Road Home
Not Quite Leaving Michigan (These United States)
On his decision to leave Michigan for Montana
Old, Faithful, and Mysterious (Sports Illustrated)
Written for the 100th anniversary of Yellowstone Park, reportage and personal account of a fishing trip there with Tom McGuane and others
Safely without Portfolio in Key West (Outside)
Classic piece on Key West and the excesses and transcendence it inspires simultaneously
Pie in the Sky (Esquire Sportsman)
The Beginner’s Mind (Heart of the Land, anthology benefiting )
Learning Montana, or Turn Me Loose
Getting to know Montana as a relatively new transplant
Life on the Border (Men’s Journal)
Written for Men’s Journal, a moving essay observing the folly of our border policy, inspired by the death of a young Mexican woman
The Beginner: and Other Journalism
The Beginner Meets the Eight Samurai (unpublished)
Covering a local tennis championship
A Delicate Creature (unpublished)
Reportage on sharks, including an interview with one of the founders of the American shark-tagging research project
Real Big Brown Truck (Automobile)
Car journalism mingled with Harrisonian concerns about place
Floating: On Fishing, and on the Water
On the Water (Sports Afloat, Time Life Books anthology)
Starting Over (Men’s Journal)
The Mad Marlin of Punta Carnero (True Magazine)
Fishing a Watershed (unpublished)
The Beauty of the Jump (Men’s Journal)
A River Never Sleeps (Esquire)
Floating (Sports Illustrated)
Early Fishing (In Search of Small Gods)
