The Far Corner

These essays include meditations and arguments on becoming a writer; on old-growth forest and the practice of clear-cutting; on the fluid dynamics and biotic diversity and mythic resonance of rivers; on the writers Ken Kesey and Wallace Stegner; on the literary genre of "creative nonfiction”; on death and dying and the consolations of mortality; on the al-Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001; and on my allegiances to the places and region and country I call home.

So writes John Daniel in the introduction to his latest book of essays, The Far Corner. Daniel writes from the ground he walks on and the landscape he inhabits, spinning narratives that seek to define how he belongs to the land and to life itself. He takes the reader to beaches, old-growth forests, and deep river canyons-wild places, and places scarred by human exploitation-and leads us also through inner landscapes where he explores mortality, creativity, and spirituality.

Thi...