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Nature Near London Richard Jefferies

Nature Near London By Richard Jefferies

Nature Near London by Richard Jefferies


$17.99
Condition - Well Read
Out of stock

Summary

The Collins Nature Library is a new series of classic British nature writing reissues of long-lost seminal works. The titles have been chosen by one of Britains best known and highly acclaimed nature writers, Robert Macfarlane, who has also written new introductions that put these classics into a modern context.

Nature Near London Summary

Nature Near London (Collins Nature Library) by Richard Jefferies

The Collins Nature Library is a new series of classic British nature writing reissues of long-lost seminal works. The titles have been chosen by one of Britains best known and highly acclaimed nature writers, Robert Macfarlane, who has also written new introductions that put these classics into a modern context.

Nature Near London is a collection of observational pieces from locations near London at the end of the 19th Century. The depth of knowledge and of familiarity with particular places and particular species gives the impression that each small piece is the product of many years of observation.

His style of observation is a work in miniature cataloguing the most minute details; the dancing of a flower in the wind or the darting of a cautious trout. The chapters centre on a special place, a certain species, geographical feature or habitat everything from orchards and copses to rivers and streams.

Jefferies always explains the typical behaviour of whatever he is describing, and often contrasts what he sees with what one would expect to see in another part of the country, or in a different season. His knowledge of flowers is wide-ranging, and his ability to describe one particular patch of a field in such a specific way brings tremendous variety to the chapters that make up the book.

The final chapters are a departure both from the character of the rest of the book, and from London itself, as Jefferies boards the train to Brighton. Suddenly he is describing people and their relationship to nature, as much as nature itself. The scope widens, less a work in miniature, more surging towards a triumphant end as Jefferies becomes ever more philosophical.

100 years on, the book becomes even more relevant than when it was published as a reminder of the dangers of unrelenting urbanisation, but also the context of the trend that aims to recreate nature where we need it most around our cities. Nature near London is a portrait of what weve lost, and a reminder of natures positive and calming influence. Going along with Jefferies is like taking an afternoon stroll out of the city, without having to leave your armchair.

About Richard Jefferies

Richard Jefferies was an English nature writer. Born in 1848 in Coate, near Swindon, he left school at 15, and began a career in journalism. After being struck down with tuberculosis, Jefferies turned to longer form writing, producing much fiction, the nature writing for which he became most well known, and an autobiography. Jefferies died at his home in Worthing in 1887.

Robert Macfarlane won the Guardian First Book Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, and The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award for his first book, Mountains of the Mind (2003). His second, The Wild Places (2007), was similarly celebrated, winning three prizes and being shortlisted for six more. Both books were adapted for television by the BBC. He is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

Additional information

GOR010667961
9780007479016
0007479018
Nature Near London (Collins Nature Library) by Richard Jefferies
Used - Well Read
Hardback
HarperCollins Publishers
2012-06-07
240
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book. We do our best to provide good quality books for you to read, but there is no escaping the fact that it has been owned and read by someone else previously. Therefore it will show signs of wear and may be an ex library book

Customer Reviews - Nature Near London