Wild: An Elemental Journey

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Wild: An Elemental Journey
Cover of 1st edition
AuthorJay Griffiths
LanguageEnglish
GenreTravel literature
PublisherTarcher
Publication date
2006
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Pages374 in 1st edition
ISBN978-1585424030

Wild: An Elemental Journey is a 2006 book about travel in Earth's wildernesses by the British writer Jay Griffiths.

Context

Jay Griffiths is a British writer. She read English Literature at Oxford University. She has written for the London Review of Books and contributed to programmes on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and the World Service. As a journalist, she has published columns in The Guardian, The Ecologist, Orion, and Aeon.[1] Her non-fiction books include Pip Pip: A Sideways Look at Time (1999), Kith: The Riddle of the Childscape (2013), and Tristimania (2016).[2]

Book

Publication history

Wild was published by Tarcher in the United States in 2006 and by Hamish Hamilton in the UK in 2007.[a] Penguin Books issued a paperback version in 2008.[3] It was published in Korean in 2011.[4]

Synopsis

Wild describes a seven-year odyssey to wildernesses representing the five traditional elements of earth, ice, water, air and fire, the connection between human society and wild lands. Earth is the Amazon rainforest; ice is the Canadian Arctic; the Indonesian island of Bajo, near Sulawesi, is water; the Australian outback is fire; and West Papua's montane forests represent air.[5]

It is also an intellectual travel,[5] a journey into wild mind, as Griffiths explores the words and meanings which shape people's ideas and experience of wildness, the wildness of the human spirit.[6] The book includes the description of drinking ayahuasca with shamans in the Amazon, as a treatment for depression, and discusses shamanism, nomadism and freedom. Chapters describe journeys to the Arctic, to Australia and to the freedom fighters of West Papua.[7][8]

Reception

On publication in the UK, Wild was praised widely in major newspapers; it was described as "part travelogue, part call to arms and wholly original... A vital, unique and uncategorisable celebration of the spirit of life".[8] The Independent called it "remarkable" and "stupendous"[9] while Mark Cocker of The Guardian wrote: "Jay Griffiths is a five-star, card-carrying member of the hellfire club... a strange, utterly compelling book, Wild is easily the best, most rewarding travel book that I have read in the last decade."[5] In The Sunday Times, Anthony Sattin wrote "There is no getting away from the book's brilliance".[10] The Independent on Sunday described Wild "as a song of delight, and a cry of warning, poetic, erudite and insistent… a restless, unstintingly generous performance..."[11] The wildlife author Richard Mabey in The Times wrote of its "kaleidoscopic narrative" and "exhilarating prose".[12] In the Sydney Morning Herald, Bruce Elder describe Wild as "The best book I read all year".[13]

During an interview about the experiences she described in Wild, Griffiths said, "To my mind, at worst, the West operates a kind of 'intellectual apartheid' – the idea that our way of thinking is the only one. Really, there are more ways of living and thinking than we could ever imagine."[14]

Wild is quoted on KT Tunstall's album Tiger Suit; she called it her favourite book.[15] The Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture reads from Wild during their documentary for their album Angles, and comments: "Jay Griffiths's works are original, inspiring and dare you to search beyond the accepted norm."[16] The Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien posted a recommendation of Wild on the band's blog, stating that it was "an astonishing piece of writing " and that "it was exactly what I needed to read".[17]

Notes

  1. ^ In 2012 Cheryl Strayed published a book titled Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found in the United States, where the book has been retitled Savage Grace.

References

  1. ^ Griffiths, Jay (January–February 2010). "The Tips of Your Fingers". Orion.
  2. ^ "Author Jay Griffiths". Jay Griffiths. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  3. ^ Wild. WorldCat. OCLC 943117900. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  4. ^ Griffiths, Jay (2011). "<>. by Jay Griffiths 바람과 얼음의 여행자 : 원시의 자유를 찾아 떠난 7년간의 기록 /" (in Korean). 알마 (Alma). Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Cocker, Mark (9 June 2007). "Where the wild things are". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  6. ^ "Wild by Jay Griffiths". Hamish Hamilton. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
  7. ^ Moss, Stephen (6 June 2007). "Call of the wild". The Guardian.
  8. ^ a b Beetlestone, Ian (20 May 2007). "The final frontierswoman".
  9. ^ Green, Toby (25 May 2007). "Wild, by Jay Griffiths". The Independent. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  10. ^ Sattin, Anthony (9 December 2007). "The best travel books of 2007". The Sunday Times.[dead link]
  11. ^ Gibbs, Jonathan (3 June 2007). "Wild by Jay Griffiths". The Independent on Sunday.
  12. ^ Mabey, Richard (26 May 2007). "Wild". The Times. Archived from the original on May 15, 2008.
  13. ^ Turnbull, Sue (15 December 2007). "The pick of the literary crop". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  14. ^ Green, Graeme (16 July 2007). "60 Seconds: Jay Griffiths". Metro.co.uk.
  15. ^ "KT's Top 10". KT Tunstall. Archived from the original on 3 October 2010. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
  16. ^ The Strokes (12 February 2010). The Strokes 2010 Recording for next album PART 1. Manhattan's Avatar Studios: YouTube.com. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  17. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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