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Show 2R The Suit Lake Tribune, ' : , 'Sry ; Sunday Februarv lb, l)bb Arctic Dreams: Terra incognita of the mind gp Arctic Dreams Imagination and Desire in a Sort hern Landscape, by Barry Lopez, Scribners, 4M pp , $22 95 ,i to Dream is a book about the Arctic North in the way that Mob; Du k is a novel about whales Though not a work of fiction, Bariy Lopez s dazzling new volume tesembles Poe s Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym and Ted Talley s Terra Sum in that it treats the distant, snowy world of the Arctic as a place that exists not only in the mathematics of geography, but also in the terra incognita of our imaginations For Lopez, it is a land where airplanes track icebergs the size of Cleveland and polar bears fly down out of the stars," a land rich in imagery and metaphor, where the moon can shine for a week and the sun may disappear for days It is his achievement in this book that he communicates to us a visceral sense of his own understanding and wonder, as well as an appreciation for this distant country that flickers insistently like a flashbulb afterimage in our minds long after we've finished reading Lucid Prose Having spent some five years traveling through the Arctic, Lopez possesses a deep, almost mystical reverence for nature and the land, and while this results in a handful of passages tinged with a sort of Whole Earth Catalogue sentimentality (is it possible, he wonders at one point for man to live at moral peace with the universe?") most of Arctic Dreams is set down in lucid, gracious prose Photo by Warf eri Mor Qan Barry Lopez Writes of Arctic routes of b.rds and animals as in the trjvel routes of early human settlers, there are intricate, overlapping patterns to be found patterns dictated in part by the geography of the land in part by the seasonal shifts in sunlight and the biological rhythms of survival Drawing upon the work of geologists, explorers, anthropologists, ar-heologists and biologists, in addition to assorted myths and bits of Eskimo lore, Lopez begins by conjuring up, for his readers, an impressionistic, collage-likpicture of the North Rather than distracting the reader, the narrative digressions gradually take on a kind of organic order, as the author loops back and forth from the philosophical to the scientific, the metaphoric to the specific. A glimpse of sunlight glinting off an iceberg, for instance, will remind him of a painting by a landscape artist, which will remind him of cathedral architecture, which will bring him back to man's passion for light, his craving to come to terms with nature and God c e Vagaries of Nature particularly vulnerable ecosystem, this Arctic world, subject to the vagaries of nature a June sleet storm or an August freeze can destroy a generation of birds, an entire and yet, at the same colony of seals time, one of considerable resilience The snow goose population that fell to 50.000 in 1975 following a series of late spring snowstorms rose again to 300.000 by 1982, and the musk ox population that was nearly wiped out on the Canadian archipelago in the early 70s has similarly revived. It is a Arctic Light Lopez describes what it feels like to be a whaler, coming upon the "loveliness and grandeur" of this uncharted, unclaimed land for the first time He describes the strange, heavenly quality of light found in the high, air of the and how delicately and sudArctic denly it can shift, playing games with our minds in the shape of mirages and fata morganas And he describes, too, the complex web of animal and plant life that exists in this seemingly bary gin-lik- In writing about the animal life of the Arctic, Lopez does not merely use facts and biological data to illustrate ecological theories, he uses them, like John McPhee, to create a dense matrix of observation and research that slowly draws the reader into a palpable world e kimos in building igloos that they arc said to cover their dark noses with a paw ora piece of snow when they arc stjlking a seal What s more, in learn to ing all this we somehow manage come away with a sense of what a polar bear's life is like, and whv the animal plays such a symbolic role in native Eskimo culture The disparate ways in which Eskimo civilization on one hand and Western society on the other have dealt with the landscape of the far North this issue lies at the center of Arctic Dreams, for Lopez is concerned, in the end, with the effect that the Arctic has had on the imagination of individuals who live there or who have chosen to explore its wilds. Can the Eskimo determination to live in accord with nature, he asks, survive in the face of modern man's determination to tame its disorder Why have so many scientists, adventurers and artists risked their lives to chait the was a pattern of paradoxes and a sequence of ironies, that of a prophet-priest simultaneously seeking influence and humility. Changing Views Son of German immigrants in the Midwest, speaking and writing in German before he wrote or spoke in English, he was, as a young man, innately in sympathy with the German Vaterland. Despite his roots, he became, just prior to World War I. an Anglophile. A reluctant supporter of the United States during that war, he then became a pacifist and supporter of Norman Thomas' Socialist Party prior to World War II. only to switch to the view that Adolf Hitler's Germany was the supreme enemy of God, country and civiliza- Books, 298 pp., $19.95. You may remember having se'en and heard in the early days of television, , or during one of his many at the nations major universities. Rather j tall, bald, craggy of face, Reinhoid Niebuhr in no way resembled those preachers who frequent the television tube today, men who seem as insistent on raising dollars as they are in seeking "converhim lecture-appearanc- I near-milita- sions." To those of us who heard and remember him, Niebuhr, perhaps the nation's greatest 20th century theologian, was a "thinking man's preach- tion. ren land What may strike the first-timvisitor as an austere, utterly monotonous country, Lopez demonstrates, is actually a remarkably complex ecosystem whose surface minimalism belies a wealth of conflict and interdependence In the migratory e Before his life ended in this was again beset with doubts concerning America's role in the world. Relieved that the Korean War had been confined within bounds and had not resulted in an atomic conflict, he was to become in his latter years an implacable opponent of the Vietnam War, a man eager to parley with the Soviets and the rest of the world in all possible efforts to avoid a nuclear holocaust. In his early beginnings as a preacher, he believed his true calling could be found in a small rural setting, in church-worof the kind. Fate, and his talents as a secular pastor, brought him to Detroit There, from the pulpit of a growing, st er and public philosopher. Book to Ponder It is good then, and fitting, that this excellent biography is slow reading, a book apt to make the reader ponder long and hard about his or her own religious philosophy. Unless, of course, you grew up, Jew or Gentile, Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant or Mormon, learning Biblical verses by rote, and never questioning the faith of your fathers. To such a true believer, Niebuhr's thought proand career may cesses, seem erratic at best, meaningless at worst. As biographer Richard Wightman Fox makes abundantly clear, his subject's intellectual (and religious) life idea-packe- truth-seekin- 1971, k g middle-class- , German-America- n congregation, he spoke up for both e God and capitalism, and took a let-liv- attitude towards Prohibition Book aljc Stilt Cuke wribnnr Pu one of the hottest moral issues of the day. After all, his parishioners liked an occasional glass of brew. He seemed, for a brief moment, the perfect Babbitt preaching to his own kind until he began questioning Henry Ford and his automotive-industrilk. He came to abhor and fulminate against men who mouthed the most Christian platitudes while pressing a crown of thorns upon the heads of their assembly- iru Capitahsts who gave heed (and dolof a lars) to the needs of the nation an American president proclaimed to be "ill-feand one-thir- d " It wes from Union Theological's pseudo-Gothi- c campuses that Niebuhr, alarmed by the state of the world, would sally forth to Madison Square Garden to speak on the same platform as Henri Barbusse of the World Committee against War and Fascism, Communist Party chairman Earl Browder and Norman Thomas. Upset Officialdom He was thereby upsetting the officialdom of Union Theological Seminary no end, but was thereby becoming the leader of a growing Christian (and Jewish) fellowship of religious thinkers opposed to Franco's Spain, Mussolini's Italy ar.d Hitler's Cermany, whose fascist forces were intent upon overwhelming what remained of European democracy. When World War II came, Niebuhr parted company with his pacifist cohorts, as he had with his German antecedents, even including his beloved father. After that terrible war, despite a succession of physical ills, he came to realize that his views, both during his Detroit ministry and as a religious philosopher at Union Theological, had taken ivy-cla- y -line laborers. Slashing Attacks Never mind that Ford paid a wage and that the American Federation of Labor in its day was officially satisfied with assembly line conditions. Detroit's slums were already festering bringing slashing attacks from Nie- preacher-teacher-politic- buhr's pulpit at Bethel Church against slumlords and their less perceptive religious allies. Seeking a broader audience for his views, he began writing for the national Christian press, and was soon called to the service of the predecessor agencies of the National Council of Churches. Prominent Teacher By the early 1930s Niebuhr was the n faculty member at the prestigious Union Theological Seminary on New York's Morningside Heights, the darling of the Rockefellers and other thoughtful Christian- best-know- 1986 Tours x .lil.ilil- - Material. in ( (801) stlc nl skirl i I'illuw-- j dciBiiiilUlJlsilJLTu a . 261-572- ( 77.97 So. ( Midvale 5()2-198,- London Apt Prayer It is an especially apt prayer to close this biography of a man w ho, by his own ability to change, had an immense effect upon Christian America, as a philosopher and as a teacher-guid- e of so many present-daoccupants of major pulpits and chairs of philosophy at major universities. But author Fox rightly wonders whether Niebuhr would be merely pained, or outspokenly infuriated, by a newspaper advertisement offering his noteworthy prayer in fabulous Crewel Stitchery for "Silent Majority Serenity. The Complete Kit only $2.95. Sure to delight or Full Refund Guaranteed. How would he react to soul todays plastic, and pulpiteeis frequenting the tube in full pastel color? Jack Goodman. y honey-mouthe- dollar-seekin- g Shepard biography Sam Shepard, The Life and Work of an American Dreamer, by Ellen St. Martins, 174 pp., illus., Oumanos book about playwright and actor Sam Shepard is a readable, light biography that includes many anecdotes about his personal and professional life. (UPI). $12.95. and ttOQZ-SOUT- ': 9, b nights 040 EASTiMcCi? Wo have a largo selection of tho finost factory seconds available. These slight blemishes can save ou 30 to 00 on your decorating costs. Come in and see; we always have a fresh selection to choose from nights Paris 2 nights Loire Valley full of sightseeing, $2500.00 receptions, theater 1 986 21 5, April May PRESIDENTS DAY 5 -- DINING ALE Broadway in the Spring A week of theater, shopping, sights and sounds of the Big Apple S 1595.00 May 11-1- 1986 8, QL2 New York to London Cruise featuring Bridge Life Master June Shaw extentions in Europe from $1542.50 available HONEST SAVINGS ON OUR BEST erable meaning today. "God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed; "Give us the courage to change what should be changed, "Give us the wisdom to distinguish one from the other." 7 LondonFrance Theater Tour 4 He had begun, prior to Woild War II, to use a prayer that holds consid- engendered fascination, myth and literature throughout the Americas, Eurasia and the Arctic where they and humankind have shared ground. The Sacred Paw: The Dear in Suture, Myth and Literature, by Paul Shepard and Barry Sanders (Viking; $17 95) is a synthesis of our multiplicity of connections to the bear, and what we know of his natural history. Paul Shepard, professor of human ecology at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif , has long written of our relations to wildlife and nature. Sanders, a professor of English at Pitzer, offers literary counterpoint. Together, they have come up with a surprisingly coherent and readable assemblage. If the vast quantities of ursine paraphernalia sold in recent years is any guide, there is perhaps a genuinely interested and receptive audience for this species of enlightenment: literate, scholarly, but far from detached. David Graber, Los Angeles Times. We have the right piano lor you at the right price terms Piano rentals from $25.00 per month. the Nordic Prince US Virgin Islands, Antigua, Barbados, Martinique, St. Maarten from S18 18.00 March 1986 19-2- 7th West Sorrv. children not allowed 97 N. Holden , The bear is our forest twin. Of a size often close to our own, possessing a hind foot remarkably similar, he favors many of the same foods we do. He is highly intelligent, ard more than our equal in strength. No mystery that the eight kinds of bear have 4 USED Grands, Uprights, Consoles, Spinets, Rental Returns, Etc Come in for REAL BARGAINS!!! Tours for travelers who like the best , yet appreciate a savings. Southern Caribbean Cruise aboard t insufficient account of our nation's racial problems. Overlooked Harlem Aftei al, his Morningside Heights apartment looked down upon the increasing shambles that was black Harlem. He became, in his latter days, a vigorous supporter of the Civil Rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr a leader of white Christian support for black aspirations fur equality in education and employment. The bear facts collected NEW 5296 South 520 West -- 101 Murrav. UT 84107 Imice id Times. PIANO BARGAINS Bonneville-Guymo- n COUNTRY CAMELBACK SOFA - of danger, seren-acertain qualities stem from some ot desolation basic eultural assumptions or from some more personal need to impose ordi r and narrative wheie none before existed Legacy of Desire Arctic history became for me, Lopez then, a legacy of desire, writes, "the desire of individual men to achieve their goals But it was also the kgacy of a kind of desire that transcends heroics and which was the deprivately known to many passage sire for a safe and honorable " through the world In writing this his place among takes book. Lopez those same individuals who ventured to the northern limits of the earth and made of their journey a lasting record of its fierceness and its beauty Michiko Kakutani, Aew York Novelistic Charm Take, for one, his minutely detailed descriptions of the polar bear, which acquire an almost novelistic charm. We learn that polar bears are so well insulated that they have trouble getting rid of excess heat (which they deal with by eating snow), that they build dens using the same principles of architecture employed by the Es The life and shifting views of Reinhold Niebuhr A Biography, Reinhoid Niebuhr by Richard Wightman Fox; Pantheon .ices ef the Arctic Did their impulse to endow the landscape with - vj-- t StvECT 10 Mav EVER 18-2- 5 . 1986 Highlights of the Orient Japan, Singapore. hailand and Hong Kong with Dorothy Westerman S2598.00' May 24 j unc 7 1 986 ':c. 1 , 2100 SOUTH 815 EAST 4 f 9307j 4 up.l'W v DesignerTextiles FABRICS FOR THE 4 Vi 700 t asi s.ilt I .ike C it HOME V 4hi) S 0 f |
