Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Heart's Desire The Best of Edward Hoagland Essays from Twenty Years by Edward Hoagland ISBN 13: 9780671669539. Heart's Desire: The Best of Edward Hoagland: Essays from Twenty Years. Hoagland, Edward. This specific ISBN edition is currently not available. A collection of four new and thirty-one previously published essays, Edward Hoagland offers his observations on a remarkably broad range of topics, including life, love, marriage, children, suffering, the city, and isolation. "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. Shipping: US$ 3.00 Within U.S.A. Other Popular Editions of the Same Title. Featured Edition. ISBN 10: 0671747444 ISBN 13: 9780671747442 Publisher: Touchstone Books, 1991 Softcover. Summit. 1988 Hardcover. Customers who bought this item also bought. Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace. 1. Heart's Desire: The Best of Edward Hoagland: Essays from Twenty Years. Book Description Condition: new. 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Born: City, 1932. Education: Deerfield Academy; , Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1950-54, A.B. 1954. Military Service: Served in the Army, 1955-57. Career: Taught at for Social Research, New York, 1963-64, , New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1966, , Bronxville, New York, 1967 and 1971, City College, New York, 1967-68, , Iowa City, 1978 and 1982, , New York, 1980-81, , , 1987-95, and University of California, Davis, 1990 and 1992. Editorial writer, New York Times , 1979-89. Since 1985 general editor, Penguin Nature Library, New York. Awards: Houghton Mifflin fellowship, 1956; Longview Foundation award, 1961; Guggenheim fellowship, 1964, 1975; American Academy traveling fellowship, 1964, and Vursell Memorial award, 1981; O. Henry award, 1971; New York State Council on the Arts fellowship, 1972; Brandeis University citation, 1972; National Endowment for the Arts grant, 1982; New York Public Library Literary Lion award, 1988, 1996; National Magazine award, 1989; Lannan fellowship, 1993; Literary Lights Award, Boston Public Library, 1995. Member: American Academy, 1982. P UBLICATIONS. Novels. Cat Man. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1956. The Circle Home. New York, Crowell, 1960. The Peacock's Tail. New York, McGraw Hill, 1965. Seven Rivers West. New York, Summit, 1986. Short Stories. City Tales , with Wyoming Stories , by Gretel Ehrlich. Santa Barbara, California, Capra Press, 1986. The Final Fate of the Alligators. Santa Barbara, California, CapraPress, 1992. Other. Notes from the Century Before: A Journal from . New York, Random House, 1969. The Courage of Turtles: Fifteen Essays about Compassion, Pain, and Love. New York, Random House, 1971. Walking the Dead Diamond River (essays). New York, RandomHouse, 1973. The Moose on the Wall: Field Notes from the Vermont Wilderness. London, Barrie and Jenkins, 1974. Red Wolves and Black Bears (essays). New York, Random House, 1976. African Calliope: A Journey to the Sudan. New York, RandomHouse, 1979; London, Penguin, 1981; with a new afterword by the author, New York, Lyons & Burford, 1995. The Edward Hoagland Reader , edited by Geoffrey Wolff. New York, Random House, 1979. The Tugman's Passage (essays). New York, Random House, 1982. Heart's Desire: The Best of Edward Hoagland. New York, Summit, 1988; London, Collins, 1990. Balancing Acts (essays). New York, Simon and Schuster, 1992. Balancing Acts: Essays. New York, Lyons Press, 1999. Tigers & Ice: Reflections on Nature and Life. New York, Lyons Press, 1999. Editor, The Circus of Dr. Lao , by Charles Finney. New York, Vintage, 1983. Editor, The Mountains of California , by John Muir. New York andLondon, Penguin, 1985. Editor, The Maine Woods , by Henry David Thoreau. New York, Penguin, 1988. Editor, Walden , by Henry David Thoreau. New York, Vintage, 1991. Editor, Steep Trails , by John Muir. Sierra Club, 1994. In the years since he published his first novel, Cat Man (1956), Edward Hoagland has gradually developed a reputation as one of America's leading essayists and a distinctive creator of fiction about both city life and the wilderness. His circus and boxing novels have been labeled required reading for those interested in these activities. In all his novels and many of his short stories, he shows a detailed, often first-hand knowledge of occupations where brawn or physical skills are more important than intellect. His essay, "Big Cats," is a deft description of the cat family; Cat Man is a novel of circus life that contains sordid but not unrealistic detail about the human struggles unseen by the spectators; and The Circle Home is a novel full of information about the training of boxers and life among the destitute. In his third but not best novel, The Peacock's Tail , he still shows an interest in the lower classes, for the protagonist is a young white man who gradually loses cultural and racial prejudice as he works among the urban poor. In his most recent novel, Seven Rivers West , a small group of white men and two women make an arduous journey through the Canadian west. His prose style, though varied, is often unembellished, staccato, and unpretentious; yet since his narrators and central characters are usually lower class people, relatively uneducated and inarticulate, the straightforward colloquial prose is appropriate. In its direct, deflationary tone, the beginning of his short story, "The Final Fate of the Alligators," is a succinct introduction to most of his main characters: "In such a crowded, busy world the service each man performs is necessarily a small one. Arnie Bush's was no exception." Yet the lack of subtle, intellectual prose does not mean that the author offers no insights. A description of leopards in motion ends, for example, with a deft comment: "Really, leopards are like machines. They move in a sort of perpetual motion. Their faces don't change; they eat the same way, sleep the same way, pace much the same as each other. Their bodies are constructed as ideally as a fish's for moving and doing, for action, and not much room is left for personality." Regrettably, the final clause may aptly be applied to his characters, for many of them are so busy learning survival techniques in an uncaring world that their personalities are never fully developed. We may believe in them, but we are not always interested in them. The lack of interest sometimes results from the brevity of a character's role or the analysis devoted to it. Thus when characters fall back into self-destructive habits such as self-pity or alcoholism, we feel little sympathy. We impatiently dismiss them as born losers. On reflection, however, we may realize that we lack the compassion that Hoagland has for the urban poor or the uneducated easterner following his dream. An accurate and just sense of Hoagland's strengths and weaknesses in prose style, narrative technique, characterization, and thought may be obtained from The Circle Home , the story of Denny Kelly, an irresponsible 29-year-old who has failed and continues to fail as a prize fighter and husband. In prose direct and at times colorful, the author demonstrates a close knowledge of the world of third-rate boxers. A lively fight: One-hand found occasion to maneuver into every foot the ring provided. He'd be close, mining in the belly, and spring back with a lithe light antelope-type movement. Often when his left returned from thrusts his arms dropped by his sides to balance him. Those leaps, narrow body straight upright and turning in the air to face the way he wanted, were the essence of his style…. The author seems intent, not upon muckraking, but upon having readers understand the world of boxers and boxing. The reader comes to know Denny through the straight chronological flow of his attempted comeback, and through a series of flashbacks that chronicle his irresponsible and immature behavior as a husband and father. In re-creating the flow of events Hoagland shows a keen ear for dialogue. The end of the novel, however, is weak: Denny, contrite yet once more, phones to inform his wife that he is determined (because of his miseries) to return and to be henceforth a good family man. The title, The Circle Home , suggests that at last he will be truly home, but because he has failed so often before and has shown no true deep reformation, the reader may prophesy further backsliding. If we are meant to view Denny's future optimistically, the author's compassion for the dwellers in the "lower depths" has led him to a sentimental conclusion. Seven Rivers West contains some of Hoagland's best fictional writing. Set in the Canadian west of the 1880s, not yet settled by Europeans, though it has been touched by them, it gives a vivid and detailed look at the white men pressing on with their railroad and seeking their future in the territory of the Indians, some of whom are still defiant, others already tainted by an alien civilization. Hoagland makes us appreciate both the energy and activities of the native people, and the magnificent challenge of the landscape. rightly praised it for being "wonder-ful." The conclusion of the novel, however, is somewhat disappointing in its treatment of Cecil Roop's capture of a bear he has long sought and the depiction of the mythic Bigfoot. From his works as a whole, Hoagland appears as a careful writer who, steeped in firsthand knowledge of his material, attempts with some humor and considerable compassion to show us men and women struggling first to survive and then to improve themselves or the world. There is, indeed, a definite sense of the author's feelings and involvement in the fiction and essays. (One reviewer objected to Hoagland exposing his neuroses in his travel essays.) But Hoagland does not hesitate to acknowledge the autobiographical aspects of his fiction. In the foreword to City Tales , he says: I found at the end of the 1960s that what I wanted to do most was to tell my own story; and by the agency of my first book of nonfiction, Notes From the Century Before —which began as a diary intended only to fuel my next novel—I discovered that the easiest way to do so was by writing directly to the reader without filtering myself through the artifices of fiction. By the time another decade had passed, however, I was sick of telling my own story and went back to inventing other people's, in a novel I hope will be finished before this book you are holding comes out. Because Hoagland has the skill to make vivid the plight of the unprivileged, whether in the city or in the wilderness, he deserves the esteem that has gradually gained during his writing career. Heart's Desire: The Best of Edward Hoagland : Essays from Twenty Years by Edward Hoagland. Edward Hoagland is a writer born in New York in 1932. Hoagland has written several books of fiction, but since the late 1960s he has become known almost exclusively for his nonfiction. His first novel, Cat Man , won a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award in 1956. The Los Angeles Times has called Hoagland "one of our best and most esteemed nature writers." He won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction in 1979 and a National Endowment for the Arts award in 1982 among many others. Hoagland has also contributed to numerous periodicals, including Harpers, Esquire, New Yorker, New American Review, Transatlantic Review, Sports Illustrated , and New York Times . Book publications include: Hoagland, Edward. Cat Man. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1956. Hoagland, Edward. The Circle Home. New York: Crowell, 1960. Hoagland, Edward. The Peacock's Tail. New York: McGraw Hill, 1965. Hoagland, Edward. Seven Rivers West. New York: Summit Books, 1986. Hoagland, Edward. The Final Fate of the Alligators. Santa Barbara: Capra, 1992. Hoagland, Edward. Children Are Diamonds: An African Apocalypse. New York: Arcade, 2013. Hoagland, Edward. The Devil's Tub: Collected Stories. New York: Arcade, 2014. Hoagland, Edward. In the Country of the Blind. New York: Arcade, 2016. Hoagland, Edward. Notes from the Century Before: A Journal from British Columbia. New York: Random House, 1969. Hoagland, Edward. The Courage of Turtles: Fifteen Essays. New York: Random House, 1971. Hoagland, Edward. Walking the Dead Diamond River. New York: Random House, 1973. Hoagland, Edward. The Moose on the Wall: Field Notes from the Vermont Wilderness. London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1974. Hoagland, Edward. Red Wolves and Black Bears. New York: Random House, 1976. Hoagland, Edward. African Calliope: A Journey to the Sudan. New York: Random House, 1979. Hoagland, Edward. The Edward Hoagland Reader, edited by Geoffrey Wolff. New York: Random House, 1979. Hoagland, Edward. The Tugman's Passage. New York: Random House, 1982. Hoagland, Edward. City Tales. Santa Barbara: Capra, 1986. Hoagland, Edward. Heart's Desire: The Best of Edward Hoagland. New York: Summit Books, 1988. Hoagland, Edward. Balancing Acts. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992. Hoagland, Edward. Tigers and Ice: Reflections on Nature and Life. New York: Lyons, 1999 Hoagland, Edward. Compass Points: How I Lived. New York: Pantheon, 2001. Hoagland, Edward. Hoagland on Nature. Guilford: Lyons Press, 2003. Hoagland, Edward. Early in the Season. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2008. Hoagland, Edward. Sex and the River Styx. White River Junction: Chelsea Green, 2011. Hoagland, Edward. Alaskan Travels. New York: Arcade, 2013. Scope and Contents. The collection contains correspondence and manuscripts. The collection is in good condition and is part of the James Sowell Family Collection in Literature, Community and the Natural World. Organization. Restrictions. Access Restrictions. The collection is open for research. Some archival collections may be housed in storage outside of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library building. Requests to retrieve such materials may take up to 10 business days to complete. Please contact our Reference Department to arrange retrieval. Audio, video, and film recordings may not be immediately accessible due to format, condition, or copyright status. All items must be digitized prior to patron use. Because not all collections materials have been digitized, please contact the Reference Archivist at least 10 days prior to arrival in order to coordinate digitization. Though we can digitize much of our holdings within two weeks, some media may be fragile and require specialized digitization outsourcing, which can take up to three months for completion. Use Restrictions. Copyright is retained by the authors of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by U.S. copyright law. Copy requests in excess of 5 pages must be approved by the donor or his representative. Index Terms. Related Materials. Administrative Information. Preferred Citation. Edward Hoagland Papers, 1953-2007 and undated, Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas. Noted With Pleasure. In this excerpt from his essay "The Courage of Turtles," Edward Hoagland catalogues some of the reasons he so greatly admires turtles. It is included in "Heart's Desire. The Best of Edward Hoagland: Essays From Twenty Years" (Touchstone, paper). Turtles cough, burp, whistle, grunt and hiss, and produce social judgments. They put their heads together amicably enough, but then one drives the other back with the suddenness of two dogs who have been conversing in tones too low for an onlooker to hear. They . . . exercise both pluck and optimism in trying to escape, walking for hundreds of yards within the confines of their pen, carrying the weight of that cumbersome box on legs which are cruelly positioned for walking. They don't feel that the contest is unfair; they keep plugging, rolling like sailorly souls -- a bobbing, infirm gait, a brave, sea-legged momentum -- stopping occasionally to study the lay of the land. For me, anyway, they manage to contain the rest of the animal world. They can stretch out their necks like a giraffe, or loom underwater like an apocryphal hippo. They browse on lettuce thrown on the water like a cow moose which is partly submerged. Season of Memory and Joy. If the Christmas season were to speak in just one voice, the voice would be that of Charles Dickens. This excerpt from "The Pickwick Papers" is included in "A New Christmas Treasury," edited by Jack Newcombe (Viking). Numerous indeed are the hearts to which Christmas brings a brief season of happiness and enjoyment. How many families, whose members have been dispersed and scattered far and wide, in the restless struggles of life, are then reunited, and meet once again in that happy state of companionship and mutual good-will, which is a source of such pure and unalloyed delight, and one so incompatible with the cares and sorrows of the world, that the religious belief of the most civilized nations, and the rude traditions of the roughest savages, alike number it among the first joys of a future condition of existence, provided for the blest and happy! How many old recollections, and how many dormant sympathies, does Christmas time awaken! The Ruin Mentality. Why are Western societies fascinated by ruins? Perhaps, Robert Harbison suggests, because it's a safe way to contemplate the harsh work of time. This is from "The Built, the Unbuilt and the Unbuildable: In Pursuit of Architectural Meaning" (MIT). Ruins are ideal: the perceiver's attitudes count so heavily that one is tempted to say ruins are a way of seeing. Of course they actually exist, but since the eighteenth century they are never just problems of maintenance. Rather, practically any human thing slipping into dereliction, the forecast of ruin, engages our feelings about where we see ourselves in history, early or late, and (in poignant cases) our feelings about how the world will end. The ruin mentality appears frivolous, fixated on surface not substance. It is in fact deeply pessimistic, counting more ancestors than descendants, sure without thinking that it inhabits a decadent phase. . . . Ruins are models or heralds of the disintegrating mind and collapsing principles of the age after the end of stable belief, the half-loved companions of post-religious man haunted by ghosts of faith. Thinking Like a Naturalist. Science shouldn't be seen as a system of belief, the naturalist Donald Culross Peattie argues; it is, rather, a way of asking questions of the universe. This is from "Flowering Earth" (Indiana University, paper). It is a trait of the human mind to search for conclusions, to sit in judgment, to try to make a system of ethics out of all that lies about us. We struggle to sum up our knowledge in what we like to call laws -- as though these had an inherent power of compulsion in them. But to think like a scientist, to speak like an honest man, is to be ready at all times to scrap the most cherished and appealing theories. . . . Of our windows on the universe, science is set with the clearest pane; it is not warped or waved to make the images appear to support any dogma; the glass is not rose-tinted, neither is it leaded with a picture that shuts out the sun and, coming between the light of day and you, enforces the credence of the past upon the young present. Don Quixote, Our Contemporary. The critic Leo Braudy reminds us that some books considered classics of children's literature were written to answer a persistent adult need: to make sense of hard, dangerous times. This is from "Native Informant: Essays on Film, Fiction, and Popular Culture" (Oxford University). In times of cultural crisis, the interpretation of culture frequently presents itself as a species of storytelling. A group of stories that appeared towards the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries so much summarized the essential story of how an individual tries to understand his own culture that they have remained with us in the form of children's tales. I'm thinking about John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress , Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe , and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels , as well as those stories designed for children but springing from the concerns of adults, like Charles Perrault's Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty . In part such works extend earlier efforts . . . to create a book that mediates in some way between the individual assembling it and the vast pile of cultural material on which he has been nurtured; or, as in the case of Don Quixote , they may seek to resurrect from the rust and ashes of the present the formerly glorious age of gold. PAPERBACKS: IN SHORT; NONFICTION. HEART'S DESIRE: The Best of Edward Hoagland. Essays From Twenty Years. (Summit Books, Paper, $12.95; Cloth, $24.95.) Unlike many writers on nature and the out-of-doors, Edward Hoagland is never guilty of concocted mysticism or self-serving, suspect rapture of the deep (or heights). His writing, whether its subject is woodland or the crowded waterways around Manhattan - both landscapes are included in this volume - is distinguished by his direct, intense observations and the associations to which they give rise. Mr. Hoagland is a delightful writer with an unendingly interesting mind. In ''Heart's Desire'' we have a sampling of the range of Mr. Hoagland's interests. Included is the celebrated essay ''The Courage of Turtles.'' For people like me, whose feeling, if any, about turtles and their unlikely anatomy is a mild embarrassment, somewhat like seeing an old uncle in his underdrawers, this justly famous essay will forever hold charm, character and interest. My other particular favorite in the collection, ''Mushpan Man,'' takes Johnny Appleseed (of all people!) out of the fourth grade reader to give us a true American eccentric, a hero, a flesh-and-blood man with a benevolent obsession. Mr. Hoagland can be equally vivid when the landscape he observes is his own heart or the hearts of others. ''The Lapping, Itchy Edge of Love'' is as good an account of the torments of fitting together the human jigsaw as we are likely to get. ''Heaven and Nature'' is a stunning reflection on the temptations of suicide for people to whom moving along on life's conveyor belt is no longer enough. The book also includes a delicious portrait of one Henri LaMothe, a 70-year-old man whose specialty, honed over a lifetime, is diving - or, more accurately, flopping - 40 feet into 12 inches of water. Mr. Hoagland also gives us the thrills and chills of the circus' big animal acts, with its snarling tigers, roaring lions, its truly brave and accomplished trainers. And here and there we have the pleasure of pausing before such phrases as one describing leopards that ''sometimes spring down, as heavy as a chunk of iron wrapped in a flag.''