David Gessner
Encyclopedia
David Gessner is an American
essay
ist, memoir
ist, nature
writer, editor
, and cartoon
ist.
Gessner was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts
. He attended Harvard College
where he worked at the Harvard Crimson
drawing political cartoons, most notably a drawing of Ronald Reagan
urinating on an unemployed man in the gutter called "The Trickle Down Theory." He graduated in 1983.
He returned to Harvard as a Briggs-Copeland Lecturer in Environmental Writing in Fall 2003. In 2004 he began teaching at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where he is an associate professor. He is the Editor in Chief of [Ecotone] the environmental journal he founded in 2004, which has published the work of writers as diverse as Wendell Berry
, Denis Johnson
, Gerald Stern
, Sherman Alexie
, and Marvin Bell
. Recent work from the journal has been chosen for many anthologies, including the Pushcart Prize
and Best American Short Stories
edited by Salman Rushdie, as well as Best American Poetry and Best American Essays.
Gessner is the author of six books of nonfiction. His essays have appeared in many magazines and journals including The New York Times Magazine
, The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008
, Onearth, The Georgia Review
, The American Scholar
, Orion
, The Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, The Harvard Review, and the 2006 Pushcart Prize
Anthology, for which the essay "Benediction" was selected. In April 2007, Gessner won the John Burroughs
award for Best Natural History Essay of the year. In 2008, his essay, "The Dreamer Did Not Exist," appeared in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008
, edited by Dave Eggers
, and in September of that year his essay on teaching and writing, "Those Who Write, Teach," appeared in the Sunday New York Times Magazine. His video, "Skiing the Beach," has now been watched by almost 12,000 YouTube
viewers.
and tending to his father while he died of cancer. The book subverted the typical Thoreauvian year-in-the-woods theme with its dark themes and blunt language. This was followed by Under the Devil’s Thumb, a collection of essays about an Easterner’s years spent in the West, years made more vital and radiant by the author’s own recovery from testicular cancer.
Since 2001, Gessner has published four more books that combine memoir with humor and observations of the natural world, beginning with Return of the Osprey, in 2001. The Boston Globe
and Book of the Month Club
both chose Osprey as one of the top ten nonfiction books of 2001, the Globe calling it a "classic of American Nature Writing." In 2003, Gessner published Sick of Nature. Sick of Nature has been much-anthologized and taught at MIT and Harvard University
and many other colleges. Of Sick of Nature, renowned eco-critic Michael Branch wrote, "Gessner has positioned himself as a sort of Woody Allen
of environmental writers" and "like Emerson, who observed that the dead forms of institutional practice must be revivified through radical acts of intellectual, aesthetic and moral imagination, Gessner rails against the narrowness of environmental literature to open the field to new (if less earnest) approaches."
This was followed by The Prophet of Dry Hill, which described a series of encounters with the great nature writer John Hay
. In Soaring with Fidel, released in April 2007, Gessner continued to push the nature genre, following the entire 7,000 mile migration of ospreys from New England
to Cuba
and Venezuela
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
ist, memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
ist, nature
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
writer, editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
, and cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
ist.
Gessner was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
. He attended Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
where he worked at the Harvard Crimson
Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson are the athletic teams of Harvard University. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2006, there were 41 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at any other NCAA Division I college in the country...
drawing political cartoons, most notably a drawing of Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
urinating on an unemployed man in the gutter called "The Trickle Down Theory." He graduated in 1983.
He returned to Harvard as a Briggs-Copeland Lecturer in Environmental Writing in Fall 2003. In 2004 he began teaching at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where he is an associate professor. He is the Editor in Chief of [Ecotone] the environmental journal he founded in 2004, which has published the work of writers as diverse as Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry is an American man of letters, academic, cultural and economic critic, and farmer. He is a prolific author of novels, short stories, poems, and essays...
, Denis Johnson
Denis Johnson
Denis Hale Johnson is an American author who is known for his short-story collection Jesus' Son and his novel Tree of Smoke , which won the National Book Award. He also writes plays, poetry and non-fiction.- Biography :...
, Gerald Stern
Gerald Stern
Gerald Stern is an American poet. His work became widely recognized after the 1977 publication of Lucky Life, which was that year's Lamont Poetry Selection, and of a series of essays on writing poetry in American Poetry Review. He has subsequently been given many prestigious awards for his...
, Sherman Alexie
Sherman Alexie
Sherman Joseph Alexie, Jr. is a writer, poet, filmmaker, and occasional comedian. Much of his writing draws on his experiences as a Native American. Two of Alexie's best known works are The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven , a book of short stories and Smoke Signals, a film...
, and Marvin Bell
Marvin Bell
Marvin Bell is an American poet and teacher who was the first Poet Laureate of the State of Iowa.Bell was born in New York City and raised in Center Moriches, Long Island...
. Recent work from the journal has been chosen for many anthologies, including the Pushcart Prize
Pushcart Prize
The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are invited to nominate up to 6 works they have featured....
and Best American Short Stories
Best American Short Stories
The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of The Best American Series published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has striven to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in contemporary American literature.-Edward O'Brien:The...
edited by Salman Rushdie, as well as Best American Poetry and Best American Essays.
Gessner is the author of six books of nonfiction. His essays have appeared in many magazines and journals including The New York Times Magazine
The New York Times Magazine
The New York Times Magazine is a Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of The New York Times. It is host to feature articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors...
, The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008, a volume in The Best American Nonrequired Reading series, was edited by Dave Eggers and introduced by Judy Blume. The works anthologized are selected by high school students in California and Michigan through 826 Valencia and 826michigan.- Works included...
, Onearth, The Georgia Review
The Georgia Review
The Georgia Review is an award-winning, nationally respected literary journal founded in 1947 that includes poetry, art, fiction, essays and reviews. It won the National Magazine Award for Fiction in 1986 and the National Magazine Award for Essay in 2007...
, The American Scholar
The American Scholar
The American Scholar was a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson on August 31, 1837, to the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge. He was invited to speak in recognition of his groundbreaking work Nature, published a year earlier, in which he established a new way for America's fledgling society to...
, Orion
Orion (magazine)
Orion is a bimonthly, advertisement-free, magazine focused on nature, the environment, and culture, addressing environmental and societal issues....
, The Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, The Harvard Review, and the 2006 Pushcart Prize
Pushcart Prize
The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are invited to nominate up to 6 works they have featured....
Anthology, for which the essay "Benediction" was selected. In April 2007, Gessner won the John Burroughs
John Burroughs
John Burroughs was an American naturalist and essayist important in the evolution of the U.S. conservation movement. According to biographers at the American Memory project at the Library of Congress,...
award for Best Natural History Essay of the year. In 2008, his essay, "The Dreamer Did Not Exist," appeared in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008, a volume in The Best American Nonrequired Reading series, was edited by Dave Eggers and introduced by Judy Blume. The works anthologized are selected by high school students in California and Michigan through 826 Valencia and 826michigan.- Works included...
, edited by Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is known for the best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and for his more recent work as a screenwriter. He is also the co-founder of the literacy project 826 Valencia.-Life:Eggers was born in Boston, Massachusetts,...
, and in September of that year his essay on teaching and writing, "Those Who Write, Teach," appeared in the Sunday New York Times Magazine. His video, "Skiing the Beach," has now been watched by almost 12,000 YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
viewers.
Literary works
In 1997, Gessner published A Wild, Rank Place, a short memoir about spending a year on Cape CodCape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
and tending to his father while he died of cancer. The book subverted the typical Thoreauvian year-in-the-woods theme with its dark themes and blunt language. This was followed by Under the Devil’s Thumb, a collection of essays about an Easterner’s years spent in the West, years made more vital and radiant by the author’s own recovery from testicular cancer.
Since 2001, Gessner has published four more books that combine memoir with humor and observations of the natural world, beginning with Return of the Osprey, in 2001. The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
and Book of the Month Club
Book of the Month Club
The Book of the Month Club is a United States mail-order book sales club that offers a new book each month to customers.The Book of the Month Club is part of a larger company that runs many book clubs in the United States and Canada. It was formerly the flagship club of Book-of-the-Month Club, Inc...
both chose Osprey as one of the top ten nonfiction books of 2001, the Globe calling it a "classic of American Nature Writing." In 2003, Gessner published Sick of Nature. Sick of Nature has been much-anthologized and taught at MIT and Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and many other colleges. Of Sick of Nature, renowned eco-critic Michael Branch wrote, "Gessner has positioned himself as a sort of Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
of environmental writers" and "like Emerson, who observed that the dead forms of institutional practice must be revivified through radical acts of intellectual, aesthetic and moral imagination, Gessner rails against the narrowness of environmental literature to open the field to new (if less earnest) approaches."
This was followed by The Prophet of Dry Hill, which described a series of encounters with the great nature writer John Hay
John Hay
John Milton Hay was an American statesman, diplomat, author, journalist, and private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln.-Early life:...
. In Soaring with Fidel, released in April 2007, Gessner continued to push the nature genre, following the entire 7,000 mile migration of ospreys from New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
to Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
.
External links
- David Gessner's Web site
- NPR "This I Believe" Segment
- UPNE page for "A Wild, Rank Place
- Random House
- Bookslut Interview
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuNjEs8mdrA/YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
Transformation video] - Orion Magazine "Learning to Surf"
- David Gessner GoodReads page
- Terrain.org environmental essay lecture
- Beacon Press Soaring With Fidel page
- UNC Wilmington Faculty page
- Homer News Kachemak Bay Writers' Conference
- Soaring With Fidel Amazon page
- Return of the Osprey Amazon page
- The Prophet of Dry Hill Amazon page
- A Wild, Rank Place Amazon page
- Under the Devil's Thumb Amazon page
- OnEarth Magazine "Riding the Wild Charles" essay
- OnEarth Magazine "Flying the High-Tech Skies" essay
- OnEarth Magazine review of Soaring with Fidel