Wild Culture: Ecology and Imagination

Alice Kidd is an editor with The New Catalyst editorial collective in
Lillooet, B.C.

Wild Culture is a collection of essays, poetry, fiction, photographs,
and illustrations that explore the human connections between the wild
and the cultural. Wild here does not mean wilderness or chaos; humans
are part of nature, even in our most urban spaces. We continue to live
in a society that wants to set nature apart from humans. This book
explores a different perspective—the union of ecology and imagination.

The offerings range from essays on popular culture (advertising,
fashion, etc.) to field guides for wild food or imaginary civilized
vermin. Some of the articles take the form of interviews with such
disparate individuals as Paul Shepard, Michael Linton, and William Irwin
Thompson. There is a delightful excerpt from Merlin Stone’s video
“Return of the Goddess,” and an interview with Robert Bly and James
Hillman. The articles are illustrated throughout with graphics,
cartoons, and photographs.

The book is a curious mixture of straightforward articles and wild
flights of fancy. It gives me hope that there is some wild left in the
city. Co-editor Whitney Smith suggests that “Wild Culture can . . . be
seen as a kind of manual for the reinvention of the world.” At the
very least, it is a good beginning.