When the Wild Comes Leaping Up: Personal Encounters with Nature

W.J. Keith is a retired professor of English at the University of Toronto and author A Sense of Style: Studies in the Art of Fiction in English-Speaking Canada.

David Suzuki, the renowned Japanese-Canadian conservationist, initiated
this book because he believes, in the words of his introduction, that
“preservation of the wild is ... about our need for the spirit, a
sense of belonging to and being embedded in something bigger than
ourselves or our creations.” To further this belief, he invited 14
writers, in addition to himself, to offer essays which “shared an
experience that moved them or changed them in some way and that occurred
in the natural world.” Six are from Canada, five from the United
States, and two each from Britain and Australia. Five of the
contributors chose to excerpt or modify passages from other books or
essays; however, it is not coincidental, I think, that the most
satisfying items were written specially for this collection.

In my view, the best of these essays is Sharon Butala’s beautifully
written and deeply moving account of quasi-mystical experiences that
occurred on the Saskatchewan prairie. It is told with a directness and
sincerity that carry complete conviction. Another notably original and
thought-provoking piece by the British writer and
landscape-conservationist Jennifer Potter focuses on a curious
experience in the Krцller-Mьller sculpture park in the Netherlands
that allows her to explore the mutual relation between art objects and
the natural world.

Many of the other essays are extremely worthwhile, including Timothy
Findley’s “Space and Time Enough” (his last piece of writing) and
Suzuki’s own “Catching an Epiphany,” both of which chronicle
wilderness memories that lead to urgent and eloquent pleas for the
preservation of the wild nature that still remains.

By and large, this is a timely, important book that deserves to be read
and pondered. I am sorry to have to report, however, that by far the
worst contribution is Margaret Atwood’s—a brief, perfunctory,
flippant, and totally irrelevant piece that gives the impression of
being tossed off without any respect for the seriousness of the subject.
Embarrassing.