Barry Lopez

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy datesTemplate:Use American English Template:Infobox writer Barry Holstun Lopez (January 6, 1945 – December 25, 2020) was an American author, essayist, nature writer, and fiction writer whose work is known for its humanitarian and environmental concerns. In a career spanning over 50 years, he visited more than 80 countries, and wrote extensively about a variety of landscapes including the Arctic wilderness, exploring the relationship between human cultures and nature. He won the National Book Award for Nonfiction for Arctic Dreams (1986) and his Of Wolves and Men (1978) was a National Book Award finalist.<ref name="natbook"/> He was a contributor to magazines including Harper's Magazine, National Geographic, and The Paris Review.

Early life

Lopez was born Barry Holstun Brennan on January 6, 1945, in Port Chester, New York,<ref name="Evans, Alice pp 62-79">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":0" /> to Mary Frances (née Holstun) and John Brennan. His family moved to Reseda, California after the birth of his brother, Dennis, in 1948. He attended grade school at Our Lady of Grace during this time.<ref name="TydemanLopez">Template:Cite book</ref> His parents divorced in 1950, after which his mother married Adrian Bernard Lopez, a businessman, in 1955. Adrian Lopez adopted Barry and his brother, and they both took his surname.<ref name=":0" /> Barry Lopez experienced years of sexual abuse as the victim of a serial child molester posing as a doctor who went by the name Harry Shier.<ref name="NYT 2022-05-31">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

When Lopez was 11, his family relocated to Manhattan, where he attended the Loyola School, graduating in 1962.<ref name=":0" /> As a young man, Lopez considered becoming a Catholic priest or a Trappist monk<ref name=":0" /> before attending the University of Notre Dame, earning undergraduate and graduate degrees there in 1966 and 1968.<ref name=":0" /> He also attended New York University and the University of Oregon.<ref name="Evans, Alice pp 62-79" /> Although he drifted away from Catholicism, daily prayer remained important to him as a continuous, respectful attendance to the presence of the Divine.Template:R

Career and works

Lopez's essays, short stories, reviews and opinion pieces began to appear in 1966.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In his career of over 50 years, he traveled to over 80 countries, writing extensively about distant and exotic landscapes including the Arctic wilderness, exploring the relationships between human cultures and wild nature.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Through his works, he also highlighted the harm caused by human actions on nature.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was a contributing editor of Harper's Magazine and a contributor to many magazines including National Geographic, The Paris Review, and Outside.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Until 1981, he was also a landscape photographer.<ref name="Newell, Mike 2008">Template:Cite book</ref> In 2002, he was elected a fellow of The Explorers Club.<ref name="Marquis. 2008">Template:Cite book</ref>

Arctic Dreams (1986) describes five years in the Canadian Arctic, where Lopez worked as a biologist.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="macfarlane2005">Template:Cite news</ref> Robert Macfarlane, reviewing the book in The Guardian, describes him as "the most important living writer about wilderness".<ref name="macfarlane2005"/> In The New York Times, Michiko Kakutani argued that Arctic Dreams "is a book about the Arctic North in the way that Moby-Dick is a novel about whales".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

A number of Lopez's works, including Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping with His Daughter (1978), make use of Native American legends, including characters such as Coyote.<ref name="authorsandartists">Template:Cite web</ref> Crow and Weasel (1990) thematizes the importance of metaphor, which Lopez described in an interview as one of the definitive "passion[s]" of humanity.Template:Sfn

James I. McClintock describes Lopez as an admirer of Wendell Berry.Template:Sfn McClintock further observes, referring to Arctic Dreams, that Lopez "conjoin[s] ecological science and romantic insight".Template:Sfn Slovic identifies "careful structure, euphony, and an abundance of particular details" as central characteristics of Lopez's work.Template:Sfn

His final work published during his lifetime was Horizon (2019), an autobiographical telling of his travels over his lifetime.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Guardian describes the book as "a contemporary epic, at once pained and urgent, personal and oracular".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A collection of essays, some of which had previously been published and others of which were new to the public, was published posthumously by Penguin Random House under the title Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World (2022), with an introduction by Rebecca Solnit.<ref>https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/672448/embrace-fearlessly-the-burning-world-by-barry-lopez/ </ref>

An archive of Lopez's manuscripts and other work has been established at Texas Tech University,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> where he was the university's Visiting Distinguished Scholar.<ref name="Marquis. 2008" /><ref name="Lopez">Template:Cite web</ref> He also taught at universities including Columbia University, Eastern Washington University, University of Iowa, and Carleton College, Minnesota.<ref name=":0" />

Bibliography

Fiction

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• Template:Cite book<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Distinguished Recognition Award, Friends of American Writers<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Cite book<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Parents' Choice Award<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Cite book Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Critics' Choice Award<ref name="Newell, Mike 2008"/>
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Nonfiction

• Template:Cite book<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> National Book Award finalist, John Burroughs Medal,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Christopher Medal,<ref name="authorsandartists" /> Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award<ref name="authorsandartists" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Cite book<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> National Book Award,<ref name="natbook"/> National Book Critics Circle Award finalist<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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• Template:Cite book Introduction by Rebecca Solnit.<ref>Template:Cite news </ref>

Anthology

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Edited volumes

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Awards and honors

• National Book Award<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="natbook">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Award in Literature, American Academy of Arts and Letters<ref name="gugg" />
• Lannan Literary Award<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Guggenheim Fellowship<ref name="gugg">Template:Cite web</ref>
• John Burroughs Medal<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Two Pushcart Prizes<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• National Science Foundation Fellowship<ref name="utaustin">Template:Cite web</ref>
• MacDowell Colony Residency Fellowship<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Award<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Elected Fellow of the Explorers Club<ref name="utaustin" />
• Doctor of Humane Letters from Whittier College<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

Lopez's first marriage to Sandra Landers in 1967 ended in a divorce in 1998. He married Debra Gwartney in 2007.<ref name=":0" /> After the property surrounding their long-term home near Finn Rock on the McKenzie River in western Oregon was burned in the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire, the couple moved temporarily to Eugene, Oregon.<ref name="EW">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":0" />

Lopez died on December 25, 2020, from complications of prostate cancer, in Eugene, Oregon.<ref name="lopez obit npr">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0" />

Sources

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Further reading

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External links

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• Interview with Bill Moyers
• Interview with Terry Gross
• Interview with Barry Lopez about the adaptation of Crow and Weasel for the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis, ALL ABOUT KIDS! TV Series #157 (1994)
• Interview with Barry Lopez, A DISCUSSION WITH National Authors on Tour TV Series, Episode #34 (1993)
• Interview with Barry Lopez, A DISCUSSION WITH National Authors on Tour TV Series, Episode #108 (1994)