If Wendell Berry is, for contemporary readers, something of a prophet representing the philosophies of compassion, defense of native land, and advocacy for simplicity, then Scott Russell Sanders is his most important and capable disciple. Indeed, the only pre-release praise provided by the publisher for Sanders’ book A Personal History of Awe comes from Berry.
Like Berry, Sanders’ life and writing has been devoted to just treatment of others and otherness, harmony with the earth, acceptance of difference, and rooted investment in family, friends, and neighbors. This memoir demonstrates his long held beliefs are not merely philosophical.
Reclaiming "Awe"
The book promises to offer a “history of openings” (4), moments of insight that have shaped the his views and beliefs, moments of wakefulness reminiscent of Thoreau that Sanders’ believes are available to all. “The enlightenment I wish to describe is ordinary, earthy, within reach of anyone who pays attention” (4). He provides a thoroughly honest rendering of his experiences and offers a pluralistic vision drawing on multiple spiritual systems earned by the poetry of daily living.
The book remains consistently sincere. It chronicles important moments of recognizing awe from his Tennessee childhood, through his young adulthood at Brown and Cambridge and including his inner-turmoil during the Vietnam War, right through to his present life as committed husband, son, father, and grandfather.
Indeed the most touching refrain in the book comes whenever Sanders offers comparisons of his regular care for his infant granddaughter to that for his elderly mother, stricken with Alzheimer’s. What he shows us is the inevitable truth of the life cycle and the human need to share, care, and grow. As he says in the prologue, he wishes to portray wonder and fear present in life by finding the word that best embodies both: “The word that comes closest to embracing the dread as well as the reverence, the shadow side as well as the light, is awe” (8).
Moment of Awakening
Sanders’ life has clearly been one well led, one based on principle. This book that chronicles the important “awed” awakenings in that life never preaches, yet its importance may well reside in the lessons the reader takes away.
Those familiar with Sanders won’t be surprised, for all of his nonfiction has been a gentle probing of ethics mixed with a genuine wonder for the earth and its complex systems and creatures. Here is a man fully cognizant of himself, his fragilities and his cemented beliefs. His is, as he would tell you, a rather ordinary life, a private life, and it is precisely in his approachability, his proximity to us, that the book offers its greatest value.
Elegant Prose
Those already familiar with his work likely know him best for his essays, notable always for their honesty, playful metaphors, and elegance. This book cannot quite sustain the dense beauty of his essays, as it is a sustained narrative covering five decades, yet it is marked everywhere by his precision of image and word.
Devoted readers of Sanders have a sense of a relationship that is familiar and familial, the shared sense of common experience. This book seems a logical next step in the inventory of his ideas. For new readers of Sanders, a memoir serves an excellent place for beginning, offering entrance to the man and his vision. Accompanying Sanders on his tour of personal history prompts contemplation of what in our lives and in the collective human condition produces awe, a wonder that crosses religions, places, cultures, and even passes beyond private experiences.
For more information on Scott Russell Sanders.
To read an interview with Scott Russell Sanders
