Wild: An Elemental Journey

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Wild: An Elemental Journey is a 2006 book by the British writer Jay Griffiths.

Book[]

Publication history[]

Wild was published by Tarcher in the United States in 2006 and by Hamish Hamilton in the UK in 2007.[a] Penguin Books issued a paperback version in 2008.[1]

Synopsis[]

Wild describes a seven-year odyssey to wildernesses representing the five traditional elements of earth, ice, water, air and fire, the connection between human society and wild lands. Earth is the Amazon rainforest; ice is the Canadian Arctic; the Indonesian island of Bajo, near Sulawesi, is water; the Australian outback is fire; and West Papua's montane forests represent air.[2]

It is also an intellectual travel,[2] a journey into wild mind, as Griffiths explores the words and meanings which shape people's ideas and experience of wildness, the wildness of the human spirit.[3] The book includes the description of drinking ayahuasca with shamans in the Amazon, as a treatment for depression, and discusses shamanism, nomadism and freedom. Chapters describe journeys to the Arctic, to Australia and to the freedom fighters of West Papua.[4][5]

Reception[]

On publication in the UK, Wild was praised widely in major newspapers; it was described as "part travelogue, part call to arms and wholly original... A vital, unique and uncategorisable celebration of the spirit of life".[5] The Independent called it "remarkable" and "stupendous"[6] while Mark Cocker of The Guardian wrote: "Jay Griffiths is a five-star, card-carrying member of the hellfire club... a strange, utterly compelling book, Wild is easily the best, most rewarding travel book that I have read in the last decade."[2]

In The Sunday Times, Anthony Sattin wrote "There is no getting away from the book's brilliance"[7]

The Independent on Sunday described Wild "as a song of delight, and a cry of warning, poetic, erudite and insistent… a restless, unstintingly generous performance..."[8]

Richard Mabey in The Times wrote of its "kaleidoscopic narrative" and "exhilarating prose".[9]

Wild was successful in Australia where it received positive reviews in the Sydney Morning Herald, described by Bruce Elder as "The best book I read all year".[10]

During an interview about the experiences she described in Wild, Griffiths said, "To my mind, at worst, the West operates a kind of 'intellectual apartheid' – the idea that our way of thinking is the only one. Really, there are more ways of living and thinking than we could ever imagine."[11]

Wild is quoted on KT Tunstall's album Tiger Suit; she called it her favourite book.[12] The Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture reads from Wild during their documentary for their album Angles, and comments: "Jay Griffiths's works are original, inspiring and dare you to search beyond the accepted norm."[13]

The Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien posted a recommendation of Wild on the band's blog, stating that it was "an astonishing piece of writing " and that "it was exactly what I needed to read".[14]

Notes[]

  1. ^ In 2012 Cheryl Strayed published a book titled Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found in the United States, where the book has been retitled Savage Grace.

References[]

  1. ^ "Wild". WorldCat. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Cocker, Mark (9 June 2007). "Where the wild things are". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  3. ^ "Wild by Jay Griffiths". Hamish Hamilton. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
  4. ^ Moss, Stephen (6 June 2007). "Call of the wild". The Guardian.
  5. ^ a b Beetlestone, Ian (20 May 2007). "The final frontierswoman".
  6. ^ Green, Toby (25 May 2007). "Wild, by Jay Griffiths". The Independent. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  7. ^ Sattin, Anthony (9 December 2007). "The best travel books of 2007". The Sunday Times.
  8. ^ Gibbs, Jonathan (3 June 2007). "Wild by Jay Griffiths". The Independent on Sunday.
  9. ^ Mabey, Richard (26 May 2007). "Wild". The Times.
  10. ^ Turnbull, Sue (15 December 2007). "The pick of the literary crop". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  11. ^ Green, Graeme (16 July 2007). "60 SECONDS: Jay Griffiths". Metro.co.uk.
  12. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 October 2010. Retrieved 7 October 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^ The Strokes (12 February 2010). The Strokes 2010 Recording for next album PART 1. Manhattan's Avatar Studios: YouTube.com. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  14. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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