Coyote at Large: Humor in American Nature Writing

250 Pages·2000·6.378 MB·English

by  Katrina Schimmoeller Peiffer

C O Y O T E AT L A R G E

C O Y O T E AT L A R G E
(cid:1) (cid:1) (cid:1) (cid:1) (cid:1)
Humor in American Nature Writing
Katrina Schimmoeller Peiffer
THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH PRESS
SALT LAKE CITY
© 2000by Katrina Schimmoeller Peiffer
All rights reserved
Printed on acid-free paper
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Peiffer, Katrina Schimmoeller, 1969–
Coyote at large : humor in American nature writing / Katrina Schimmoeller
Peiffer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87480-664-X
1. American literature—History and criticism. 2. Nature in literature. 3. Natural
history—United States—Historiography. 4. American wit and humor—History and
criticism. 5.Comic, The, in literature. 6.Tricksters in literature. I.Title.
PS163 .P45 2000
810.9'36—dc21
00-009482
06 05 04 03 02 01 00
5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
Prologue ix
ONE
Laying the Foundation for Humor in Nature Writing 1
AWild Pair: Coyote and Humor
Two Stories of American Humor
Healthy Limits in the Ecological Household
SHORT CUT
Coyote Storyteller, Simon Ortiz 30
TWO
Edward Abbey: Laughing Out of Place 37
SHORT CUT
Coyote Magician, Ursula Le Guin 74
THREE
Louise Erdrich: Seeking the Best Medicine 80
SHORT CUT
Coyote Newcomer, Sally Carrighar 115
FOUR
Wendell Berry: Maintaining Household Jokes 122
SHORT CUT
Coyote Seer, Gary Snyder 150
FIVE
Rachel Carson: Upholding the Comedy of Survival159
CONCLUSION
Making Sense of Humor in North America 194
Bibliography 211
Index 221

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
this book has traveled a great deal on its way to publication.
I am grateful to all of the people who made the trip possible: Stephanie
Sarver, for suggesting Louise Erdrich; Linda Morris, for her close reading
and great editing; Gary Snyder, for proposing that I look to Coyote; and es-
pecially David Robertson, whose careful reading, fine judgment, and con-
tinued support truly carried the book along.
I am deeply grateful to Louise Chawla, whose friendship, hospitality,
and cat gave me a nurturing place to type the manuscript. The interlibrary
loan staff at the Paul Sawyier Public Library in Frankfort, Kentucky, and
the Crawford County Public Library in English, Indiana, kindly filled all of
my requests.
Dawn Marano and the other staff at the University of Utah Press have
been enthusiastic and perceptive in their handling of the book. Dawn
Woodring did an excellent job copy-editing.
The book also owes itself to my family’s laughter, which I have been
steeped in since the beginning, and my husband’s talent for surprising me.
Tim Peiffer, Charles and Laurie Schimmoeller, Chris Schimmoeller and Joel
Dufour, and Mark Schimmoeller and Jennifer Lindberg are all readers,
writers, artists, jokesters, and hard workers—I want to thank them for their
endless love and inspiration.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to
reprint:
Excerpts from Beyond the Wallby Edward Abbey, copyright 1984. Used by
permission of Don Congden Associates, Inc.
Excerpts from “From a Few Words in Favor of Edward Abbey,” “Why I’m
Not Going to Buy a Computer,” “Feminism, the Body and Machine,”
“Word and Flesh,” “Waste,” “The Pleasures of Eating,” from What Are
People For? by Wendell Berry. Copyright 1990 by Wendell Berry. Used by
permission of North Point Press, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
LLC.
Excerpts from One Day On Beetle Rock by Sally Carrighar, copyright 1944
and renewed 1972 by Sally Carrighar; copyright 1943, 1944 by the Curtis
(cid:1) vii
viii (cid:1) acknowledgments
Publishing Company. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of
Random House, Inc.
Excerpts from The Sea Around Usby Rachel Carson, copyright 1950, 1951,
1961by Rachel Carson. Renewed 1979by Roger Christie. Used by permis-
sion of Oxford University Press, Inc.
Excerpts from Under the Sea Wind by Rachel Carson, illustrated by Bob
Hines, copyright 1941 by Rachel L. Carson. Copyright renewed 1969 by
Roger Christie. Illustrations copyright 1991by Rob Hines. ATruman Talley
Book. Used by permission of Dutton, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.
Excerpts from The Bingo Palaceby Louise Erdrich, copyright 1994by Louise
Erdrich; and The Blue Jay’s Dance by Louise Erdrich, copyright 1995 by
Louise Erdrich. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
Excerpts from “Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight,” copyright 1987
by Ursula K. Le Guin; first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science
Fiction; from Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences; reprinted by permis-
sion of the author and the author’s agents, the Virginia Kidd Agency, Inc.
Excerpts from “Telling About Coyote,” “Two Coyote Ones,” and “How to
Make a Good Chili Stew,” from AGood Journeyby Simon Ortiz, copyright
1984. Used by permission of Simon Ortiz.
Excerpts from “Through the Smoke Hole,” “ABerry Feast,” from The Back
Country by Gary Snyder, copyright 1968 by Gary Snyder; excerpts from
“The Call of the Wild” from Turtle Islandby Gary Snyder, copyright 1974 by
Gary Snyder. Used by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
Excerpts from “Coyote Man, Mr. President and the Gunfighters,” from Left
Out In the Rain: New Poems 1947-1985 by Gary Synder, copyright 1986 by
Gary Snyder. Used by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.