Stepping out of sequence here to include this:
How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book!
Thoreau
My original purpose in undertaking this project was simply to transfer the journal entries written during my back-to-nature experiment begun in August of 2002 and ending in December of 2003 for the purpose of having a legible and permanent record of this special time in my life to present to my two adult children. As I began the process, it soon became apparent that my journal entries, with a few exceptions) weren’t going to cut it. They were lacking in detail and insight, observations on weather and daily activities with very little attention to my inner thoughts or how I generally felt about the experience.
A couple of years ago a friend of a friend, on being told of my adventure suggested that I might enjoy reading Robert Kull’s book, Solitude: Seeking Wisdom in Extremes: A year Alone in the Patagonia Wilderness (2009). And they were right, I did thoroughly enjoy reading Kull’s account of his own experiment. Certainly it was a much more ambitious undertaking than my own but I did feel a certain kinship with him as I read of his exploits.
It wasn’t until much later however, after I had begun this project in fact, that it occurred to me that the format he had used was perfect for my own situation. Kull explains the process as follows:
In places, I’ve set reflective “Interludes” between journal entries to add perspective. These were written afterward, and they step back from the immediate intensity of my experience in solitude to reflect on important ideas or aspects of the year. But the heart of the story beats within the hours, days and months of the journal.
Kull (Pp ix,x)
It was a minor revelation when I rediscovered Kull’s book because I new that I’d solved a major problem about how to present my story. I don’t know what the rules are about plagiarizing a book’s format but I hope to avoid any potential problems by herein acknowledging my act of piracy and emphatically thanking Mr. Kull for the insight.
So as not to be accused of being entirely lacking in originality, I have chosen to replace Kull’s “Interludes” with “Reflections” but despite the name change, my own ramblings will serve much the same purpose as did his.
It’s unfortunate that I didn’t pay more attention to my journalling during those seventeen months but, in retrospect, they do contain some insight into my time there and in other instances serve to jog my memory so that those experiences not recorded can be recalled with some semblance of accuracy such that they don’t fail entirely as interesting reading on their own although it will be left to future readers to determine if I’m correct on this matter. I am simply too close to them to judge whether they make good reading or not.
And further to the topic of my skimpy journal entries Robert Kull's insight offers a suggestion as to why I too may have been less than enthusiastic about my own writing. "Thus the writing tended to pull me out of the present moment and mute the intensity of the experience ...Remaining silent was often preferable." Or maybe it's just a convenient excuse but looking back, I believe there may be some semblance of truth to the matter.
The quotes at the beginning of each or the Reflections chapters also betray my debt of gratitude to Henry David Thoreau whose seminal work Walden (1854) had a significant impact on my life both when I originally read it and on later readings, at least one of which was during the time portrayed in this work. I would even go so far as to say that it was the reading of Walden which planted the seed which resulted in my adventure and ultimately, this memoir.
