New Releases by Robert MacFarlane

«Un''ode appassionata a luoghi veri che sembrano impossibili, in una prosa che ci restituisce, quasi intatto, il vivido incanto della loro essenza piú intima». Rebecca Solnit

Benedenwereld is een epische verkenning van onderaardse ruimten in de mythologie, de literatuur, het geheugen en het fysieke landschap. In zijn langverwachte nieuwe boek duikt Robert Macfarlane diep onder het aardoppervlak en onderzoekt hij de verstandhouding van de mens tot het donker, leven en dood onder de grond, en alles wat zich daar nog meer afspeelt. Aanvankelijk blijft hij dicht bij huis. Macfarlane neemt de lezer mee van begraafplaatsen uit de bronstijd en ondergrondse schimmelnetwerken waarlangs bomen onderling communiceren naar het catacombenlabyrint onder Parijs. Maar dan voert zijn reis in de ‘diepe tijd’ – de duizelingwekkend uitgestrekte geologische tijd – hem van prehistorische Noorse zeegrotten naar een ondergrondse ‘verstopplaats’ waar de komende honderdduizend jaar kernafval opgeslagen zal liggen, en van het ontstaan van het heelal naar de toekomst van het antropoceen, het huidige tijdperk waarin de mens domineert. Met veel aandacht voor actuele, wereldomspannende problemen en in zijn beeldende, lyrische stijl schetst Robert Macfarlane in Benedenwereld de ingewikkelde relatie van de mens tot de wereld onder zijn voeten. Daarmee voegt hij een belangrijk hoofdstuk toe aan het onderzoek dat hij vanaf zijn debuut heeft gedaan naar de interactie tussen ‘het landschap en de menselijke emotie’.

From bestselling Landmarks author Robert Macfarlane and acclaimed artist and author Jackie Morris, a beautiful collection of poems and illustrations to help readers rediscover the magic of the natural world.

Kdysi dávno si lidé mysleli, že v horách žijí nestvůry. V době osvícenství mnozí cestovatelé stoupali na hřebeny, aby zakusili vznešeno. Nedlouho poté alpinisté horečně dobývali vrcholy a štíty ve jménu vlasti. Odkdy dokážou hory tolik fascinovat lidskou mysl a co nutí nesčetné dobrodruhy, aby v horských výšinách znovu a znovu riskovali zdraví i život?Ve své literární prvotině, která se vzápětí stala klasikou, nás Robert Macfarlane provádí místy koncentrovaného času a zničující krásy, kde lze zažít ryzí strach i opojnou závrať z vlastní bezvýznamnosti. Za Hory v hlavě obdržel Macfarlane řadu ocenění, mimo jiné Somerset Maugham Award nebo Guardian First Book Award, a na motivy knihy vznikl také pořad vysílaný televizní stanicí BBC.

From the bestselling author of UNDERLAND, THE OLD WAYS and THE LOST WORDS - an essay on the joy of reading, for anyone who has ever loved a book Every book is a kind of gift to its reader, and the act of giving books is charged with a special emotional resonance. It is a meeting of three minds (the giver, the author, the recipient), an exchange of intellectual and psychological currency, that leaves each participant enriched. Here Robert Macfarlane recounts the story of a book he was given as a young man, and how he managed eventually to return the favour, though never repay the debt. From one of the most lyrical writers of our time comes a perfectly formed gem, a lyrical celebration of the transcendent power and humanity of the given book.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE From the bestselling author of UNDERLAND, THE OLD WAYS and THE LOST WORDS ''Few books give such a sense of enchantment; it is a book to give to many, and to return to repeatedly'' Independent ''Enormously pleasurable, deeply moving. A bid to save our rich hoard of landscape language, and a blow struck for the power of a deep creative relationship to place'' Financial Times ''A book that ought to be read by policymakers, educators, armchair environmentalists and active conservationists the world over'' Guardian ''Gorgeous, thoughtful and lyrical'' Independent on Sunday ''Feels as if [it] somehow grew out of the land itself. A delight'' Sunday Times Discover Robert Macfarlane''s joyous meditation on words, landscape and the relationship between the two. Words are grained into our landscapes, and landscapes are grained into our words. Landmarks is about the power of language to shape our sense of place. It is a field guide to the literature of nature, and a glossary containing thousands of remarkable words used in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales to describe land, nature and weather. Travelling from Cumbria to the Cairngorms, and exploring the landscapes of Roger Deakin, J. A. Baker, Nan Shepherd and others, Robert Macfarlane shows that language, well used, is a keen way of knowing landscape, and a vital means of coming to love it.

Följ med till den andra sidan. Det spökar på sidorna i Granta #4. Från krigets Irak, som hemsöker marinsoldaten i Phil Klays novell, till Sara Stridsbergs krisdrabbade amerikanska spökstad, Ulrika Kärnborgs kollapsade paraguayanska utopi och Johanne Lykke Holms kusliga seans i centrala Köpenhamn. Aase Berg och Fredrik Sjöberg gör upp med tro och vidskeplighet, Karin Tidbeck tar strid för hårt drivna spökskrivare och Janine di Giovanni möts av de döda när hon återvänder till Sarajevo nästan tjugo år efter belägringen. Svenska Granta är del av ett internationellt nätverk med engelskspråkiga Granta som nav. Tidskriften grundades av studenter i Cambridge i slutet av 1800-talet. År 1979 fick den sin nuvarande form som en arena för nyskriven skönlitteratur och litterära reportage. I dag finns Grantaredaktioner i ett tiotal länder världen över, från Kina till Brasilien.

Percorrendo a piedi sentieri noti e piste meno battute di Inghilterra, Scozia, Palestina, Spagna, Tibet, Robert Macfarlane scrive un «elogio del camminare» che riaccende di vita l''antico legame tra la strada e il racconto, tra il camminare e il pensare. Macfarlane ha la capacità unica di prendere il lettore per mano come un compagno di strada e ridare un senso allo spaesamento di chiunque si mette in cammino, di ogni uomo che esce fuori per conoscersi dentro.

Anyone who has grown increasingly impressed by Macfarlane''s nature writing over the past decade will feel instantly at home in this slight collaboration with writer Dan Richards and illustrator Stanley Donwood ... With Donwood''s ghostly, Hansel and Gretel-esque illustrations peppering the prose, Holloway is undeniably a gorgeous package. Even though it takes less than half an hour to read, the subtle call to revel in the wonder of the natural world lasts much longer. (Ben East Observer). An impressionistic piece of landscape writing, Holloway evokes the sense that time is densely layered in these secret lanes; many people have trodden here, and their ghosts are still apparent in the deep tree-shaded paths. (Carl Wilkinson Financial Times)The pleasures herein are almost intangible and they''re certainly initially fleeting. Yet these pellucid tales of Dorset''s deep-set lanes and their duvets of foliage will stay with you long into the summer dusk and may even encourage you to embark on your own investigation of England''s ancient arteries. (Paul Connolly Metro)This beautifully produced book is part tribute to the late Roger Deakin, part trafelogue, and bearing in mind the Faber imprint, part poetic evocation of the ''Holloways'' of south Dorset, infused with Macfarlane''s sensitivity to nature and beautifully illustrated by Stanley Donwood. (Michael Conaghan Belfast Telegraph)

In Silt, bestselling travel writer Robert Macfarlane walks the Broomway, the deadliest path in Britain. In one of the most striking chapters of his brilliant 2012 book The Old Ways, Robert Macfarlane walks the Essex offshore path which has claimed the lives of more than sixty people over the centuries. His companion on this atmospheric and potentially perilous journey is his old friend and photographer, David Quentin. In this special e-book edition, the Broomway section of The Old Ways appears alongside a run of twenty-two photographs taken that day by David, which form a haunting counterpoint to the text itself. In a newly written afterword, David reflects on the walk, on Robert Macfarlane''s writing and on the fascinating legal terrain which paths like this one traverse even as they cross the land itself. Praise for The Old Ways: ''Macfarlane has shown how utterly beautiful a brilliantly written travel book can still be. As perfect as his now classic The Wild Places. Maybe it is even better than that'' William Dalrymple, Observer ''A lovely book, a poetic investigation into what it is to follow a path, on land and at sea, in the footsteps of both our ancient predecessors and such writers as Edward Thomas: Macfarlane is reviving an entire body of nature writing here'' David Sexton, Evening Standard ''Beautifully written, moving, thrilling. It reminded me of how much stranger and richer the world is... at walking speed'' Philip Pullman, Guardian ''A magnificent meditation on walking and writing. An astonishingly haunted book'' Adam Nicolson, Daily Telegraph ''The Old Ways sets the imagination tingling . . . it is like reading a prose Odyssey sprinkled with imagist poems'' John Carey, Sunday Times Robert Macfarlane is the author of the award-winning Mountains of the Mind; The Wild Places; The Old Ways, which was shortlisted for the 2012 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction; and Landmarks, which was shortlisted for the 2015 Samuel Johnson Prize. He is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. David Quentin is a barrister specialising in tax law. He also takes photographs, teaches Cambridge undergraduates about versification and plays the bass guitar in London-based krautgoth noisegaze outfit The Murder Act.

Holloway - a hollow way, a sunken path. A route that centuries of foot-fall, hoof-hit, wheel-roll and rain-run have harrowed deep down into bedrock. In July 2005, Robert Macfarlane and Roger Deakin - author of Wildwood - travelled to explore the holloways of South Dorset''s sandstone. They found their way into a landscape of shadows, spectres & great strangeness. Six years later, after Roger Deakin''s early death, Robert Macfarlane returned to the holloway with the artist Stanley Donwood and writer Dan Richards. The book is about those journeys and that landscape. Moving in the spaces between social history, psychogeography and travel writing, Holloway is a beautiful and haunted work of art.

Ongebruikelijke beschrijvingen van (vaak alleen ondernomen) tochten door de wildste Britse natuur, doorspekt met erudiete, filosofische en toch lichtvoetige beschouwingen.

From the acclaimed author of The Wild Places and Underland, an exploration of walking and thinking In this exquisitely written book, Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge, England, home to follow the ancient tracks, holloways, drove roads, and sea paths that crisscross both the British landscape and its waters and territories beyond. The result is an immersive, enthralling exploration of the ghosts and voices that haunt old paths, of the stories our tracks keep and tell, and of pilgrimage and ritual. Told in Macfarlane’s distinctive voice, The Old Ways folds together natural history, cartography, geology, archaeology and literature. His walks take him from the chalk downs of England to the bird islands of the Scottish northwest, from Palestine to the sacred landscapes of Spain and the Himalayas. Along the way he crosses paths with walkers of many kinds—wanderers, pilgrims, guides, and artists. Above all this is a book about walking as a journey inward and the subtle ways we are shaped by the landscapes through which we move. Macfarlane discovers that paths offer not just a means of traversing space, but of feeling, knowing, and thinking.

Verslag van wandeltochten door historisch betekenisvolle landschappen in vooral Groot-Brittannië, maar ook Palestina, Spanje en Tibet.

Since 2003 Michael Marten has travelled to different parts of the British coast to photograph identical views at high and low tide, six or eighteen hours apart. His beautiful and surprising photographs reveal how landscapes can be dramatically transformed by natural phenomena such as tides. From rocky shores to summer beaches and industrial estuaries, these imges record two moments in time, two states of nature and show landscape to be a dynamic process. Sea Change present 53 of these diptychs, arranged as a clockwise journey around Britain.

Zijn er nog ongerepte plekken te vinden waar de natuur ongestoord haar gang kan gaan? Of is alles al gecultiveerd, bewoond en geasfalteerd? Robert Macfarlane vraagt zich af of werkelijke wildernis nog bestaat en trekt erop uit om de natuur te ondergaan. Hij klimt in bomen, zwemt in grotten, doorkruist hooglanden en overnacht op heuveltoppen en afgelegen stranden. Deze prachtige evocatie van de wildernis leest als een reisverslag, een geschiedenis van het landschap, een cultuurgeschiedenis van natuuressayisten, en als een hartstochtelijk pleidooi voor het behoud van de natuur. Vertaler Nico Groen kreeg een eervolle vermelding van de jury van de Filter Vertaalprijs 2009 voor zijn vertaling, die ''uitstekend de poëtische toon van de vele landschapsbeschrijvingen en daardoor ingegeven filosofische mijmeringen treft''.

From the author of The Old Ways and Underland, an "eloquent (and compulsively readable) reminder that, though we''re laying waste the world, nature still holds sway over much of the earth''s surface." --Bill McKibben Winner of the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature and a finalist for the Orion Book Award Are there any genuinely wild places left in Britain and Ireland? That is the question that Robert Macfarlane poses to himself as he embarks on a series of breathtaking journeys through some of the archipelago''s most remarkable landscapes. He climbs, walks, and swims by day and spends his nights sleeping on cliff-tops and in ancient meadows and wildwoods. With elegance and passion he entwines history, memory, and landscape in a bewitching evocation of wildness and its vital importance.

''"Originality" is only plagiarizing from a great many'', remarked Rupert Brooke, stealing the line from Voltaire. Questions of originality, and accusations of plagiarism, are as old as literature, but different literary cultures have interpreted the relationship between originality and plagiarism in startlingly dissimilar ways. Original Copy investigates and documents the drastic reappraisal of literary originality and plagiarism which occurred over the course of the nineteenth century: from the heroic visions of original authorship that characterised the 1820s and 1830s, through to the stickle-brick creativity of Oscar Wilde and Lionel Johnson at the century''s end. It reveals how ideas of originality and plagiarism were not only a theoretical concern of Victorian commentators on literature, but also provided many important Victorian writers - Eliot, Dickens, Reade, Pater, Wilde, and Lionel Johnson among them - with a creative resource. Moving between numerous different fields of thought and knowledge - literary criticism, the history of science, manuscript culture, anthropology - and written in a supple and elegant style, this book shows that the ideas of originality and plagiarism were the subjects of nineteenth-century literature, as well as what it was subject to.

Três séculos atrás, as montanhas eram consideradas uma paisagem hostil, a ser evitada a todo custo. COmo explicar então o fato de, hoje, milhões de pessoas serem atraídas para elas a cada ano, muitas vezes arriscando a própria vida e a de outros? Como o montanhismo passou a exercer um poder tão estranho, e por vezes fatal, sobre a imaginação humana?

The basis for the new documentary film, Mountain: A Breathtaking Voyage into the Extreme. Combining accounts of legendary mountain ascents with vivid descriptions of his own forays into wild, high landscapes, Robert McFarlane reveals how the mystery of the world’s highest places has came to grip the Western imagination—and perennially draws legions of adventurers up the most perilous slopes. His story begins three centuries ago, when mountains were feared as the forbidding abodes of dragons and other mysterious beasts. In the mid-1700s the attentions of both science and poetry sparked a passion for mountains; Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Lord Byron extolled the sublime experiences to be had on high; and by 1924 the death on Mt Everest of an Englishman named George Mallory came to symbolize the heroic ideals of his day. Macfarlane also reflects on fear, risk, and the shattering beauty of ice and snow, the competition and contemplation of the climb, and the strange alternate reality of high altitude, magically enveloping us in the allure of mountains at every level.

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And recommendations. pp. 26.