Biography of Wendell Berry
Besty Mock, Betsy Crosby, and Pete Underwood
Wendell Berry, an American poet, novelist, essayist, conservationist, philosopher, visionary and farmer was born on August 5, 1945, in Henry County, Kentucky. He lives and still farms there. Berry graduated from the University of Kentucky with a BA degree in English and also with the completion of an MA degree a year later! He began to write when he became farmer in Kentucky. In 1958, Berry moved West to California. He became a "Wallace Stegner Writing fellow" at the University of Stanford. There he taught and lectured on creative writing. In 1960, he completed his first novel "Nathan Coulter". In 1965, he went back home to Kentucky and became a member of the faculty and a professor at the University of Kentucky.
Wendell Berry is a man who backs what he writes and teaches. Berry is not a hypocrite; his actions support his words. Berry has a lot of strong beliefs and convictions. These values have reflected in what type of life this man has led through out the years. He is a man who loves the land. He is a farmer who believes in organic farming. Wendell's father and Robert Rodale were two major factors in contributing to the founding of the organic farming movement. Berry is also a man who uses only farm animals to work his fields. Wendell is a person who only uses organic methods of fertilization and pest control.
Berry is a strong defender of family rural communities, and traditional family farms. Berry has developed a number of rules for some of the best of his local communities.
- Always ask of any proposed change or innovation.
- Always include local nature
- Always ask how local needs might be supplied from local sources, including the mutual help of neighbors.
- Always supply local needs first.
Wendell would love to see farmers use the methods he uses because he believes "humans must learn to live in harmony with nature or realize they will perish".
When Wendell writes his work, people tend to ask him, "Why he doesn't get a computer?" He simply tells them that he doesn't want to be sucked into buying another piece of expensive equipment. When Berry is writing he uses a pencil and piece of paper? When he is done his wife types up his work or he uses a royal Standard typewriter that he purchased brand new in 1956. Barry simply states that it's "as good as new as it was then."
In this day and age many understand that Innovation of Technology always requires the throwing away of all the "old models" and getting the "new." Berry doesn't want that theory applied to him because his wife is such a big part of his work. He believes that if he follows the same steps as everybody else, then he would be throwing away his wife, which is ridiculous.
In "Field Observations: An Interview with Wendell Berry," he believes that young children should recite and memorize poems. He understands that the minds of young people need to be "furnished." In his mind, poetry as furniture expands his imagination. Berry insists that you must face the difficult and terrifying agony of making yourself perfect. This means that you must face failure over and over again and to realize that you will never really succeed. This is part of the everyday necessary work that the world needs. You ask the question why? The only answer is because we need to make the world a better place. A plan will not work from the start. The bigger the plan and the more far-reaching, only creates the future of it to be less successful." (Superstition)
When the damage of coal extraction in the mountains of eastern
Kentucky, the "rape and run" logging companies of Montana, when a forest
was annihilated, pollution of streams, farms and small communities
destroyed, Berry was the man who attacked the predators who ran the
country. Why because his work speaks for itself:
Of minds whose history
Was imprinted by no example
Of fore bearing mind, corrected
Beloved.
In "Discipline and Hope" Berry stresses that laboratories have specialized and promoted the use of chemicals in order to replace humus. They want to ignore all the ample evidence of healthy agriculture. There are many varieties of plants and animals that are returning all the organic waste to the soil but the scientists want to ignore this. There are a lot of specialists that have turned to the lab instead of being out in the field making real life observations. These same specialists have either schemed in the removal of small farmers by using the modern technology or machinery available, or by encouraging their movement into the cities.
The outcome of the visions that experts have had for our society has been ecologically and socially disastrous. In our society, the organic wastes are returned to the land by being flushed out through sewers. This only creates pollution for the streams and rivers and of course the oceans. The other option is the waste is burned and the smoke pollutes the air.
Berry speaks his mind about the Modern Industrial culture. He thinks that the industry will someday come up with solutions for all the problems that are created for the world today. He believes that the industry has make knowledge "value free", and education is very valuable. As technology progresses, you can make better people by educating them. This is only some reasons that Berry believes in, but there are many more.
Berry believes that the way people use art and science is very
disrespectful, unfeeling, and violent. He believes the way people use
technology today does not work out for the best. He thinks that there is
no separation between art and science. However, this is the only way the
world is organized today. Berry tries to get this point across to readers
with "Enriching the Earth." He simply says, "To enrich the Earth, I have
sowed clover and grass to grow and die. I have plowed in the seeds of
winter grains and of various legumes, their growth to be plowed in to
enrich the Earth."