Journal 5: Report (John McPhee, The Pine Barrens)

1. McPhee is from Princeton, New Jersey.  See a brief profile by David Itzkoff, who studied writing with McPhee. McPhee's name is virtually synonymous with non-fiction. He sold non-fiction essays for to the New Yorker for many years. At Princeton University, he has taught a course, "The Literature of Fact," that explores the principles of his approach to writing. Select a few instances in The Pine Barrens where you feel that he does or does not handle facts artfully. Some resources that may help are a book on literary nonfiction, a university program in creative nonfiction, and an essay on McPhee as cultural interpreter.

2. You can sometimes tell an author by his readers. This rare book dealer has established McPhee as a collector's item, while the largest online book seller has every McPhee title in print. The Pine Barrens has been in print for 30 years, and reader responses will tell you why.  Enter "John McPhee" and explore other titles that interest you: what do the reader responses and collector prices say about McPhee's audience and "market" value? Do those factors influence his account of The Pine Barrens? (In a sense, this is the audience/subject question again).

3. McPhee published his book in 1967.  Use the web to find out how have the Pine Barrens have changed since then. What are the key environmental issues that concern its visitors and residents? If you find differences, how do they reflect on his earlier reporting? Use any of the search engines you can; dogpile is one of my favorites. 

4.  In the chapter "The Air Tune," McPhee tells about the vernacular language of the pines. Can you provide your own examples from your region or place?  Also, can you tell of some Pecos Bill or Paul Bunyan or Merlin or Jersey Devil story about a place you are familiar with?  What is the function of these stories? 

5.  Here's a summary of an essay comparing the landscapes of Ehrlich and McPhee. While their approaches to their subjects may be similar (their focus on how people interact with place), how would you compare their respective writing styles?