Paul Kingsnorth Mourns Wendell Berry, Reflects on AI and Christian Writing

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• − opinion#298 26 likes at the source

  I probably first came across Wendell Berry years ago through this author's work, but I only recently picked up the anthology of his writing, likely connected to Against the Machine. Wow. I sat on the bus to work reading every word, completely captivated by how he managed the hardest task in writing - using plain, lucid language to describe the extraordinary, again and again and again. What an incredible human being, what a lover of the beautiful creation. RIP
• − opinion#299 22 likes at the source

  I discovered Wendell Berry through this writer, and ever since he's been mentoring me through his books. When I heard the news, I read the closing words of Hannah Coulter, which struck me as a beautiful farewell: "I want to leave here openhanded, with only the ancient blessing, "Good-bye. My love to you all."
• − opinion#300 14 likes at the source

  Back in 2014 I walked into a friend's kitchen in Kentucky and saw The Peace of Wild Things framed on the wall. While we cooked dinner I went over and read it, and felt that gut-punch so many of us get from Berry's poetry. It was my first encounter with his writing, and I don't think my nightstand has been without one of his books since. He reminded me so much of my dairy-farming grandparents in the South that I feel I've lost them all over again. Deeply grateful for what he left us. Memory eternal.
• − opinion#301 10 likes at the source

  I grew up and still live in central Kentucky and have read Berry most of my life. Like another commenter said, his characters felt modeled on people I knew and loved - my grandfather and my husband's uncles, all small tobacco farmers. His poetry and novels have been "friends" I turned to in times of grief and despair, and his essays on sustainable farming have guided us as we tend our sheep on our small farm. His story Pray Without Ceasing is among the most beautiful I've ever read. Oh Wendell, you'll be missed. So grateful for the treasure of wisdom you left behind.

  • − opinion#325

    Thank you for those thoughtful words. From a fellow Kentuckian.
• − opinion#302 9 likes at the source

  I found this writer thanks to Wendell, through the Foreword to "The World-Ending Fire." I thought, "this British fellow has a real flair for words, what else has he written?" And down that rabbit hole I went! I also discovered Ed Abbey through Berry. Part of me believed that kind, wise, angry gentleman would somehow live forever. Well done, old man. Rest in power. Those of us writing about small, local, rooted things owe him the world and can never match his seemingly effortless grace and genius.
• − opinion#303 7 likes at the source

  Good to remember what has left the world stage. In that spirit of remembering, Ivan Illich's 100th birthday is coming up on September 11th, and there's an invitation circulating to gather with others and share what Illich meant to us. Some quotes he left behind: "The quality of a society and of its culture will depend on the status of its unemployed." "The household has become the place where the consumption of wages takes place." "Certain tools are destructive no matter who owns them..." "Wherever the shadow of economic growth touches us, we are left useless unless employed on a job or engaged in consumption." And on communication: "I should very much like to talk to you, to stare at the tip of your nose, to embrace you. But to communicate - for that I have no desire."
• − opinion#306 6 likes at the source

  Like others here, I was introduced to Berry through this writer's work. What a gift that keeps giving! I've read much of his fiction and many essays, but am only beginning on his poetry. I'll surely be reading and rereading him for the rest of my life. It shocks me he isn't better known in America - though given what popular culture values, maybe not. The world he envisions is the antithesis of the one most of us live in. Still, it's striking that it took an Englishman in Ireland to introduce an Ohio-raised reader to the Kentucky-born Berry. Lines in his fiction floor me with their plain beauty - like Andy Coulter's "I am the child of my grandfather's forgiveness," which moves me to tears every time. May God bless Wendell Berry and receive him into His kingdom.
• − opinion#308 5 likes at the source

  Oh yes, a newsletter/zine is a great idea. About 13 years ago I produced a print-only newspaper that brought me so much joy - it exists nowhere online, and I used the old Whole Earth Catalogue as a design anchor. Fun times. If anyone wants to trade hand-made items they've made for a copy of the three issues I produced, I'd love that.
• − opinion#309 4 likes at the source

  The less we feed AI the better. I wonder how AI could ever truly replicate the human heart with all its nuances, whims, flights of fancy, individualism, and creativity that seems to come from nowhere. But what do I know! God would surely intervene - AI could never be in the image of God. I've only recently discovered Wendell Berry but love his poetry. I set myself the task of memorizing a poem and chose 'The Peace of Wild Things' - partly because it wasn't too long, but mostly because it was lovely.

  • − opinion#326 3 likes at the source

    Some good news here: I recently talked someone out of using AI in their writing. I told them it's soulless - if you want to change someone's perspective, you must speak from the heart and can't let your words be polluted by a soulless machine, or you'll never reach anyone. I also said we all carry immense untapped creativity within us; every one of us is capable of being Da Vinci. Really! And I believe I convinced him!
  • − opinion#327 2 likes at the source

    I've memorized that one too! It's a bit of portable solace I can take out whenever "despair for the world grows in me" - which is often. It always brings me peace.
  • − opinion#328

    Ah, that's good. It's so true. I just can't see how AI could ever reach the places that genuine, heartfelt expression can.
• − opinion#310 3 likes at the source

  I read Jayber Crow nearly two decades ago, and it felt like recognition and coming home. Since then I've read most or all of the Port William fiction and most of the essays. Hannah Coulter taught me to love washing dishes. Let's all raise a glass of water in gratitude for his wise and beautiful work—feel free to add a little something to yours to help it go down easier. The Peace of Wild Things: When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound, in fear for my life and my children's lives, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
• − opinion#311 3 likes at the source

  Like some others here, I came to this writer through Berry, and that connection was what first earned my trust. It was a comfort knowing Berry was still with us. Now I can hardly read him—it hurts too much. Reading the Port William tales feels like Sam recalling happy memories to Frodo on Mount Doom: 'Do you remember that bit of rabbit, Mr. Frodo?' 'No, I am afraid not, Sam. I know such things happened, but I cannot see them.' In his foreword to the second edition of Lord of the Rings, Tolkien wrote that the real war doesn't resemble the legendary one—if it had, the Ring would have been used against Sauron, who would have been enslaved rather than destroyed, and both sides would have held hobbits in hatred and contempt. If the world felt that way in 1965, how much more today? So much feels lost. Sorry to be dramatic and despairing—losing Berry hurts. His last novel, Marce Catlett: The Force of a Story, was a fitting conclusion to Port William. He was writing straight to my feelings: 'Andy's grief for the things that are lost affirms his love for them, as even the loss of them affirms the bounty by which they once existed, for in this world grief goes hand in hand with gratitude.' May we be like Marce Catlett, who 'departed with cautious hope in the dark past midnight, came home broke, and in the dark before daylight the next morning went back to work.'
• − opinion#312 3 likes at the source

  I'm a devoted Berry devotee myself, and only started reading you because you were compared to him! God blessed him with a strong, stubborn will, a roving mind, and a natural affection for the good gifts of people and place. He will speak to all of us on the page, if we only listen.
• − opinion#313 3 likes at the source

  Lovely piece on Wendell Berry. I live two counties over from his Henry County, and like you, his influence on my writing—and hopefully my life—isn't hard to see. Yesterday I republished an old essay of mine on the congruence of Berry's writing and life, thought and action. Would that I could achieve the same unity. Rest in peace, Wendell Berry.
• − opinion#304 2 likes at the source

  I first found Berry in the late 90s when an Orthodox journal reprinted his essay "Christianity and the Survival of Creation." I hadn't read anything like it since Schaeffer's Pollution and the Death of Man years earlier. I bought the collection it appeared in and have read him ever since. I can't recall exactly how I found this author's work, but it was probably around 2010, not long after Real England came out, while searching online for things similar to Scruton's England: An Elegy. I once got to speak briefly with Berry after a talk at a nearby college, and he also sent me a prompt, thoughtful reply to a letter. I'm sad he's gone - he's been a companion for nearly 30 years - but he lived long and well, and lives on in his work and the Berry Center. His stories, essays, and poems can be mined almost endlessly. As we say in the Orthodox Church, may his memory be eternal!
• − opinion#305 2 likes at the source

  I just finished "Distant Neighbors" on this author's recommendation. So charmed was I by these two men and their shared concerns that I've ordered a book of essays by each to continue the journey. RIP Wendell Berry. A remarkable man!
• − opinion#314 2 likes at the source

  It was Barbara Kingsolver's writing that introduced me to Wendell Berry. She referenced Jayber Crow so often I finally had to read the novel. That was years ago, and it's due for a re-read. I'm sad at his passing, though 92 is a full life and he leaves a rich legacy. As someone who loves print and is increasingly drawn to small-scale and DIY, I'm excited to hear more about your home publishing venture! I assume you don't mean running pages yourself on a press and mailing them by post, though that would be pretty cool. The Quaker publishing house Pendle Hill puts out several pamphlets a year—short to mid-form topical essays printed as individual booklets—which I find an engaging, practical format. I'm surprised that medium hasn't caught on more widely. So glad to hear you're feeling better.

  • − opinion#329 1 likes at the source

    We actually looked into getting a proper old letterpress. But aside from being hard to find and weighing about a hundred tonnes, it wouldn't really be practical. Still, who knows—maybe one day it'll be the only way to escape the killer robots.
• − opinion#307 1 likes at the source

  UK readers can find Berry's books at Blackwell's - a large selection at fair prices, with no money going to Bezos! Also, an earlier English writer who in some ways foreshadows Berry is Adrian Bell (1901-1980). Some of his books remain in print, including the "Suffolk trilogy," a sort of fictionalized autobiography, and used copies are easy to find online. His later non-fiction like 'Men and the Fields' and 'The Flower and the Wheel' are worth hunting down too. Slightly Foxed has also published his "Countryman's Notebooks" in four seasonal volumes - wonderful reading.
• − opinion#315 1 likes at the source

  On payment for 'Christian' writing—I admire and appreciate your dilemma. A couple of quick thoughts. The apostle Paul taught that 'a labourer is worthy of his hire.' From another angle, I feel an unease: you're a Christian, a follower of Christ—are you suggesting some of your writing is 'non-Christian' and the rest isn't? Perhaps we should be careful with categories (can writing even be called Christian?) and with false dichotomies between sacred and secular. A thought: everything you do as a Christian is 'to the glory of God,' paid or unpaid. Random reflections, as much for my own benefit. I'm also a farmer-theologian and Berry has long been an inspiration to me—Dolly Parton and Wendell in the same week, what a juxtaposition. May I recommend the writing of a friend of mine who introduced me to Berry's work back in 2007; her agrarian reflections and exegesis on the Old Testament were partly inspired by her friendship with him.

  • − opinion#330 2 likes at the source

    The question of what counts as 'Christian writing' is interesting, and maybe fraught. In one sense, everything a Christian writes is 'Christian writing.' On the other hand, if I write a piece about why I prefer bananas to apples, my being a Christian is neither here nor there. I really mean writing specifically on Christian themes. Not everything I write is—though most is at the moment.
• − opinion#316 1 likes at the source

  'We can make our home centers of attention and interest'—I wonder if that sentence means more to me than my entire education. N.B. 'interest' comes from the Latin meaning 'that which is between' (cf. Iain McGilchrist on 'betweenness'). Thank you for carrying and passing on the torch, Wendell Berry. Long may it burn. I enjoyed reading The Trap, and I've actually been plotting an escape route of sorts. My phone has no internet access, and from next month we won't have broadband at home, so I'll go to the library a couple of times a week to run my 'internet errands.' No more browsing! I can't wait. I'm so happy and grateful at the idea of receiving your latest writing in the post!! Philosophical discussion and a singsong back at the Shire, yeah?

  • − opinion#331 2 likes at the source

    I wish we didn't have broadband at home, but my husband works in IT from home, and even if he didn't, he's always loved gadgets. I'm hoping that once he retires we can get rid of it. Bring back internet cafes, I say! Having to make the effort and pay for the time spent is so much better than having it on tap.
• − opinion#317

  I once had the pleasure of hearing Wendell Berry read one of his stories, and I was hooked. His writing has become one of the touchstones of my world when I'm lost, or fear I'm getting lost in the Machine. I agree with the Spectator article that Berry is a far more complicated thinker and writer than the offhand quotes suggest. I always find myself pondering his meanings for weeks after reading one of his essays. I also added the Writers Against AI logo to the acknowledgements page of my recent novel.
• − opinion#318

  Wendell Berry wrote so many beautiful elegies for friends and loved ones; I think he's given us all the consolation we need for his own death. Here is my favorite—the third of his Three Elegiac Poems for Harry Erdman Perry. He goes free of the earth. The sun of his last day sets clear in the sweetness of his liberty. The earth recovers from his dying, the hallow of his life remaining in all his death leaves. Radiances know him. Grown lighter than breath, he is set free in our remembering. Grown brighter than vision, he goes dark into the life of the hill that holds his peace. He is hidden among all that is, and cannot be lost.

  • − opinion#332

    Substack is no friend of poetry—it refuses to keep the correct spacing! Anyway, another favorite of mine is A Meeting, where he dreams of meeting a dead friend who grins and tells him, 'I been eating peaches off some mighty fine trees.'
• − opinion#319

  'The Unsettling of America' was my first encounter with Wendell Berry. 'Jayber Crow,' my mother's favorite book, is still waiting for me. A friend edited a recent collection of his work and told me the material all arrived on paper! Apparently he refused to use a computer, so editors had to agree to work with hard copy. I absolutely love that. May his memory be eternal.
• − opinion#320

  During the BBC conversation our host took part in, when Wendell Berry was talking about the ewes grazing on the hillside he was watching, I half expected our host to jump in and explain to any city listeners that a ewe is a female sheep. Maybe a lost chance for a little light joke, but it was a thoroughly absorbing discussion.
• − opinion#321

  I first encountered Wendell Berry in 2005 in a newspaper (the Guardian, I believe, back when it was still worth reading), which likened him to an Old Testament prophet over something he'd written about 9/11. I searched for him online and found his 'Thoughts in the presence of fear'. It's made up of 27 reflections on what had gone wrong in American culture (most of which held just as true for Europe) along with calls for how to set things right. Re-reading those twenty-seven 'Thoughts' last night, with the twenty-fifth anniversary of 9/11 approaching next week, I see little evidence we've listened to him. Prophets are rarely honoured in their own land, as someone once said... After reading 'Thoughts' I bought a secondhand copy of his 'Unsettling of America' (1977) and was astonished by how the 'ecological crisis' was bound up with the decay of every part of society, family life and personal morality. What a dystopia we've built! I was comforted to discover his poems as a remedy against despair. May he rest in peace and let perpetual light shine upon him.
• − opinion#322

  About paid subscriptions... I'd happily keep paying you monthly if I could receive a printed newspaper of your essays (and maybe others'?) in the post every couple of months or so! Anything to keep us away from our screens... plus I much prefer reading longer pieces on paper rather than on a small screen.
• − opinion#323

  Returning here to offer Paul and other readers some useful, helpful? "information" (dreadful word, that). I nearly tore my hair out after clicking the link to watch the conversation between Paul and a gentleman whose name escapes me, and discovered WITH HORROR that I was AUTOMATICALLY given a version dubbed into French, with no trace of Paul's beautiful, quirky voice, or the other man's either. Just the dubbed French version with AI subtitles, which are a mortal sin against our living languages. I'll have to work out how to bypass these auto-dubbed links, because I could (melodramatically?) spiritually DIE if I were FORCED to hear Paul and others in Machine mode... That's the end of my complaint. Thought some of you might want to know, and maybe some of you? us? have hit the same frustration?
• − opinion#324

  I'd never heard of Wendell Berry until he died. Since then he's been everywhere on Substack. He seems worth my attention. How or where should I begin?

  • − opinion#333 1 likes at the source

    I'd definitely begin with the essay collection Paul edited, The World-Ending Fire. But don't overlook his novels and poetry! Jayber Crow is my favourite among the novels I've read, and there are several good poetry collections too.