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The House on Nauset Marsh: A Cape Cod Memoir, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition
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| Part No: | 0881506451 |
| Manufacturer: | Countryman Press |
| MFG Part: | |
| Customer Rating: | 3.5 / 5.0 |
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A classic of Cape Cod literature and a great piece of nature writing,
The House on Nauset Marsh is a lyrical, poignant and often humorous work of a much-loved land and the people who called it home in a simpler time.
Dr. Wyman Richardson lived the life of a busy, and distinguished, physician, practicing in Boston and teaching at the Harvard Medical School, but here is recorded his other life—the one closest to his heart. Cape Cod, and, more specifically, his humble farmhouse on Nauset Marsh, was his refuge. First published in 1947, The House on Nauset Marsh presaged later authors who discussed such subjects as the intelligence, language, and emotions of animals. His observances of fog, time, bird language, the wind and weather touch upon the philosophical. Little could escape Wyman Richardson's gaze in his activities and at rest—reflecting on the shifting moods of land and sea, the denizens of salt marshes and woods, and the personalities and stories of the Cape Codders of a gentler time. 43 black & white illustrations.
| Wonderful descriptions of Nauset in a quieter time | 2004-04-13 | 4 / 5 |
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| This is an important book because it, like Thoreau's journals, is a record of a particular place at a particular time. What did it look like then? What plants, birds, fish came and went? How did people think about the place? These questions are answered in writing that transports you back in time to an apparently quieter and more leisurely world. Yes, there's a bit too much on fishing and hunting for my taste, but I find that I just skip those chapters when I go back to this book, as I do every couple of years. A must for anyone trying to get a handle on Cape Cod. |
| One of the Great Collections of Nature Essays | 2001-11-12 | 5 / 5 |
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| Set in a small farm house on a Cape Cod marsh in a the 1940s and early 50s, it portrays the Cape in a time before masses of visitors changed it from an isolated backwater to an overrun tourist destination (a change that seems to have taken over so many parts of our country). I spent summers on the Cape as a young boy in the late 50s and early sixties, and Richardson's writing brings back that sense of wild emptiness and special light that used to make Cape Cod so special. The writing and lovely illustrations recall a time when you could have a hand in the gathering of your own food and take joy in the beauty of the process. We have gained much smugness and lost so much else since then; the House on Nauset Marsh brings back a sense of how lives connected to nature used to be. |
| Can't hold a candle to Thoreau or Beston | 2001-08-12 | 1 / 5 |
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| I picked up this book looking for a unique, personal perspective on life on Cape Cod. What I got was long-winded discussions of fishing. If you're into long descriptions of and justifications for fishing and duck hunting--you might like this book. The book is also annoyingly written. The author switches voice all over the place: back and for from "I" to "you" to "one." I found that very distracting. He doesn't seem to know that much about the Cape either. If you want ruminations on the quiet of nature--don't bother; try Thoreau's Cape Cod or Henry Beston's The Outermost House. |
| House on Nauset Marsh still viable | 2000-06-26 | 4 / 5 |
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| Wyman Richardson's account of life on Cape Cod, first published in 1947, is a delight to read even tho' much has changed on the Cape since then. This is a book to treasure in the dead of winter when one longs to 'feel the whims of the sea'or 'hear the slow low pitch of a cricket's song.' Richardson, besides being a physician, is a first rate nature writer. His 'other' life comes alive as he describes morning in the old farmhouse where 'you can look out the south windows over the ...grassy hills...over the blue water of Nauset Marsh' and in the early morning 'an orange moon slipping behind the western horizon.' Richardson paints pictures with words that draw the reader, however briefly, into the pages of his book. First rate. I loved it. |
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