Wilderness: A Journal of Quiet Adventure in Alaska—Including Extensive Hitherto Unpublished Passages from the Original Journal

By Rockwell Kent

In August 1918 Rockwell Kent and his 9-year-old son settled into a primitive cabin on an island near Seward, Alaska. Kent, who during the next three decades became America's premier graphic artist, printmaker, and illustrator, was seeking time, peace, and solitude to work on his art and strengthen ties with his son. This reissue of the journal chronicling their 7-month odyssey describes what Kent called "an adventure of the spirit." He soon discovers how deeply he is "stirred by simple happenings in a quiet world" as man and boy face both the mundane and the magnificent: satisfaction in simple chores like woodchopping or baking; the appalling gloom of long and lonely winter nights; hours of silence while each works at his drawings; crystalline moonlight glancing off a frozen lake; killer whales cavorting in their bay. Richly illustrated by Kent's drawings, the journal vividly re-creates that sense of great height and space — both external and internal — at the same time that it celebrates a wilderness now nearly lost to us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
• Release date: Jan 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9780819572080

Reviews for Wilderness

[stbalbach_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the closing months of the Great War during the autumn of 1918, an artist and his 9 year-old son turned their backs on "civilization" and spent about 6 months on a remote island in Alaska. The father painted and read Homer while the son chased foxes and ran around in the snow exploring the island. It's a beautiful little book that captures the mood of the time and place. It reminded me of going with my father to a fishing camp in Canada years ago (the camp we went to was built in the 1920s). By this time the recent improvements of the small marine outboard motor, and the airplane, made it possible for more people to travel the waterways of the northern wilderness without mounting a long expedition and so began a new tourist industry of which Kent was among the first wave.The book is illustrated by Kent including a Robert Louis Stevenson-like map of the island and surrounding areas with hand written notes, it's evocative of adventure. It's a real place that is easily found just outside Seward on Google Maps. I listened to the book read by David Wales of LibriVox and it's also freely available on Internet Archive.

[dorenemlorenz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my all-time favorites, artist Kent and his son spent the most incredible year of their lives wintering on Fox Island. His take on life in the Seward area during this adventurous period of our development is a rare glimpse into what heaven surely looks like.