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In 'the solace of open spaces', gretel ehrlich explores the healing power of nature in the harsh landscape of north central wyoming. After the loss of her welsh lover, ehrlich returns to wyoming to grieve and rebuild her life. Through a series of essays, she reflects on the solitude and the people she meets, finding solace in the wind-swept plains and the company of animals. The book offers insights into the toughness of living in isolation and the importance of redefining our ideas about intelligence and connection with nature.
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In his famous canonical poem, “Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey,” William Wordsworth expressed his confidence in the healing powers of nature. But the scenery on the banks of the river Wye in 1798 appears to have been far more attractive than that of north central Wyoming where, during the six-month long winters, Gretel Ehrlich observes on the opening page, “The landscape hardens into a dungeon of space.” Yet as the title of her book indicates, she found “solace” in the wind-swept landscape near the Big Horn Mountains when she arrived in 1976 to shoot a film. After the death of her Welsh lover, Ehrlich returned to Wyoming to grieve and to rebuild her life. In the dozen essays that constitute this short book, Ehrlich reflects on the toughness it takes to live in the harsh solitude, some of which she experiences by going on drives with sheep herders. “Living with animals,” Ehrlich writes in reference not only to sheep and cows, but also to horses and dogs, “makes us redefine our ideas about intelligence” (64). More than most other writers in this series, Ehrlich balances her attention between the landscape and the people she meets, and she recounts her courtship with Press Stephens, who ran a small sheep ranch and to whom she was briefly married. Throughout the book we are aware of Ehrlich’s powers as the poet of this “unaccountably libidinous place.” For some readers, however, the most appealing moments may be those that appear in the form of aphorisms, the vulnerable (because they are so naked and open to attack), epigrammatic assertions that dominate the title essay; for example, “In all this open space, values crystallize quickly” (10). To the extent that this book amounts to a “gendered” account, it bears comparison (and notably, contrast) with Pete Fromm’sIndian Creek Chronicles.
Author Information
Born in 1946 on a horse ranch near Santa Barbara, California, Gretel Ehrlich attended Bennington College and took courses at the UCLA Film School and at the New School for Social Research in New York City. She has been twice married and divorced. Her first two books were collections of poetry published by small presses, but the publication ofThe Solace of Open Spaces in 1985 brought her writing to the attention of a broad audience. Her nonfiction has been published in such anthologies asBest American Essays,Best Spiritual Writing, andThe Nature Reader. Her novel,Heart Mountain, centered on the Japanese internment camp in Wyoming during World War II, appeared in 1987 and was praised for its “beautifully crafted prose.” In 1991 Ehrlich was struck by lightning while at her ranch in Wyoming and was severely injured. While undergoing treatment in California she worked onA Match to the Heart (1994), which deals with her struggle toward full recovery. Since then Ehrlich has traveled and written extensively, reflecting on her visit to China inQuestions of Heaven (1997) and several trips to Greenland inThis Cold Heaven (2002). Her children’s novel,A Blizzard Year (1999), has drawn high praise. A collection of short stories,Drinking Dry Clouds, connected with her novelHeart Mountain, appeared in 2005. Gretel Ehrlich is currently at work on a new novel. She divides her time between California and Wyoming.