The wilderness is commonly thought of as an environment that exists in opposition to human culture – a vast geographic ecosystem that has not been significantly altered or influenced by human activity. Precisely because of this, humans tend to idealise it from a distance, relishing a notion of the wilderness that is often limited to a beautiful or sublime setting.
In my book, When I Sing, Mountains Dance, I set myself a challenge to present a piece of land (a region in the Pyrenees) using the voices and perspectives of all who inhabit it or pass through it. People, but also non-human beings, folkloric and mythological characters that take over the telling of the story. The narrative is woven through the speculative voices of a roe deer, a dog, mushrooms, ghosts, water sprites, storm clouds and even a layer of the local geologic strata.
In tune with this, I would like to propose an approach to the wilderness in literature that transcends that of the passive landscape or the backdrop of compelling beauty and instead appreciates it as an active entity. An approach that aims to interrogate the concept, questioning its contradictions and inquiring about our relationship with the spaces that we take to be wild. Or, conversely, one that understands the wilderness in such depth that it can only respect its untamed, free and even dangerous nature.
1 Lost in the Taiga by Vasily Peskov
This book chronicles the relationship the author established with the Lykovs, a family who had survived in complete isolation in the depths of the Russian taiga for more than 40 years. Peskov recounts their struggle to survive in the taiga’s extreme conditions, which often contrasts with the cheerful merriness they feel when going about their daily routine, despite the doubt that the disparity between their life choices and the direction of civilisation awakens in them.
2 Independent People by Halldór Laxness
Laxness’ novel focuses on Bjartur of Summerhouses, a poor Icelandic farmer of the early 20th century who maintains an isolated croft at the edge of a loosely habitable world and one which is not. The wilderness here, becomes Bjartur’s nemesis and the book focuses on what this violent struggle for survival and sanity in an inhospitable and cruel landscape can inflict on the human soul.
3 Death in Spring by Mercè Rodoreda
Mercè Rodoreda’s darkest novel takes place in an unspecified time and is set in an isolated and unnamed mountainous region, where a village is surrounded by dangers; the “caramens” – creatures that no one has ever seen – or the battering of a fierce river which threatens to sweep away the houses. The townsfolk are ruled by primeval and nightmarish laws and rituals. The surroundings of this village are merciless, but such ferocity seems a trifle compared to human cruelty.
4 The Vorrh by Brian Catling
The vorrh, in Catling’s The Vorrh trilogy, is a very ancient forest, so old that it’s thought of as being home to the garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve roam along with cyclops and anthropophagi (cannibal rogues that attract humans deep into the forest with pails of water and food). This forest is in itself an entity that has sentience and perhaps even a will, and it rejects the presence of humans by driving them insane.
5 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Moving to impossible wildernesses, here is an architectural one. Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi summons a world of endless interior halls filled with sculptures, with an open sky and tidal floods. As with The Vorrh, a prolonged stay in the halls seems to have a crippling psychological effect on humans. As Piranesi, its ever-cheerful main character, writes: “May your Paths be safe, your Floors unbroken and may the House fill your eyes with Beauty”.
6 House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski
Here is another out-of-the-box wilderness story. On Ash Tree Lane there is a house that is bigger on the inside than the outside. In it, endless corridors and grey stairs howl and change constantly, even treacherously, with the ultimate intention of misleading you. Those who venture in do so as explorers would, with rope, supplies, torches and cameras. The house defies logic and physics through its constant expansion, which, on another level, becomes an almost unmanageable mass of text in which we, as readers, might also become lost.
7 Teddy Bear Patriarchy by Donna Haraway
This is a great short read to appreciate how most of the concepts around nature and the wilderness are constructed in western thought and culture. Donna Haraway reflects on the history of the American Museum of Natural History, and its founders, patrons, presidents and chief researchers, in order to understand how the inner linings of natural history and the natural sciences are not the innocent, neutral and harmless disciplines they seem to be, but rather, they are intrinsically linked to a historic ruling class which imprinted its biases and strong political agenda in the institution’s foundations.
8 Feral by George Monbiot
Feral is a collection of essays and reflections on rewilding. Rewilding is, in essence, an initiative that promotes ecological restoration by inviting humans to step back and leave an area to its own natural development – or from a cultural perspective to its own ruin and decay – as opposed to an active oversight and control over the natural resources. In the context of impending ecological catastrophes and rampant greenwashing, the ideas, case-studies and first person experiences Monbiot shares in this book regarding what can be done about the retreating wilderness feel like a breath of fresh air.
9 How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang
The wilderness in the context of the historical North American great outdoors has mostly been explained by white masculine voices and commonly focuses on macho white characters. As a consequence, the collective imaginary associated with this time and place often disregards and erases other points of view in this fabricated white-centric US west. In How Much of These Hills is Gold Zhang tells a story of endurance and survival during the California gold rush from the point of view of Lucy, a young girl of Chinese descent. Lucy’s lyrical and immersive voice invites the reader to reflect on whose stories have been told from this period and setting and whose have been neglected.
10 Tierra del Fuego by Sylvia Iparraguirre
This book begins with a quote from Melville’s Moby-Dick: “As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote”. In Iparraguirre’s historical novel, John William Guevara, son of an English soldier and a Creole mother, tells the story of Jemmy Button, a Native American from the Yámana people at Cabo de Hornos who was brought forcefully to London by Vice-Admiral Robert Fitz-Roy, along with other Fuegians, in order to assimilate them into British culture. This story allows Iparraguirre to build a reflection from the point of view of those who inhabit this supposed remoteness and to look back at those who have had the “itch” to explore, and therefore tame, name, and destroy what was considered by them to be wild and uncivilised.
• When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Solà, translated by Mara Faye Lethem, is published by Granta (£12.99). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
• Irene Solà would like to thank artist and researcher Oscar Holloway for his help in researching this article.
