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"Twenty-nine years after his death, [Rockwell] Kent has returned with a vengeance. Not since the height of his pre-McCarthyism popularity has so much of his work been available to the public." —Smithsonian
A new paperback edition of Kent's first book, often referred to as "Alaska's Walden."
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.
"Conservationists and ecologists should rejoice at the reappearance of this splendid diary telling of the winter of 1918 - 1919, during which the late Rockwell Kent and his 9-year-old son exulted in the beauties of Alaska's remote Fox Island. Kent's strong woodcuts and sketches perfectly complement an unaffected text that tells in an authentic and most effective way of unspoiled nature in all its glory . . . This book has considerable merit as an account of rugged life in Alaska, as a paean to the glories of nature, and as a record of Kent's graphic work." —Library Journal
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Selected by the Alaska Historical Society as one of the 67 best history books written about Alaska—The Alaska 67: A Guide To Alaska’s Best History Books 2006
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ROCKWELL KENT (1882 - 1971) was one of America's most celebrated graphic artists. Although his illustrations for Shakespeare's Complete Works and Moby Dick may be his most famous achievements, his artwork appeared everywhere at the height of his career. Wesleyan University Press has also re-issued N by E, Voyaging, and A Northern Christmas. All of Kent's travel books have appeared in limited editions since his death -- a tribute to their perennial appeal.
Doug Capra teaches English in Seward, Alaska. His articles on Kent have appeared in such publications as Alaska Magazine and The Kent Collector.
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