Wolfish
The stories we tell about fear, ferocity and freedom
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Canongate Books
Published:2nd Mar '23
£16.99
Available for immediate dispatch.
A FINANCIAL TIMES NON-FICTION BOOK TO READ IN 2023
AMOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2023 for TIME,VULTURE, LIT HUB, GOODREADS, RUMPUS, BUSTLE, READER'S DIGEST and more
Wolves abound through cultural folklore and through literature - vilified and venerated in equal measure. In Wolfish, Erica Berry examines these depictions, alongside her own research of the wolf for nearly a decade, to get to the heart of what our stories about the wolf reveal about our relationships with one another and ourselves: 'What does it mean to want to embody the same creature from which you are supposed to be running?'
The wolf is so often depicted as the male predator, preying on the vulnerable girl/woman who strays from the path; the she-wolf meanwhile depicts women who sit outside the accepted boundaries of feminine behaviour. Berry openly recounts her own uncomfortable and sometimes frightening experiences as a woman to try to understand how we navigate our fears when threat can seem constant.
Through it all, Berry finds new expressions for courage and survival: how to be a brave human and animal member of our fragile, often dangerous world.
Berry draws on a huge, rich depository of lupine literature. Wolfish is more than just an interesting exercise in cultural anthropology, though. The book's most obvious ancestor is Helen Macdonald's megahit of 2014, H Is for Hawk; it has that same intellectual range and a prose style that pushes [. . .] towards the poetic * * Sunday Times * *
A singular book. Reading this will invite you to examine your own walk through the world - hungry, afraid, brave -- KATHERINE MAY
Startling in its scope, covering everything from fairy tales to domestic violence. This book should be required reading * * LA Times * *
Ranging far and wide culturally in the company of wolves . . . Berry segues effortlessly from the reintroduction of wolves at Yellowstone national park to Pliny the Elder's belief that wolves held pharmacological benefits for women's bodies * * Guardian * *
Singular . . . a book entirely its own * * TIME * *
Explores the contours of human relationships - and what it means to be a woman - through this most familiar yet mysterious of creatures * * Financial Times * *
Terror propels Erica Berry's exhilarating book . . . No matter where Berry weaves, she sniffs out fascinating insights. And she writes about it in clear, beautiful language * * Washington Post * *
I devoured every startling, lyrical, haunting, yet all-too-familiar page of Wolfish. Such a stunning achievement, it left me feeling like one of the pack -- ELIZABETH RUSH, author of RISING, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
An exhilarating book - intricate, thoughtful, and thick with connections -- MEGHA MAJUMDAR, New York Times bestselling author of A BURNING
Berry's braided approach renders Wolfish both a vulnerable self-investigation and a wide-ranging exploration of fear - and, ultimately, an antidote to it. She makes a stirring case for walking alongside the symbolic wolf * * Atlantic * *
ISBN: 9781838854591
Dimensions: 220mm x 144mm x 38mm
Weight: 539g
432 pages
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