Birthday: August 5, 1934 (Leo)
Born In: Henry County
Wendell Berry
(American Novelist, Poet and the First Living Writer to Be Inducted Into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame)
Wendell Erdman Berry is a famous American author, critic and farmer who helped people in diagnosing the nature and the range of the problems faced by them in a constructive way. He is a keen environmental activist who has highlighted the problems of soil loss and degradation, toxic pollution, fossil-fuel dependency and the destruction of rural communities. Berry’s writings were based on ecologically sound way of life and revived the connection between people and nature. He defined patriotism in a new way as the love for the land under one’s feet and for those who live upon it. His goal is to bring health to the environment through responsible agriculture and according to him that is the only permanent way to restore the depleted earth. He explored three major themes: agriculture, its history and present condition; marriage and domesticity; and the uses of education. Berry had an unorthodox academic career as he focused on a less-noticed theme, the historical evolution of the land, which is a formative and crucial element of nearly every nation. His novels portray America’s rural history and his essays on ecological responsibilities developed from his own experience as a farmer.
16
6
