Spending a Summer in the Sierra With John Muir

In my final semester at Sungkyunkwan University, an ecocriticism class took me through books I might otherwise have missed. I was also applying for jobs and often read in Korean to keep up. I would have liked to read more of the originals, but I was grateful for how much the class let me discover.

The naturalist before the public figure

John Muir belongs in a conversation with Henry David Thoreau about writing on the American landscape. Muir’s books and articles made a public case for protecting places he had come to know by walking through them.

His work helped build support for preserving Yosemite and other places that became national parks. Before that public role, he spent time earning a living in the mountains.

A summer among the sheep

My First Summer in the Sierra reminded me of Walden. In the summer of 1869, Muir went into the Sierra Nevada with a flock belonging to Pat Delaney. The book follows that trip in dated entries from June to September and appeared decades later, in 1911.

The Korean edition is about 270 pages. Much of the space goes to scenery, plants and what the sight of a mountain or a stretch of water does to Muir’s attention.

I sometimes found the pace slow. The reward was being able to build a picture in my head while he stayed with a single place. I imagine another reader would build a different one.

There is a distance that no amount of detail can close. I cannot see Yosemite as Muir saw it in 1869. The book can bring me close enough to wonder what he saw when he stepped outside that morning.

The dated entries move with the days. Every so often the pace changes when Muir has somewhere to get to or somebody to find.

I remember one passage in which he feels sure an old friend has arrived nearby and sets out to find him. I turned the pages more quickly then. I wanted to see what he would make of that feeling.

The professor who went to see Yosemite

There is a piece at the back by Professor Kim Won-jung, who taught the class I took. He translated the Korean edition with Lee Yeong-hyeon.

Kim writes that he went to Yosemite before doing the translation. The landscape had changed since Muir’s summer, but I was struck by the care of a translator who wanted to see what the words referred to.

This is an account of looking and walking, with some days that will be slower to read than others. That pace makes sense once you start reading for what Muir notices along the way.

For a little while I could put my own schedule aside and spend time with people whose day depended on the ground, weather and animals around them.

Book details

My First Summer in the Sierra

Author

John Muir

Korean edition published

April 21, 2008

ISBN-13

9788983715388

View on YES24

We may earn a commission if you buy through the affiliate link in this article.