Abstract
John Muir (1838–1914) wrote about nature sensuously and erotically. Born in Scotland and raised by a harsh Calvinist father in rural Wisconsin, John was sadistic to animals and suffered childhood trauma which was almost lethal. As an adult he was a leader of environmental protection, founded the Sierra Club, and is responsible for Yosemite National Park and the growth of America's national park system. The author brings to bear empathic counter-transference considerations from the development of his own erotization of nature in his effort to understand Muir. The irony of national parks is their success—nature has been humanized. Where Muir's intention was to protect the wilderness, the parks now cater to millions of people who abuse, contaminate, and destroy it.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Boyer, L. (1998). Personal communication. Wilderness Manager, Yosemite National Park.
Clarke, J. M. (1980). The life and adventures of John Muir. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.
Erikson, E. (1959). Identity and the life cycle: Selected papers. New York: Interational Universities Press.
Erikson, E. (1969). ''A personal word'' in Gandhi's truth: On the origins of militant nonviolence. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Freud, S. (1910). The future prospects of psychoanalytic therapy. S.E., XI, 144–145.
Freud, S. (1911). Formulations on the two principles of mental functioning. Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works, XII.
Freud, S. (1915). Observations on transference-love (Further recommendations on the technique of psychoanalysis III). S.E., XII, 160.
Freud, S. (1915). Thoughts for the times on war and death. S.E., XIV, 282.
Freud, S. (1936). A disturbance of memory on the Acropolis. S.E., XXII, 244–247, passim.
Fromm-Reichmann, F. (1950). Principles of intensive psychotherapy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hoagland, E. (1985). ''Introduction'' to John Muir, The mountains of California. New York: Penguin.
Mack, J. (1978). Psychoanalysis and biography: A narrowing gap. Journal of the Philadelphia Association for Psychoanalysis, 5.
Muir, J. (1894). The Mountians of California. New York: Viking Penguin
Muir, J. (1909). Stickeen. Berkeley: Heyday Books, 1981.
Muir, J. (1911). My first summer in the Sierra. New York: Penguin Books.
Muir, J. (1912). The story of my boyhood and youth. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Muir, J. (1913). Muir to Henry Fairfield Osborn, July 15, Bade, The life and letters of John Muir. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1924, II.
Muir, J. (1914). Muir to C. Hart Merriam, February 11, in William Frederic Bade, The life and letters of John Muir. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1924, II.
Sandler, J., Dare, C. & Hodler, A. (1973). The patient and the nalyst: The basis of the psychoanalytic process. New York: International Universities Press.
Searles, H.F. (1965). Collected papers on schizophrenia and related subjects. NewYork: International Universities Press.
Southern Sierran (February, 1998). 54, 2, 4.
Spence, D. P. (1982). Narrative truth and historical truth: Meaning and interpretation in psychoanalysis. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Spence, D. P. (1987). The Freudian metaphor: Toward paradigm change in psychoanalysis. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Stoller, R.J. (1979). Sexual excitement: Dynamics of erotic life. New York: Pantheon Books.
Stone, L. (1961). The psychoanalytic situation. New York: International Universities Press.
Winnicott, D.W. (1957). The child and the outside world. New York: Basic Books.
Winnicott, D.W. (1964). The child, the family, and the outside world. London: Penguin.
Wolfe, L.M. (1978). Son of the wilderness: The life of John Muir. Madison: Universsity of Wisconsin Press.
Yerushalmi, Y. H. (1991). Monologue with Freud. In. Freud's Moses: Judaism terminable and interminable. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Loewenberg, P. John Muir and the Erotization of Nature. Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies 2, 365–381 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010127006859
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010127006859