Berry's literary work contains twenty-one essays on a variety of topics centered on an agrarian lifestyle and economics. Berry offers an alternative way to live, contrary to the fast-paced, stressful, and demanding way of life in urban America. His book highlights five main areas of study: agrarian fundamentals, agrarian critique of culture, agrarian religion, geobiography, and agrarian economics.
In the essays, Berry offers a dynamic departure from the norm in terms of evaluating the important influences of life and the benefits of agrarian living. Berry is not only an accomplished writer and Stanford professor but also a landowner who runs Lanes Landing farm. Therefore, he can speak with authority to the merits of working the land organically and living in nature daily.
He addresses more than just economics and farming, as Berry appeals to the many aspects of living, especially religion. He boldly critiques a worldly, selfish way of living and presents the argument that God can change lives. Berry shares his own Christian perspective as to how God's love can help bring wholeness and completion to all people.
I take literally the statement in the Gospel of John that God loves the world. I believe that the world was created and approved by love, that it subsists, coheres, and endures by love, and that, insofar as it is redeemable, it can be redeemed only by love. I believe that divine love, incarnate and indwelling in the world, summons the world always toward wholeness, which ultimately is reconciliation and atonement with God.
Berry also addresses the merits of a strong marriage, as he asserts that marriage should be more of a mutually-strengthening partnership which benefits society. He consistently supports the idea of interdependence, not isolation.
What marriage offers - and what fidelity is meant to protect - is the possibility of moments when what we have chosen and what we desire are the same. Such a convergence obviously cannot be continuous. No relationship can continue very long at its highest emotional pitch. But fidelity prepares us for the return of these moments, which give us the highest joy we can know; that of union, communion, atonement...
The Art of the Commonplace is a collection of twenty-one essays written by Wendell Berry. The essays cover a variety of topics relating to agrarianism. Ultimately, Berry argues for an agrarian lifestyle that is very different from contemporary urban life. The essays paint a lifestyle that reduces stress and increases health. Berry poetically identifies the importance of the connection between humans and their environment. He analyzes how urban culture removes us from our environment. He argues for a return to farming culture. Furthermore, he promotes a responsible relationship to the land. He sees himself as deeply connected to the earth around him. As such, he takes precautions to care for it. He explores his upbringing and the many influences that have brought him to this way of thinking. Berry then argues against the American ideology of exploitation. He connects this way of thinking to race and gender inequity in a very poignant way.
The Art of the Commonplace by Wendell Berry is an essay collection first published in 2002. Wendell Erdman Berry (born August 5, 1934) is a farmer, poet, essayist, novelist, and environmental activist whose works are infused with Christian faith, pacificism, and a deep-rooted love for and understanding of the land, seen from the perspective of a practicing organic farmer. He is an extremely prolific author who has received numerous awards for his work.
The Art of the Commonplace collects and excerpts material written by Berry over two decades. Despite the wide chronological span of the book and a deepening and broadening of Berry's understanding of humanity in relationship to nature, the central theme of human flourishing as rooted in connection with the land, the importance of spiritual values, and opposition to consumerism and economic exploitation have remained constant throughout his career.
The book is divided into five sections. “A Geobiography” summarizes Berry's family history in an extended meditation on farming and land use and how they reflect and give rise to ethical and spiritual modes of living in the world. “Understanding Our Cultural Crises,” the second part of the book, elucidates the connection between agribusiness, the growth of corporate power, and human exploitation in all its forms. Parts 3 and 4, “The Agrarian Basis for an Authentic Culture” and “Agrarian Economics,” offer solutions to the problems caused by corporatization, economic inequality, and spiritual collapse by a revival of agrarianism and reasserting our connections to land and nature. Finally, “People, Land, and Community” argues against techno-optimism, urging responsible use of technology rather than heedless pursuit of new technology and economic growth without adequate consideration of possible unintended consequences.
The Art of the Commonplace is a collection of essays split into five sections. In this volume, Wendell Berry uses his writing and farming experience to discuss the benefits of agrarianism. His argument stems from the belief that once people become more connected to the land, societal and personal ills will be reduced as a result.
Essentially, if someone is interested in learning more about Berry’s agrarian principles, then each essay will provide a glimpse into why he endorses agrarianism. His career, ancestry, historical knowledge, and observations about the current culture all play a part in his vision for where humankind should be headed. Since the environment belongs to everyone, it is necessary that we do our best to preserve the land and prevent current problems from affecting future generations.
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