Barry Holstun Lopez (January 6, 1945 – December 25, 2020) was an American author, essayist, nature writer, and fiction writer whose work is known for its humanitarian and environmental concerns. In a career spanning over 50 years, he visited more than 80 countries, and wrote extensively about a variety of landscapes including the Arctic wilderness, exploring the relationship between human cultures and nature. He won the National Book Award for Nonfiction for Arctic Dreams (1986) and his Of Wolves and Men (1978) was a National Book Award finalist.[1] He was a contributor to magazines including Harper's Magazine, National Geographic, and The Paris Review.
Early life
Lopez was born Barry Holstun Brennan on January 6, 1945, in Port Chester, New York,[2][3] to Mary Frances (née Holstun) and John Brennan. His family moved to Reseda, California after the birth of his brother, Dennis, in 1948. He attended grade school at Our Lady of Grace during this time.[4] His parents divorced in 1950, after which his mother married Adrian Bernard Lopez, a businessman, in 1955. Adrian Lopez adopted Barry and his brother, and they both took his surname.[3] Barry Lopez experienced years of sexual abuse as the victim of a serial child molester posing as a doctor who went by the name Harry Shier.[5][6]
Lopez's essays, short stories, reviews and opinion pieces began to appear in 1966.[7] In his career of over 50 years, he traveled to over 80 countries, writing extensively about distant and exotic landscapes including the Arctic wilderness, exploring the relationships between human cultures and wild nature.[3][8] Through his works, he also highlighted the harm caused by human actions on nature.[9] He was a contributing editor of Harper's Magazine and a contributor to many magazines including National Geographic, The Paris Review, and Outside.[3][10] Until 1981, he was also a landscape photographer.[11] In 2002, he was elected a fellow of The Explorers Club.[12]
A number of Lopez's works, including Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping with His Daughter (1978), make use of Native American legends, including characters such as Coyote.[15]Crow and Weasel (1990) thematizes the importance of metaphor, which Lopez described in an interview as one of the definitive "passion[s]" of humanity.[16]
James I. McClintock describes Lopez as an admirer of Wendell Berry.[17] McClintock further observes, referring to Arctic Dreams, that Lopez "conjoin[s] ecological science and romantic insight".[18] Slovic identifies "careful structure, euphony, and an abundance of particular details" as central characteristics of Lopez's work.[19]
His final work published during his lifetime was Horizon (2019), an autobiographical telling of his travels over his lifetime.[20]The Guardian describes the book as "a contemporary epic, at once pained and urgent, personal and oracular".[21] A collection of essays, some of which had previously been published and others of which were new to the public, was published posthumously by Penguin Random House under the title Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World (2022), with an introduction by Rebecca Solnit.[22]
Lopez's first marriage to Sandra Landers in 1967 ended in a divorce in 1998. He married Debra Gwartney in 2007.[3] After the property surrounding their long-term home near Finn Rock on the McKenzie River in western Oregon was burned in the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire, the couple moved temporarily to Eugene, Oregon.[64][3]
Lopez died on December 25, 2020, from complications of prostate cancer, in Eugene, Oregon.[65][3]
^Hymes, Dell H. (1979). "Lopez, 'Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping With His Daughter: Coyote Builds North America' (Book Review)". Western Humanities Review. 33 (1): 73. ProQuest1291780352.
O'Connell, Nicholas (2015). On Sacred Ground: The Spirit of Place in Pacific Northwest Literature. University of Washington Press. ISBN978-0-295-99478-9. OCLC911591750.
Interview with Barry Lopez about the adaptation of Crow and Weasel for the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis, ALL ABOUT KIDS! TV Series #157 (1994)
