Out of the Woods Seeing Nature in the Everyday by Julia Corbett. 219pp. University of Nevada Press,. 2018.
He’s Out of the Woods
The "out of the woods" idiom, dating back to ancient Rome, refers to someone returning after being lost in a forest. In modern urban society it is more often a metaphor for economic conditions or the weather or someone's health. For author Julia Corbett it took on a profoundly personal meaning after an emergency room nurse used the expression referring to her father, who had suffered a stroke, not knowing that he had literally collapsed in the woods behind his home and lay there for hours before searchers found him. In the title chapter of her book examining how we interact with nature, Corbett says "the cultural phrase conveys that woods are full of danger and difficulties, a place one must leave to be safe and secure." But for her father and herself, the opposite was true: it was a place of solace and joy. After her father passes, Corbett and her brother carry his ashes back to the woods. "We sprinkled ash behind his log pile and near the lilacs for rains and worms to blend into the soil. We sobbed. Dad and his woods were inseparable now; he would never be out of the woods again."