When it comes to exploration, Dillard owns. This is a woman who's not afraid to brush a spider off her coffee cup or sleep alone with the windows open, even when a tomcat barges in and claws her face. Tomcat, shmomcat—she'll just stand in front of the mirror, study her reflection, and say poetic things about the blood. Leeches? Horsehair worms? Copperheads? No problem; all the more fodder for profound pontification.
Bottom line: If you're willing to live by yourself in a cabin in the woods, you're either a hardcore explorer, or you're one of those survivalists who stockpile packets of ramen noodles for the coming apocalypse. Dillard's the former, and her curious heart fills the pages of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.
Questions About Exploration
- How far from home do you have to go to be an explorer?
- How long does it take to fully explore a place? Does it depend on the place?
- Are humans the only species driven to explore?
Chew on This
Dillard explores the outer world as a means of exploring the inner one.
Exploring the smallest things is a means of understanding the largest.