‘According to the Rhythms of the Arid Lands’: Mary Austin’s 'The Land of Journeys’ Ending'

Abstract

This article aims to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between nonfiction women’s writing and nature within the North American literary tradition. In the United States, the association between humans and the natural world has primarily been a male-narrated experience, as nature, especially wilderness, has historically been a place for defining masculinity. In the final decades of the twentieth century, however, women’s literary responses to nature have received increased attention, and numerous critical works have currently identified a tradition of women’s nature literature in the United States. In this regard, I propose to read Austin’s The Land of Journeys’ Ending (1924), a lesser-known work that values the feminine voice, one that is attuned to the rhythms of the desert plains. The book, a hybrid form incorporating memoir, travel narrative, historical investigation, and ecological study, describes Austin’s journey through the Southwestern United States in 1923. Imbued with a feeling of wonder and respect for both the land and the people of the region, Austin explores how human and non-human lives adapt, survive, and bloom in the arid deserts of the Southwest. Contrasting with the urban, modern, glamorous rhythms of the Jazz Age, which characterized much of the literary work produced during the 1920s, Austin’s book exemplifies how the American Southwest was perceived through a woman’s writer perspective and how she responded to the discovery of the wild American landscape. In today’s world, where a mechanistic conception of nature prevails, I consider that Austin’s voice and her beliefs in adaptation, adjustment, and ecological sensitivity deserve to be heard.

Keywords

• mary austin
• the land of journeys’ ending
• women’s writing
• nature writing
• desert