John Tallmadge

John Tallmadge Ph.D., is an author of three books and many essays on issues related to nature and culture. He is currently a core faculty member of Literature and Environmental Studies at Union Institute and University (TUI) in Cincinnati, OH. He served as president of the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (A.S.L.E.) and director of the Orion Society. He is a U.S. Army veteran

Biography

John Tallmadge grew up in urban New Jersey. He attributes his urban upbringing with instilling in him "a childhood longing for lakes and forests" ( [http://johntallmadge.com Tallmadge Website] ). He increasingly experienced the natural world at Dartmouth College and visiting Big Sur and the High Sierra while in the Army. Those experiences encouraged him to explore nature writers like Thoreau and John Muir. The outdoors complimented the academic work that he was pursuing and he applied his undergraduate studies in comparative literature to his passion for the outdoors.

Patricia Hassler stated in a Booklist review that as a young idealist "Tallmadge sought the authenticity, power, and possibility of the wilderness by following the intellectual and physical trails blazed by Henry Thoreau and John Muir... he takes us along on his hikes to the High Sierra, Katahdin, and the Deeps and Canyonlands where, like some knight-errant, he proves himself over and over. If his teaching tenure is denied, Tallmadge realizes he has learned nature's lessons: just as water overcomes through nonresistance and the jack pine needs fire to release its seeds, man endures through spirit and faith."

His nature writing falls under the genre of ecocriticism, a term coined by William Rueckert in 1978. Its relatives include Thoreau, John Muir, Edward Abbey, and Aldo Leopold, to name just a few.

Tallmadge is married. He lives with his family in Cincinnati.

Professional Overview

Tallmadge graduated from Dartmouth College in 1969 "summa cum laude" before, as noted on [http://johntallmadge.com/about/professional.html his website] , the "Army preempted grad school"." He received his PhD from Yale University in 1977 in comparative literature. He proceeded to teach at Yale, the University of Utah, Carleton College, the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, and Dartmouth College, before settling at TUI. He served as a dean there from 1987 to 1992.

In addition to his academic work at TUI, Tallmadge worked as a consultant in developing curricula at Green Mountain College, University of Kentucky, and Antioch University New England. He consulted at Concordia College, Chatham College, the Roger Tory Peterson Institute, and the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History. He offers workshops on the themes of nature and human values, spirituality, and writing.

Besides his books, which have received [http://johntallmadge.com/writing/books.html critical acclaim] , Tallmadge has been published in the Utne Reader, Orion Magazine, Audubon, Whole Terrain, the Michigan Quarterly Review, the Interdisciplinary Studies inLiterature and Environment ISLE, the North Dakota Quarterly, the Emerson Society Quarterly, and Witness, among others.

Works

*Leslie, Clare Walker, John Tallmadge, and Tom Wessels. "Into the Field: A Guide to Locally Focused Learning" (Orion Society, 2005). ISBN 0-913098-52-3
*Tallmadge, John. "Meeting the Tree of Life: A Teacher's Path" (University of Utah Press, 1997). ISBN 0874805317
*Tallmadge, John, and Harry Harrington, eds. "Reading Under the Sign of Nature: New Essays in Ecocriticism" (University of Utah Press, 2000). ISBN 0874806488
*Tallmadge, John. "The Cincinnati Arch: Learning from Nature in the City" (University of Georgia Press, 2004). ISBN 0820326763

Articles Available Online

* [http://johntallmadge.com/writing/pdfs/tallmadge_scale.pdf A Matter of Scale]
* [http://johntallmadge.com/writing/pdfs/tallmadge_deerslayer.pdf Deerslayer with a Degree]
* [http://www.asle.umn.edu/pubs/handbook/tallmadge.html Meeting the Tree of Life]
* [http://www.asle.umn.edu/conf/other_conf/wla/1995/tallmadge.html Narrative Ecocriticism]
* [http://www.orionsociety.org/pages/oo/sidebars/America/Tallmadge.html The Nature of Terror]
* [http://web.ionsys.com/~remedy/The%20Wild%20Within.htm The Wild Within]
* [http://johntallmadge.com/writing/pdfs/tallmadge_nat_hist.pdf Toward a Natural History of Reading]

References

*Guest on * [http://www.anyplacewildtv.com/epi303.shtml#guest Anyplace Wild TV Show] , Season 3, Episode 3: "Chasing Thoreau's Ghost: Canoeing and Hiking in Maine"
* [http://www.asle.umn.edu/conf/other_conf/wla/1994/1994.html Defining Ecocritical Theory and Practice]
* [http://johntallmadge.com/ John Tallmadge's Website]
* [http://www.ericdigests.org/2003-5/writing.htm Primer for Outdoor Educators] from [http://www.ERICDigests.org ERICDigests.org]
*Union Institute and University Network [http://www.tui.edu/network/ob03255/IN_BRIEF.htm recently published books] Winter 2004-2005
* [http://www.ugapress.org/FMPro?-DB=Testdbwebsite.fp5&-Lay=Layout_1&-Format=books_details.html&-Token.1=Ecology&-Token.2=Ecology&-Token.3=Nature&-Token.4=&-RecID=43431&-Find University of Georgia Books]
* [http://www.wholeterrain.org/bio.cfm?Contributor_ID=270 Whole Terrain profile of John Tallmadge]

External links

* [http://www.asle.umn.edu/ A.S.L.E.]
* [http://www.unr.edu/cla/engl/isle/ I.S.L.E.]
* [http://www.orionsociety.org/ Orion Society]
* [http://www.wholeterrain.org/bio.cfm?Contributor_ID=270 Whole Terrain] link to Tallmadge's articles published in Whole Terrain
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=55lcDGAV9mY YouTube] video of Tallmadge discussing Thoreau