Jim Harrison, Rustic Philosophy, and the Continued Comparisons to Hemingway

I’m starting with Jim Harrison as a subject, and for my first post in a while, for a reason: for me, there has been no one who has embodied as much of a philosophy of living — rustic, philosophical, literary — as Harrison. My ties to Harrison include the personal, and the tangential, but they also embody a respect for the man whose life and writing remain an indelible inspiration to many, including among those whom you might least expect.

The first issue to put to final rest: Some have made the mistake of comparing Harrison to Ernest Hemingway — both lived in northern Michigan and wrote about it; both had a rapacious love for good food and good wine…and both had a passion for life and all things outdoors. But Hemingway always seemed much more self-conscious; his solipsism, demons from depression and alcoholism, and need to remain larger than life seemed to detract from his work and even subsume his hard-won talents. I still cannot think of Hemingway without thinking of the influence of other writers and mentors, such as Sherwood Anderson and Gertrude…