Under the Sea Wind
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''Under the Sea Wind: A Naturalist's Picture of Ocean Life'' (1941) is the first book written by the American
marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others th ...
Rachel Carson Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist whose influential book ''Silent Spring'' (1962) and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental m ...
. Her book was published by
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...
in 1941; it received very good reviews, but sold poorly. After the great success of a sequel '' The Sea Around Us'' (Oxford, 1951), it was reissued by
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
; that edition was an alternate
Book-of-the-Month Club Book of the Month (founded 1926) is a United States subscription-based e-commerce service that offers a selection of five to seven new hardcover books each month to its members. Books are selected and endorsed by a panel of judges, and members c ...
selection and became another bestseller, and has never gone out of print. It is recognized today as one of the "definitive works of American
nature writing Nature writing is nonfiction or fiction prose or poetry about the natural environment. Nature writing encompasses a wide variety of works, ranging from those that place primary emphasis on natural history facts (such as field guides) to those in w ...
," and is in print as one of the Penguin Nature Classics.


Background

''Under the Sea Wind'' was based on the article ''Undersea'' previously written by Carson and was published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1937.Ferrara, Enzo. (2016). Undersea - Rachel Carson. 10.13135/2384-8677/1433. This work began as an eleven-page introduction to a government fisheries brochure, and grew into Carson's first book. Prior to the publishing of ''Undersea'', she wrote marine based radio scripts; these writings influenced her later works. The article broadcasts themes of ecology and the unwavering will to survive that marine organisms embody. After her article was published, Dutch-born children's author Hendrik Van Loon became interested in her work. He encouraged and supported her to continue this type of depiction of nature in her writing, as well as advised her about publishing. Rachel Carson furthered these messages from her article and expanded these perspectives in ''Under the Sea Wind''. These writing styles continued to appear in her following pieces. In the Penguin Classics publication, ''Under the Sea Wind'' was described as Carson's personal favorite book she authored. The failure to initially sell ''Under the Sea Wind'' is assumed to have been due to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and America entering World War II the same year the ''Under the Sea Wind'' was published. ''Under the Sea Wind'' was popularized with the publication of the second book in the Sea Trilogy, ''The Sea Around Us'', and it was this second text that truly established her as a natural history author.


Description

''Under the Sea Wind'' describes the behavior of organisms that live both on and in the sea on the Atlantic coast. ''Under the Sea Wind'' consists of three parts, each following a different organism that interacts with the sea, and viewing it from a personified organism's perspective. The first section, ''Edge of the Sea'', follows a female
sanderling The sanderling (''Calidris alba'') is a small wading bird. The name derives from Old English ''sand-yrðling'', "sand-ploughman". The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-colou ...
Carson names Silverbar. The second section, ''The Gull's Way'',  follows a
mackerel Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...
named Scomber, and the third section, ''River and Sea'' follows Anguilla, an
eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...
. The narrative follows these creature's migration habits over the span of a year. Viewing ocean life from a broader ecological perspective was crucial to Carson, rather than just isolating parts of the sea. The term "sea wind" was Carson's way of referring to the entirety of the shore, sea, and sky. Carson had a poetic way of writing about nature, while still maintaining the scientific accuracy of her observations. Her work draws connections between nature and home, the borders of interrelated communities, and the growing separation between man and nature. Carson took inspiration from natural history authors such as
Henry Williamson Henry William Williamson (1 December 1895 – 13 August 1977) was an English writer who wrote novels concerned with wildlife, English social history and ruralism. He was awarded the Hawthornden Prize for literature in 1928 for his book ''Tarka ...
and
Henry Beston Henry Beston (June 1, 1888 – April 15, 1968) was an American writer and naturalist, best known as the author of ''The Outermost House'', written in 1928. Early life and work Born Henry Beston Sheahan, he was born and grew up in Quincy, Massach ...
, and uses her scientific expertise to ground ''Under the Sea Wind'' in scientifically accurate detail on each animal's appearance, diet and behavior.Stewart, Frank. ''A Natural History of Nature Writing''. Island Press, 1995, p. 170. . Carson's stated goal of using poetic prose and personifying sea life was "to make the sea and its life as vivid a reality for those who may read the book as it has become for me during the past decade."Quaratiello, Arlene. ''Rachel Carson: A Biography''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2004, pp. 26–27. . This writing style brought scientific observations to a larger audience, and as stated by fellow marine environmentalist author Joel Hedgpeth in a review of the book, allowed for "turning the subject of the sea to a respectable reading matter for the clientele of the ''New Yorker'' and ''Reader's Digest'' sets, and inspiring a fashion in literature about the sea, its ways, and creatures." The style of Carson's writing makes the book suitable for children as well as adults, and the appeal is enhanced with illustrations, originally by Howard Frech. These were eventually replaced in 1991 with illustrations by
Robert W. Hines Robert W. Hines (1912-1994), was an American wildlife artist who had a long career with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Hines had virtually no formal training in art or in wildlife science, yet by the age o ...
. Though ''Under the Sea Wind'' is a story of struggle and chance survival, the style that Carson presents is in stark contrast to her later work, ''
Silent Spring ''Silent Spring'' is an environmental science book by Rachel Carson. Published on September 27, 1962, the book documented the environmental harm caused by the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading d ...
'', which is much more dire and analytical.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Under the Sea-wind 1941 non-fiction books Biology books Books by Rachel Carson Science books