Wendell Berry, during a 2011 sit-in at the Kentucky governor’s office to protest mountaintop removal, expressed a sentiment that in many ways communicates the focus of his work: “I don’t think that people on our side have any right to assume a good outcome. I think that the real, authentic motive for doing what we’re doing is because it’s
right. And that has to be enough. If we have to have some guarantee that it’s going to be effective, sooner or later, we’ll become discouraged and quit” (Biggers). The author of well over fifty books of poetry, fiction, and essays, Berry has embodied this philosophy. Whether in his writing, his activism, his farming, or his teaching, Berry has remained committed to “the real, authentic motive for doing” anything in his life: because…
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Citation: Wiley, W Brett. "Wendell Berry". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 August 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=395, accessed 21 November 2024.]
