Richard Reitz

Internal Landscape, External Reality: Hunting, Fishing, Life, in Essay and Story Richard Reitz

Internal Landscape, External RealityThe author's adventures afield are told within the framework of personal essays or stories that intertwine action, feeling, and thought. He describes what it means to be an outdoorsman of ordinary means, but one with an extraordinary curiosity about why we do what we do in the pursuit of game and fish. He questions tradition, with logic and a wry humor at times, and pokes fun at fads, rationalization, and sometimes, himself. Hunting and fishing provide excuse for delightful equipment too, rods and guns and their many accessories, all special for the adventures they make possible and share. Overall the outdoors is treated as a special place, full of wonderful creatures, fine scenery, and the potential for modest adventures, alone or shared with companions, both human or animal. The impulse to examine a life enriched and defined by the time spent in the outdoors in the pursuit of game and fish, and indoors in the examination of its spoken and unspoken traditions provides the environment.