Winterlust: Finding Beauty in the Fiercest Season

 

By Bernd Brunner

Greystone Books    2019

262 Pages           Nonfiction

I wanted to wait until there was a cold snap or a significant snowstorm to review Winterlust. I wanted to be sitting in my quiet, warm winter spot, watching the snow fall as I was reading. But like everything else this winter, nothing happened as expected and here it is January 31, and there is just now enough snow and cold weather to be what I would call “winter.” On the other hand, you have to remember that I grew up in northern Minnesota and have lived all my adult life in the snow belt of Michigan.

Winterlust is filled with interesting information about the history of winter, the reader always aware of the fact that people who have to survive winter now have it a lot better than people who survived winter in antiquity. Each chapter is filled with information about what people did to keep warm. We learn that the Japanese have a word for the first snowfall of winter, hatsuyuki. In the Norwegian town of Rjukan, people placed three large mirrors above the city to redirect scarce winter sunlight into the valley and cheer up the residents. In Montreal, residents have evaded the winter gloom by building a brightly lit network of tunnels “where half a million people can move about without ever having to come into contact with the cold air outside.” Most all of the significant buildings in my home town of Duluth, Minnesota are connected by heated over-the-street walkways. The University is connected the same way. You can get all over without having to go outside.

With a variety of word pictures and representative historic paintings, Brunner reminds us of all the beautiful things of winter. The book is so beautifully written, the reader can’t help but agree with Brunner that our lives would be much less without winter. As I was reading by the fire, gazing at tender flakes of snow falling outside, I celebrated my 78^th winter, happy to watch out the window but also happy to be inside—warm and cozy.

I will never forget watching a great scene in the movie Fargo, the one where the two men are talking to each other—parka hoods up over their heads and steam coming out of their mouths. When I saw the movie for the first time, I laughed out loud at the absurdity and appropriateness of that scene. Duh! I was in Kalamazoo, and I was the only one laughing.

Today, I watched the little boy across the street pile into a friend’s car with two or three sleds, obviously off for a snowy adventure. He was so excited. Some of my own grandchildren went sledding yesterday. That is the best of winter, and in Winterlust, Brunner reminds us of the best of winter as well, from the paintings through the centuries to the representative poetry and prose as well.

Here’s a good review in the Christian Science Monitor.

Bernd Brunner is a well-known German writer. His nonfiction titles include Birdmania and Bears, A Brief History.