“But a taste for winter, a love for winter vistas – a belief that they are as beautiful and seductive in their own way, and as essential to the human spirit and the human soul as any summer scene – is part of the modern condition. […] A mind of winter, a mind for winter, not sensing the season as a loss of warmth and light, and with them hope of life and divinity, but ready to respond to it as a positive, and even purifying, presence of something else – the beautiful and peaceful, yes, but also the mysterious, the strange, the sublime – is a modern taste.”
Snow on the Common, Feb. 2011
“Winter’s persona changes with our perception of safety from it – the glass of the window, as I sensed in that November snowstorm, is the lens through which modern winter is always seen. The romance of winter is possible only when we have a warm, secure indoors to retreat to, and it becomes a season to look at as much as one to live through.”
Snow through the window, Jan. 2011
“There is a humane purpose to watching winter that is found simply in the acts of naming and describing. Winter is hard; the cold does chill; Demeter is mourning. And we oppose that threat with the quiet heroism of comfort. Central heating, double-paned windows, down coats, heated cars. But we also oppose the threatening blank bitterness of winter just by looking at it, and by saying what it’s like. […] Names are the footholds, the spikes the imagination hammers in to get a hold on an ice wall of mere existence.”
—Adam Gopnik, “Romantic Winter,” from Winter: Five Windows on the Season
I love Gopnik’s work, particularly Paris to the Moon, so when Zoe recommended this collection on the Booksmith’s blog, I had to check it out. And I love his take on the different facets of winter – thoughtful, well-researched and gently humorous. I’m hoping his words will help me weather my second Northeastern winter gracefully.
What words and books help you through winter?
cakes, tea and dreams 
Winter is indeed lovely, but not quite so much without the snow. We got our first snow here in New England yesterday (the Halloween storm doesn’t count) and something settled in me, very like a sigh of content.
The picture on the common is beautiful, so peaceful! Lovely words too.
“…it becomes a season to look at as much as one to live through.”
So lovely! And definitely something I need to work on doing more of.
I have come to enjoy all the seasons–although admittedly winter is more of a challenge because of the cold and the dark. There is stark serenity in winter – that I love and I especially love the silhouettes of trees at dusk. For me a winter sunset is one of the most beautiful sights nature offers. I live in Texas now and snow is not such daily reality but when I lived in the Northeast (Connecticut) I remember making myself go outside and take a walk in the snow on New Year’s day. It was sunny, so that helped make it more bearable. There was something about getting out in that freezing cold on the 1st day of the year that felt liberating. For me, finding and enjoying the beauty of the season somehow makes the other seasons sweeter as well!
love these words, and I so agree. I used to shrink from winter but now I bundle up, walk outside, and breathe in the icy air. We need the cold and the darkness, I think it helps us rest and prepare for all the growth and business spring brings.
[…] Comments « a mind for winter […]
[…] and the Meaning of Food, Adam Gopnik I love Gopnik’s work – Paris to the Moon and his book on winter are both lovely, witty, thoughtful and well written. This book has those attributes, but is much […]