Archives of Joy
eBook - ePub

Archives of Joy

Reflections on Animals and the Nature of Being

  1. 160 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Archives of Joy

Reflections on Animals and the Nature of Being

About this book


"Beauchemin discovers again and again that happiness is a function of the connection between beings—the nonhuman animals as well as the human."—Maria Popova, A Favorite Book of 2023 For readers of Ross Gay's The Book of Delights comes a joyful, tender memoir of encounters with animals and their potential to transform our lives through joy. Two mismatched ducks quarrel amorously. A tortoise basks on a rock in the sun. Four deer ceremoniously visit a writer's garden to announce the arrival of a newborn fawn. In Archives of Joy, renowned poet, essayist, and novelist Jean-François Beauchemin turns his poetic and playful gaze to memories of animals he has known throughout his life, from fleeting encounters to deep relationships. With each meeting, Beauchemin returns to a simple thought: that joy in nature is an essential counterweight to the inescapable awareness of the brevity of life.In short, humorous, and often dreamlike vignettes, Beauchemin meditates on the mysteries of existence, the alchemy of memory, and the entwinement of the animal world with our own—whether he's nursing an injured bird back to health, deciphering the gaze of a judgmental cat, or keeping company with a workhorse nearing its death.

His life as a writer and his beloved pet dogs and cats feature often, as do the creatures he encounters in his garden, at farms, or on woodland walks: sparrows, crows, deer, foxes, horses, and cows. Deeply restorative, imaginative, and dreamily poetic, Archives of Joy is a memoir that will stay with readers long after its final page.

Frequently asked questions

Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription.
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete
  • Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
  • Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Both plans are available with monthly, semester, or annual billing cycles.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS or Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access Archives of Joy by Jean-François Beauchemin, David Warriner in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Biological Sciences & Essays on Nature. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Contents
  4. Author’s Note
  5. In the Forest
  6. Splash
  7. The Soul
  8. Dreamer
  9. A Visitor
  10. A Writer’s Life
  11. Announcement
  12. Running
  13. Before I Was Born
  14. Useful
  15. Happy People
  16. Adjectives
  17. Carefree
  18. Apollinaire
  19. A House Sparrow
  20. Be Convincing
  21. A Donkey
  22. A Crow
  23. War Wounded
  24. Real Life
  25. Peace
  26. A Fox
  27. Indifference
  28. Two Ducks
  29. Body and Thought
  30. Rainy Night
  31. Logic and Destiny
  32. Behind the Shed
  33. Inner Life
  34. Kinship
  35. First Steps
  36. During Death
  37. Enigmatic Questions
  38. Imagination
  39. Sleepless Night
  40. Root Cellar
  41. Whistling Bird
  42. What Would I Have Been?
  43. The Modern World
  44. Comma
  45. Poetry
  46. Trees
  47. Woe Is Me
  48. God’s Journal
  49. Winter 1975
  50. What There Is in My Memory
  51. A Supreme Discretion
  52. Vocabulary
  53. Everyday Life
  54. Four Dogs
  55. Spring
  56. Faith in the Future
  57. Glory
  58. Wing
  59. Beauty, Patience
  60. Fleeting Friendship
  61. Manuscript
  62. In the Field
  63. Strolling
  64. Dizzy
  65. Where Dreams Begin
  66. Purity
  67. A Woodpecker
  68. Joie de Vivre
  69. A Hare
  70. In the Garden
  71. Sources
  72. About the Author
  73. Copyright