Sherri Wilson
Book Analysis
 
 Scott Russell Sanders', Writing from the Center, is a loosely connected
series of essays probing into his center perceptions of life, inspiration
and writing. One of the most dominating themes in the book is that of
location. After spending years in England earning his PhD, Sanders realized
he needed to return home. It is only when he begins to reflect on home,
"describing people and places I thought I had left forever…I finally wrote a
few lines worth keeping" (152). The struggle as a writer returning to the
center of the continent, the midwest, I that it is an area that the
intelligencia view as dull and uninspiring. There is no great history of
profound writing coming from the center of America. Sanders struggled with
the temptation to move to the outer fringes of the continent where
"real-life" was taking place. Sanders knew the common conception that worthy
writers suffer and walk outside the norm when he states "I knew that writers
are supposed to be eccentric, but I could not force myself to go very far
off-center" (151).  Sanders emphasized the importance of being steadfast.
Although it is risky as a writer to stay immobile, he challenges Americans
who believe that life must be sought out, that it must lie somewhere beyond
the home and community. Sanders has learned that
 No matter where we live, the energy of creation flows in each of us, every
second.
 We can feel it in heartbeat and dream and desire; we can sense it in
everything that
 Grows; from bacteria to beechtrees, from babies to butterflies. (162)
This realization is where Sanders finally found his true inspiration comes
from. Finding the center of his life, the center of his emotions, the center
of creation, and being in the center of nature is where Sanders can find
truth and experiences that are worth writing about.
 One of Sanders greatest abilities is to take small moments, snippets and
stories from hi life and intertwine them to bring about a profound
realization or statement about life. He makes the reader see things in a new
way, by being apart of the world, living within creation, instead of being
on the world, using creation for human needs. A reoccurring purpose in the
book is looking at nature and mankind's relationship with nature. Sanders'
nature writing echoes that of Thoreau's in Walden. He does not simply
observe nature, but studies it in great detail. He searches for a way to
"leap" into creation. "In tales of Shamans the world over, men and women,
make just such leaps, into hawks or snakes or bears, and then back into
human shape, their vision enlarged, their sympathy deepened" (123). This is
the kind of relationship Sanders believes we should search for with nature.
He cannot separate the needs and goals of humans from the earth around us.
All these things exist together, each depending and reacting to the other.
This idea is where much of Sanders' writing stems from. He would be
considered a nature writer, but in a different way than people like Kline.
His relationship is more than watching nature; it is about finding a way to
become apart of nature, not to separate himself out of creation. He writes that
 The stage is crowded with life, the stage is teeming, the stage is the main
story.
 The only durable community is the one that embraces the whole of the planet,
 wild and tame. We need to find ways of speaking about the great community
 without drawing lines between nature and society…that I what I'm trying to
 find, a way of thinking about the whole of life, human as well as nonhuman,
 in all its dazzling array. (138).
 Sanders' writing grabs hold of the basics, of the important, simple
realness of living. His pages are filled with inspirational and thought
provoking lines you could find of a Hallmark card. I found his writing to be
the kind where the reader cannot help but be in conversation with. I caught
myself nodding in agreement, making noises of understanding and
contemplation. I feel this is a true sign of great writing, to draw reaction
from the reader as if the author was speaking directly to him/her.
 The only section that way difficult to fit in with the rest of the stories
was "The Writer in the University." Although I understood its significance,
I felt it drew the reader away from the flow of the rest of the book.
Sanders is warning writers about the danger of becoming a professor while
trying to write. This theme seemed to tick out from the other in the rest of
the book. I did not feel that it connected well with the other pieces; it
could have been its own other topic in another book.
 I found Writing from the Center to be extremely well written. I appreciated
his honesty drawing the reader into his life. I also admired his contrariety
against most of the writing community. He refuses to become someone he is
not in order to be a great writer. He proves that it does not matter from
where you come from, or what you are writing about that matters, it is how
you write and with how much truth that inspires. Sanders says it best when
he writes
 There is much to be said for writing from the edge, and it has been said
over and
 over. In our infatuation with edges, we have scorned the center, a word that
 carries for me spiritual and psychological as well as geographical
meanings…The
 truth about our existence is to be found not in some remote place or extreme
 condition but right-here and right-now; we already dwell in the place worth
seeking.
 I write from with in a family, a community, and a landscape, concentric
rings of duty
 And possibility. I refuse to separate my search for a way of writing from
my search
 for a way of living. (164)