Raising Hare

Nature memoirs are a sub-genre of memoirs in which the author reflects on their personal experiences as they relate to nature or the environment. They exist at the intersection of autobiography and nature writing and contain elements of each genre. Nature memoirs often focus on one specific place, time period, or event and weave narration about writer’s life with observations about the natural world. Writers typically choose one set of themes to explore and use their memoir as a way to contemplate their own experiences as well as introduce readers to an environmental issue. Common themes are the impact of grief and loss, personal growth, and aging combined with an exploration of climate change, human encroachment on wild habitats, deforestation and urbanization, or an in-depth look at a particular animal species.

The sub-genre is often dated to Henry David Thoreau’s Walden (1854), an account of the two years the author spent living in a small cabin on Walden Pond. Thoreau simplified his life, immersed himself in nature, and even grew his own food in an attempt to regain some measure of the peace and autonomy he felt he’d lost by growing up in a capitalist society.