July 30, 1999

'The Poetics of Natural History: From John Bartram to William James'

By NINA C. AYOUB

Killer and savior, John James Audubon was a "kind of lethal father figure" for birds, writes Christoph Irmscher. He killed birds, then reanimated them for his art, stringing wire through their bodies, arranging them in lifelike poses, and drawing them for hours in a race against decay. His writings on avian beauty and behavior, and on the stalking pleasures of the hunt, convey a

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