Summary of The Outermost House (Amazon):
A chronicle of a solitary year spent on a Cape Cod beach, The Outermost House has long been recognized as a classic of American nature writing. Henry Beston had originally planned to spend just two weeks in his seaside home, but was so possessed by the mysterious beauty of his surroundings that he found he "could not go."
Instead, he sat down to try and capture in words the wonders of the magical landscape he found himself in thrall to: the migrations of seabirds, the rhythms of the tide, the windblown dunes, and the scatter of stars in the changing summer sky. Beston argued that, "The world today is sick to its thin blood for the lack of elemental things, for fire before the hands, for water, for air, for the dear earth itself underfoot." Seventy-five years after they were first published, Beston's words are more true than ever.
Reviews:
Videos:
a. Summary of the book and its impact: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGk6aBXM_os
b. Outermost House History Walk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuCO9bGuAN8
c. Don Wilding Presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR3hqBcHfnM
d. DVD: https://www.amazon.com/Henry-Bestons-Cape-Cod-Meditations/dp/B007IWNZ00
e. Dune Shack Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMHwDp6Nhak
e. Dune Shack Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMHwDp6Nhak
Cape Cod Eels
Friends of Henry Beston: http://www.henrybeston.com/aboutsite.html
(NY Times)
Life Span of Animals:
Cape Cod Birds (blog): https://capecodbirds.org/
Phosphorescence: https://www.capecodtimes.com/business/20160712/these-beaches-glow-neon-blue-in-middle-of-night--heres-why?
(Cape Cod Times)
In a collection of essays, "Finch pays tribute to the Outer Beach’s impressive literary legacy, meditates on its often-tragic history, and explores the strange, mutable nature of time near the ocean. But lurking behind every experience and observation―both pivotal and quotidian―is the essential question that the beach beckons every one of its pilgrims to confront: How do we accept our brief existence here, caught between overwhelming beauty and merciless indifference?"
Reviews:
NYTimes: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/02/books/review/outer-beach-thousand-mile-walk-cape-cod-robert-finch.html
CS Monitor: https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2017/0608/The-Outer-Beach-captures-the-sense-of-enchantment-found-on-Cape-Cod
(Montclair shipwreck exposed in 2017)
WCAI- NPR: Cape and the Islands: Essays by Robert Finch: https://www.capeandislands.org/people/robert-finch#stream/0; https://www.capeandislands.org/post/sands-monomoy#stream/0
Video: https://vimeo.com/226825238
(Weneedavacation.com)
A Cape Cod Notebook: https://www.capeandislands.org/people/robert-finch#stream/0
Visiting Cape Cod:
1. https://www.visitcapecod.com/
2. https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-guide/cape-cod
3. https://www.massvacation.com/regions-towns/cape-cod-the-islands/
4. https://www.planetware.com/tourist-attractions-/massachusetts-cape-cod-us-ma-ccod.htm
5. https://www.weneedavacation.com/Cape-Cod/Outer-Cape-Cod-info/
Visiting Cape Cod Virtually: https://www.capecodchamber.org/things-to-do/virtual-experiences/
Relationship between Beston and Finch and documentary film:
http://blogs.capecodonline.com/cape-cod-henry-beston/2014/04/25/finch-interviewed-for-beston-film/
Discussion Questions (Heidi will be leading the discussion):
1. Have you ever visited Cape Cod? If yes, which beaches did you visit? What time of year was your visit? What did you see?
2. As Beston’s daughter states in an interview about her father’s writing, “he was a slow and painstaking writer, revising and polishing every sentence, every turn of phrase --- sometimes taking an entire morning to complete one sentence”. How did you find his writing? Do you have any favorite passages?
3. How do the authors compare in their observations, descriptions, focus, writing styles? Reflect on the quotes included at the beginning of Finch’s book.
4. Finch evokes several authors, Thoreau, Richardson and but especially Beston (pp 59, 90, 105, 112, 126, 128, 131, 132, 139, etc.) How does he incorporate these other writings into his book? What was his relationship with Beston?
5. How does Beston’s description of the beach compare to your own thoughts about the beach? Did Beston’s writing bring you to see it in a new light? How about Finch?
6. During winter and now the pandemic, how do you spend your time? How did Beston?
7. Both authors discuss often what one finds along the beach, during the night, after a storm, etc. What items have you found over the years? Which ones did you find interesting from the books? Shipwrecks, wreckage, phosphorescence, dogfish, wooden stones, etc. (Beston: pp 57, 122, 178; Finch, pp 61, 89-91, etc. )
8. Discuss the many animals that both authors encounter on the outer beach, from birds, to skunk, skates, eel, etc.
9. Discuss the origins and specially the everchanging landscape of the Outerbeach including intense erosion, every moving shoals, emersion of springs, cliftes, etc. that both authors speak at length about. What are you seeing at the beaches you visit?
