Joseph Wood Krutch

Explore the life of Joseph Wood Krutch (1893-1970) — American author, critic, and early environmentalist — his philosophy, works on nature and conservation, and his enduring insights.

Introduction

Joseph Wood Krutch was an American literary critic, biographer, and naturalist whose work bridged humanistic scholarship and environmental awareness. Born in 1893 and dying in 1970, he is especially noted for shifting in midlife from literary criticism to nature writing and conservation — and for articulating a pantheistic view of ecology and humanity’s place in the world.

His voice remains relevant in debates on environmental ethics, conservation, and the cultural relationship to nature. By combining literary sensibility with ecological concern, Krutch helped shape a tradition of American nature writing.

Early Life and Family

Krutch was born on November 25, 1893, in Knoxville, Tennessee.

He came from a family with artistic and intellectual leanings. His brother, Charles Krutch, became a noted photographer for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

Youth and Education

Krutch earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Tennessee in 1915. Columbia University in New York, receiving an M.A. in 1916 and later a Ph.D. in English literature by 1923.

During World War I, he served in the U.S. Army (1918).

His early training was thus in literature and criticism, rather than science — but over time he would bring that humanistic grounding to his ecological writing.

Career and Achievements

Literary Critic, Professor, and Biographer

Krutch’s early work was in literary criticism and biography:

• He became theater critic for The Nation in 1924, holding that post until 1952.

• He taught English and literary criticism at institutions including Brooklyn Polytechnic, Vassar, and notably at Columbia University from 1937 to 1952.

• His early books include The Modern Temper (1929), in which he criticized blind faith in scientific progress and examined disillusionment in modern culture.

• He wrote biographies, such as Samuel Johnson: A Biography (1944) and Henry David Thoreau (1948), combining scholarly depth with literary insight.

In 1955, Krutch won the National Book Award for The Measure of Man (1954), a work in which he contends that not all human phenomena are reducible to mechanistic science.

Turn to Nature Writing & Conservation

By the 1950s, partly for health reasons, Krutch relocated to Tucson, Arizona.

Some of his major works in this phase include:

• The Twelve Seasons (1949) — blending natural observation, human experience, and poetic sensibility.

• The Desert Year (1951) and The Voice of the Desert (1954) — meditative works on desert life and ecological cycles.

• The Great Chain of Life (1956), in which he probes humanity’s relationship with nature and condemns wanton destruction under the guise of sport.

• The Grand Canyon: Today and All Its Yesterdays (1957) — an exploration of the geology, ecology, and human meaning of one of America’s great landscapes.

• Essays in Human Nature and the Human Condition (1959), The Forgotten Peninsula (1961), More Lives Than One (autobiography, 1962), and And Even If You Do (1967).

Krutch’s thematic arc moved from cultural critique to a deeply felt ecological ethics — stressing that human beings must value nature intrinsically, not just instrumentally.

Historical Milestones & Context

Krutch’s lifetime spanned dramatic shifts: the rise of industrial modernity, two World Wars, the ascendancy of science and technology, the postwar boom, and the early stirrings of modern environmentalism.

He was contemporaneous with thinkers such as Aldo Leopold, and his work echoes the emerging American environmental consciousness of the mid-20th century.

His turn from criticism to nature writing can also be seen in the context of increasing ecological awareness after World War II — a time when the costs of industrial expansion and human detachment from nature were becoming more visible.

Legacy and Influence

• Pioneer of nature writing in the U.S.: Krutch helped shape an American tradition that treats nature, not merely as a backdrop for human drama, but as a subject worthy of reflection, wonder, and moral concern.

• Ecological ethic and pantheism: His work advanced a view that nature has intrinsic worth and that humans are part of a larger web of life.

• Cultural bridge: Because his training was in literature and criticism, he could speak to both humanities and environmental audiences — thus helping to integrate ecological awareness into mainstream intellectual life.

• Continued readership: Many of his nature essays and meditations remain in print; his perspective is often cited in studies of environmental ethics, literature, and conservation history.

• Institutional remembrance: At the University of Arizona, the Joseph Wood Krutch Cactus Garden was named in his honor (1980) to reflect his love of desert ecology.

Though not always categorized as an “environmentalist” in the way later activists were, Krutch’s work laid a philosophical and literary foundation for thinking about nature ethically and aesthetically.

Personality and Talents

Krutch was known for a calm, moderate voice — not strident or polemical, but persuasive, reflective, and infused with humility.

He combined deep reading, literary skill, and keen observational sensibility. His environmental writing is not just scientifically informed, but poetic, moral, reflective — allowing both mind and spirit to engage nature.

He was also nonconformist: uncomfortable with blind faith in technology or progress, skeptical of reductionist science, and attentive to the limits of human control.

Famous Quotes of Joseph Wood Krutch

Here are several oft-cited and evocative quotations attributed to Krutch that reflect his ecological and philosophical sensibilities:

“When a man wantonly destroys one of the works of man we call him a vandal. When he wantonly destroys one of the works of God we call him a sportsman.”

“The impulse to mar and to destroy is as ancient and almost as nearly universal as the impulse to create. The one is an easier way than the other of demonstrating power.”

“It is not ignorance but knowledge which is the mother of wonder.”

“If we do not permit the earth to produce beauty and joy, it will in the end not produce food, either.”

“Security depends not so much upon how much you have, as upon how much you can do without.”

These quotes convey his belief that human dominion over nature often masks a moral failing, and that wonder, restraint, and humility are essential attitudes toward the living world.

Lessons from Joseph Wood Krutch

1. Balance of intellect and reverence: A scholar can become a conscientious voice for nature — combining analytic clarity with moral and aesthetic sensitivity.

2. Limits of control: Krutch reminds us that progress and technology, unchecked, risk severing us from the natural foundations we depend on.

3. Intrinsic value of nature: He urged that nature be valued not merely for utility, but for beauty, mystery, and its own right to exist.

4. The poetry of ecology: Science and facts matter, but narrative, metaphor, and personal experience deepen our connection to nature.

5. Simplicity in living: Krutch’s desert years reflect a turn toward the contemplative life, in which one lives with less and observes more.

Conclusion

Joseph Wood Krutch’s life charts a remarkable journey: from literary criticism and biography to becoming a voice for nature and conservation. He challenged 20th-century optimism about scientific and technological dominion, reminding us that wonder, humility, and moral restraint are essential in our relationship with the living world.

His ecological vision — quietly persuasive rather than strident — laid groundwork for later environmentalism. For those interested in nature writing, environmental philosophy, or the cultural roots of conservation in America, Krutch offers a rich, contemplative resource.