Healthy Otters, Healthy Planet
Otter Country: An Unexpected Adventure in the Natural World by Miriam Darlington (Tin House 2024)
Review by Sam Wilber
Otter Country by Miriam Darlington is in a long tradition of nature writing by poets, essayists, biologists, and scientists. The book follows Darlington’s quest to find otters on the English coast. Her journey lasted over a year, mostly fueled by her childhood fascination with animals. Backed with extensive research, Darlington curates a compelling narrative of her encounters with otters and the animal’s literary appearances.
Otter Country is reminiscent of Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (1974), a Pulitzer Prize winner and a seminal text of the nature writing genre. Dillard weaves together personal observations from hiking through the Virginia woods and textbook-style facts about the natural processes around her. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is well-known for Dillard’s inclusion of religious musings on the natural world, as a modern-day Henry David Thoreau or Ralph Waldo Emerson. Following the same vein, Darlington’s episodic text mixes her personal observances of otters on the English coast with varying historical anecdotes and scientific breakdowns of the otter’s ecosystem. Darlington updates Dillard for the twenty-first century by addressing environmental destruction and climate change. Through the lens of the humanities, Darlington ponders the otter’s position in the rivers, in England, and in the universe. By reflecting on the otter’s behavior, she invites readers to pay attention to our changing and deteriorating environment.
Like Dillard, Darlington separates Otter Country into thematic essays. Each section is divided by geographical location, but as one might expect for an essayist interested in the humanities, Darlington begins in the “Spirit Level.” Darlington is invested in what otters mean to her on a spiritual level. She recounts stories and poems from her childhood that ignited her obsession with these creatures. Otters instilled wonder within her and respect for the nuances of the natural world. Before embarking on a journey to see an otter in person, Darlington had never seen the animal with her own eyes. Darlington’s approach to the physical world is comprehensive; she understands the interconnectivity of spiritual and physical.
By tying the otter to the spiritual health of a person, Darlington is able to prepare her readers for one of her primary trains of thought throughout Otter Country. If the health of animals is connected to the health of the human race, perhaps humans might be more concerned with ecocritical issues such as climate change. While her readers are not necessarily otter hunting in their backyards, Darlington gently suggests readers should still care about the health of otter population.
Historically, otters have been hunted for their fur and meat. Beginning in the eighteenth century, otter exploitation has continued in some variation into the twenty-first century. Darlington recounts stories of trappers hunting otters to near extinction. Although explicit otter hunting is not as intense as in the early days of trapping, Darlington still attempts to both describe and preserve the secrecy of otter’s habitats throughout the country. Darlington’s trek to observe otters is laden with decisions to preserve the otters without ruining or impeding on their ecosystem. By intermixing past hunting narratives with her current circumstances, Darlington creates a blended sense of time in Otter Country. The past and present lives of otters in England are intertwined, suggesting that the exploitation of the past still impacts the present. Her mix of factual tidbits and personal anecdotes accomplishes the same task; Darlington is connected to the otters and their world as much as they are connected to ours.
Darlington’s narrative ends on a hopeful note. Even as two human swimmers disturb what was once a popular otter residence, Darlington assumes the absence of otters does not equal extinction. She hopes the otters are simply somewhere else, in “some new stream or marsh [she has] yet to explore” (284). Although conscious of environmental destruction and a decreasing otter population in England, Darlington is hopeful for the future of otters and our treatment of their environment. Her ending reflection reminds readers of the otter’s resilience. Despite humanity’s frequent disregard for the health of the environment, nature and animals remain adaptable and capable of change. Climate change and environmental stories tend to be doomsday narratives, but Darlington offers instead a sense of wonder regarding the otter’s adaptability amidst crisis. Otter Country is a natural heir to Dillard’s nature writing legacy, one appropriate for the contemporary issues of our ecosystems.
Sam Wilber double majored in English and Biblical Studies at Palm Beach Atlantic University, and recently graduated with a Masters in English from James Madison University. You can find more book reviews on her Instagram, @whatsonsamsshelf.
