Annie Dillard has carved a unique niche for herself in the world of American letters. Over the course of her career, Dillard has written essays, a memoir, poetry, literary criticism, and even a western novel. In whatever genre she works, Dillard distinguishes herself with her carefully wrought language, keen observations, and original, metaphysical insights. Her first significant publication, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, drew numerous comparisons to Henry David Thoreau's Walden and won the relatively young writer the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction.

In the years since Pilgrim appeared, Dillard's name has come to stand for excellence in writing, and she is a particular favorite of Christian and Roman Catholic critics for the way in which she writes about the mysteries of the natural world as evidence of a higher being. "Dillard's stature in American letters is approaching that of her precursor poet-essayist-transcendentalists, Thoreau and Emerson," declared Commonweal writer...