ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on disorientation in the wild, and more specifically in the "seas and forests" that Yi-Fu Tuan has referred to as "unjelled, wild, and threatening manifestations of nature". The open sea and the forest offer narratives of disorientation, of unknown islands and sailing off course, and of "another" world at the limits of human reason: In all the lore of woods and wilderness, no story is quite so dramatic as that of the lost person. In the wood there are paths, mostly overgrown, that come to an abrupt stop where the wood is untrodden. They are called Holzwege. Although at the global level, deforestation continues apace, many countries maintain a significant level of forest cover – mostly accounted for by non-native varieties – due to the shift away from agriculture, the spread of industrial plantations, and reforestation policies.
