About the Author

Jeffrey Greene is the author of the memoir French Spirits and three collections of poetry. He lives in Paris.

Reviews

The Golden-Bristled Boar is an elegant book that looks at the landscape and ecology of what would seem to be or most inelegant natural neighbor?the star of dark paintings and angry fables, as well as, by family connection, the food of colonial America. Jeffrey Greene leads you deep in the forests of Burgundy?befriending hunters and biologists, and, along the way, bedazzling with stories of wild boar invasions throughout the swine-filled world. When you come out the other side, you are changed, not just in how you think about boars as a creature, but in how you think of them as the centerpiece of an ancient and wonderful country feast. - Robert Sullivan, author of Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants

A truly fascinating, lucidly written, informative, entertaining, and valuable contribution to the growing canon of pig literature, or even of literature in general. - William Hedgepeth, author of The Hog Book

Deep maps lay bare the soul of a place by revealing the stratifications of its natural and cultural history, charting the lives, natural cycles, and stories intersecting there. In a way, The Golden-Bristled Boar, along with Greene's entire oeuvre, is an act intent on deep mapping his adopted home. - Rain Taxi Review of Books

He [Greene] introduces us to a fascinating cast of experts, from museum curators to scientist to hunters and chefs (who share recipes) to residents of chateaux who have lived in the same ancient countryside with generations of boars. - ParlerParis.com

In investigating an animal that can strongly alter its environment through sheer numbers and constant rooting, and that is firmly entrenched in human folklore (Norse goddess Freya rode a wild boar), Greene patrols the woods in search of boar compagnie (groups of females and young), visits museums in search of boar specimens and boar art, and studies the hunt and its aftermath, the feast. Complete with delectable-sounding recipes, this elegant portrait enchants. - Booklist

Mr. Greene's descriptions have the clarity one would expect from a poet, whether sketching the striped young boars, called marcassins, playing rough and tumble while looked over by the older sows, or recounting an old boar's happy mud bath.... A fascinating portrait of rural France and its cherished rites emerges as Mr. Greene negotiates the intricacies of la France profonde.... Eclectic to the end. - Wall Street Journal

The gift of a wild boar carcass from a friendly provincial neighbor prompted a journey into discovering the secretive lives of the wild boars in the region. Part memoir, part historical examination, this book weaves a story that includes boars around the world and ways this species has influenced human cultures over time. - CHOICE

This book is really about the ways in which fragments of our environment splinter off into our imagnation where like seeds they may grow into myths, dreams, poems, or passions connecting us to matrix from which they sprang. - Linda Lappin - Rain Taxi

This book has me so hooked on these beastly creatures, that I became fascinated by how many boar tchotchkes I could find. I wanted to buy them all up and send them to Jeffrey [Greene] as gifts, but decided against cluttering up his own magnificant presbytery-turned-home in Burgundy into Fred Sandford's junk yard.