The naturalist, photographer and writer Edwin Way Teale, wrote of Abbey that he was "like a ride on a bucking bronco...rough, tough, combative...a rebel and an eloquent loner."
But in the comments on Monday's post, frequent commenter "Grizzled," an eloquent man himself, put it even more colorfully and just as accurately:
"Who but Abbey…. A contrary, wonderful man, gifted writer, with a voice never afraid to cry out or cuss out, as the occasion demanded—and the Perpetual Commander-in-Chief, Head Druid, and Unquenchable Guiding Light of the estimable Monkey Wrench Gang.... Tortured, self-destructive, prickly and warm, the desert and hoodoo rocks of the Southwest never had a better voice…or friend.... In all his life and wanderings never saw a grizzly bear."
And for all those reasons and more, Abbey is one of my heroes.... I thought I would share just a few of my favorite gems from Abbey:
"My job is to save the fucking wilderness. I don't know anything else worth saving." ~George Hayduke in The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975)"One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothing can beat teamwork." ~Seldom Seen Smith in The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975)
"Heaven is home. Utopia is here. Nirvana is now." ~Abbey's Road (1979)
"We're all undesirable elements from somebody's point of view." ~Abbey's Road (1979)
"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds." ~Earth Apples: The Poetry of Edward Abbey (1994)
More about Edward Abbey at Abbey's Web.
Oh dear, I think I've found a new favourite poet/writer. Having never heard of him I did a wiki search on Edward Abbey to discover more on this "desert anarchist". I loved this excerpt (along with all the other quotes there):
ReplyDeleteon his death..." He wanted his body transported in the bed of a pickup truck. He wanted to be buried as soon as possible. He wanted no undertakers. No embalming, for Godsake! No coffin. Just an old sleeping bag... Disregard all state laws concerning burial. "I want my body to help fertilize the growth of a cactus or cliff rose or sagebrush or tree." said the message.
How beautiful....I have wondered that churches and undertakers have become places just to process dead bodies that even non-religious people are forced in the end to succumb to or resign themselves to finish their lives there. Even the thought of being officially prepared for burial by a stranger disturbs me.
another great quote:
On government: "Society is like a stew. If you don't stir it up every once in a while then a layer of scum floats to the top"
Oh dear, I think I will have to print out all these quotes of Edward Abbey -they are just to good to leave in my computer :)
Edward Abbey is on my reading list!
Bella
Bella,
ReplyDeleteI'm smiling big here. And quite glad to have introduced the two of you. :)
Happy reading and pondering.
Addit:
ReplyDeleteCan you suggest a book by Abbey?
I was thinking of starting with "The Monkey Wrench Gang" for fictional entertainment but wouldn't know which non-fictional work best? Although from the quotes I think I may have to read all of his writings :)
Bella
Bella,
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, you can't beat Desert Solitaire. Like I said in the post, I think it's his masterpiece. I think a lot of Abbey aficionados would agree with me too.
That said, it's all good and all entertaining. :)
Abbey is a wonderful and inspiring read, that's for sure. I've just taken down my copy of 'Desert Solitaire' from the shelf and opened a double page at random. It's just as I remembered. Poetic, powerful stuff - his thoughts and observations exploding like fireworks all over the place. And what other writer would team Neapolitan ice cream, Gilgamesh, Shiva, Rilke, and a campfire breakfast all within the short space of a few paragraphs?
ReplyDeleteI do so agree with you about that whole funeral business, Bella. Having organised my father's - which finally took place yesterday - I think 'processing' is just about the right word. I know there are various alternatives (woodland burials and so on) but it's just so much easier to go down the conventional route. The Methodist chapel service was moving, however - and a surprising number of people turned up (my father was a staunch Methodist all his life). But the committal ceremony in the crematorium afterwards was brutally short and heartless.
I've read Desert Solitaire a couple of times, and the Monkey Wrench Gang once. I'm always tempted to return to Abbey. Maybe it's time.
ReplyDeleteSo, in summary:
ReplyDelete"While I may be pretty dumb and undesirable, I know that nirvana is now if I can save the fucking wilderness in order to walk the crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous trails that will lead to the most amazing view."
I have never read Abbey (gasp!) but I will now. Thank you for sharing some of his wisdom.
What a great post on Abbey (not because you put that bit of mine in there, either!) and the quotes are priceless.
ReplyDeleteAbbey was an eloquent loner, though often a loner amid a group of like-minded friends who shared the same love of wild places and wild things (the wild life in the drinking, carousing sense, too), whose bloodstreams contained the DNA gene for anarchy, a distrust bordering on loathing for authority, authority figures, politicians, most laws, and men who regularly wore neckties.
He knew how to rage—and how to rage with a roar in print. No similar voice has ever taken his place…nor will it ever.
His friends carried him out into the desert to die, and from what I know of it, his death was not easy, but was endured without complaint. He was buried secretly, out there, in land he knew and loved. No more fitting a resting place could have ever been found.
I think I have every single book of Abbey's. The one I read most often is Desert Solitaire. The whole Abbey is in that one, and it is definitely the place to start.
Again, great post!
I may have to dig out my copy of Desert Solitaire. I've read nearly everything of Abbey's. Have you seen "Lonely are the Brave", the film adaptation of "The Brave Cowboy"? It's a pretty good movie, and Cactus Ed himself makes a cameo appearance.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear you like prickly and combative characters... ;)
ReplyDeleteWow, thank you everyone for your great comments here. I don't think I can add anything to your eloquence and enthusiasm. And I am very glad to have inspired all of you to either look at or revisit Abbey,
ReplyDeleteVal, by george I think you're getting it. ;)
SW,
You and yours remain in my thoughts. I wish you mush peace, or as the Buddhists say..."metta" (lovingkindness).
Bella,
Did you read the praise here of Desert Solitaire? :)
Sylvia,
ReplyDelete;)
Okay already. Would you believe over the last year Desert Solitaire has crossed my path so many times and I still haven't picked it up? To the point of being in a second hand bookstore and a man walks in and asks for it by name - loudly - right in front of me as if to say, what part of another knock on the head to you need? Not sure why but someone somewhere wants me to read it. In the bad old days, we'd call that "sign posts" remember? :)
ReplyDeleteI shall find me a copy post haste and if not you can nudge my forehead with one of your canoe paddles...
K.,
ReplyDeleteI have to chuckle at this.
Happy reading, and I do hope you like it.
I think this shall remain as the best comment I have ever posted.
ReplyDelete"While I may be pretty dumb and undesirable, I know that nirvana is now if I can save the fucking wilderness in order to walk the crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous trails that will lead to the most amazing view."
I am going to print it out, frame it and put it above my desk as a reminder ...
Val,
ReplyDelete:)