Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness“Rough, tough, combative . . . a passionately felt, deeply poetic book.”—Edwin Way Teale, The New York Times Book Review “This is not primarily a book about the desert,” writes Edward Abbey in his introduction. “In recording my impressions of the natural scene I have striven above all for accuracy, since I believe that there is a kind of poetry, even a kind of truth, in simple fact. But the desertis a vast world, an oceanic world, as deep in its way and complex and various as the sea. Language makes a mighty loose net with which to go fishing for simple facts, when facts are infinite. If a man knew enough he could write a whole book about the juniper tree. Not juniper trees in general but that one particular juniper tree which grows from a ledge of naked sandstone near the old entrance to Arches National Monument. What I have tried to do then is something a bit different. Since you cannot get the desert into a book any more than a fisherman can haul up the sea with his nets, I have tried to create a world of words in which the desert figures more as medium than as material. Not imitation but evocation has been the goal.” |
Contents
The First Morning | 1 |
The Serpents of Paradise | 17 |
Rocks | 74 |
Cowboys and Indians | 102 |
Part II | 119 |
Water | 141 |
Rock and Tree and Cloud | 161 |
The MoonEyed Horse | 171 |
The Dead Man at Grandview Point | 259 |
Tukuhnikivats the Island in the Desert | 272 |
Into the Maze | 313 |
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Common terms and phrases
Arches Arches National Monument Billy-Joe birds blackbrush blue boats boots camp canteen canyon country canyon walls cliff cliffrose climb clouds Colorado Colorado River cottonwood cowboy coyotes crawled Creek dark dead Delicate Arch desert drink dust Elaterite eyes feet fire flowers Glen Canyon gopher snake Graham Grand Canyon green Hanksville head heat horned owl horse housetrailer human Husk Indians juniper leave ledge light living look Mesa miles Moab Moon-Eye mountains national parks Navajo Navajo Mountain never Newcomb night paddle Park Service pinyon pine pool quicksand rain Ralph ranger river road Roan Cliffs rock rope sand sandstone seems shade side canyon snake snow spring stone stream thing tion tourists trail trailer tree truck Tukuhnikivats turn uranium Utah Viviano wait walk watch Waterman wild wilderness willow wind