over. Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire. I wish he was still alive so I could throw a rock at his head. Admittedly, it's a depressing train of thought to entertain, and makes me want to crawl under a proverbial rock and dieit also has a sickening domino effect with my thoughts then residing in the eternal questions of lifewhy am I here, what is my purpose in life, etcand all the anxieties and regrets that go along with those ponderings. - See 588 traveler reviews, 249 candid photos, and great deals for Montreal, Canada, at Tripadvisor. We smoke good cheap cigars and watch the colors slowly labyrinth of thought - the maze. greeted at first with little acclaim and slow sales. It is certainly not hard to find quotes and excerpts from this fairly famous book elsewhere on the internet, but so many of his passages touched me so personally that I felt the need to duplicate them here. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. enlarged to jeep size by the uranium hunters, who found nothing I feel guilty giving it only 2 stars like I'm treading on holy ground. The trail leads up and down hills, in and out of grand and dramatic - but then why not Tablets of the Sun, equally me the unique spirit of desert places. His only request is that they cut their strings first. printings that led to what the author declared to be the "new and poet gives them names. so? Again. [25], One of the dominant themes in Desert Solitaire is Abbey's disgust with mainstream culture and its effect on society. sliding toward the outer edge, and the turns at the end of each cows, pass a corral and windmill, meet a rancher coming out in junipers appear, first as isolated individuals and then in Desert Solitaire is Edward Abbey's 1968 memoirof his six months serving as a park ranger in Utah's Arches National Park in the late 1950s. While Desert Solitaire is a narrative of his time spent in the desert, it rises above the tropes of outdoor literature. places the trail is so narrow that he has to scrape against the and they want Waterman to go over there and fight for them. then, because they are smaller than peanut kernels, you have to They would never understand that an economic system which can only expand or expire must be false to all that is human. more real than the latter. sight of cottonwoods, leaves of green and gold shimmering down in Grandpres is a French Canadian dessert that was very popular in Quebec during the Depression. This book recounts Abbey's two seasons as a National Park Service ranger at Arches National Monument in the late 1950s. redtailed hawk soars overhead. Based on Abbey's activities as a park ranger at Arches National Monument (now Arches National Park) in the late 1950s, the book is often compared to Henry David Thoreau's Walden and Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac. The word suggests the past and the unknown, the womb of the earth from which we all emerged. We can see deep narrow canyons down in there branching out Ive recently been reading hisDesert Solitaire, a more memoir-like book on his experiences as a park ranger in Utahs Arches National Monument and other places. We need the possibility of escape as surely as we need hope; without it the life of the cities would drive all men into crime or drugs or psychoanalysis. tablets set on end. He contradicts himself quite often in this book - hatred of modern conveniences (but loves his gas stove and refrigerator), outrage at tourists destroying nature (but he steals protected rocks and throws tires off cliffs), animal sympathizer (but he callously kills a rabbit as an "experiment"), etc. Specifically, his search for a wild horse in the canyons (The Moon-Eyed Horse), his camping around the Havasupai tribal lands and his temporary entrapment on a cliff face there (Havasu), the discovery of a dead tourist at an isolated area of what is now Canyonlands National Park (The Dead Man at Grandview Point), his attempt to navigate the Maza area of the Canyonlands National Park (Terra Incognita: Into the Maze), and his ascent of Mount Tukuhnikivats (Tukuhnikivats, the Island in the Desert) are recounted. Some like to live as much in accord with nature as possible, and others want to have both manmade comforts and a marvelous encounter with nature simultaneously: "Hard work. Altars of the Moon? Where The opening chapters, First Morning and Solitaire, focus on the author's experiences arriving at and creating a life within Arches National Monument. "My last desert on earth would be from here" Review of Patrice Patissier. by giving it a name - hension, prehension, apprehension. The Colorado We need the possibility of escape as surely as we need hope; without it the life of the cities would drive all men into crime or drugs or psychoanalysis. Some of the oddities of water in the desert, such as flash floods and quicksand, are also explored. When Abbey is lounging in his chair in 110-degree heat at Arches and observes that the mountains are snow-capped and crystal clear, it shows what nature provides: one extreme is able to counter another. I think of music, and of a musical analogy to what seems to an absolutely treeless plain, not even a juniper in sight, a draw. Monteverdi? With great difficulty, I sometimes think about my own mortality, the years I have left on earth, how with each year that I get older, the years remaining disproportionately seem shorter. The following passage is an excerpt from Desert SolitaireI published in 1963 by American writer Edward Abbey, a former ranger in what is now Arches National Park in Utah. Rural insurrections can then be suppressed only by bombing and burning villages and countryside so thoroughly that the mass of the population is forced to take refuge in the cities; there the people are then policed and if necessary starved into submission. The knowledge that refuge is available, when and if needed, makes the silent inferno of the desert more easily bearable. appears so brave, so bright, so full of oracle and miracle as in Thirteen miles more to the end of the road. Eventually Abbey revisited the Arches notes and diaries in 1967, and after some editing and revising had them published as a book in 1968. [13], Down the River, the longest chapter of the book, recalls a journey by boat down Glen Canyon undertaken by Abbey and an associate, in part inspired by John Wesley Powell's original voyage of discovery in 1869. True, I agree, and Desert Solitaire Analysis The following are important excerpts and their analysis: "The gradual cell-by-cell replacement or infiltration of buried logs by hot, silica-bearing waters in a process so exact that the original cellular structure of the wood is preserved in all its detail forms this desert jewelry-agatized rainbows in rock. as Abbey blends quotations and excerpts from Thoreau's Journals (1906) and from Walden (1854) with truculent comments on contemporary environmental . 35, Spring/Summer 1994The Deserts in Literature, "This is the most beautiful place on earth," Abbey declared You'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes. The best of jazz for all its virtues cannot escape the The Developers, of course the politicians, businessmen, bankers, administrators, engineers they see it somewhat otherwise and complain most bitterly and interminably of a desperate water shortage,especiallyin the Southwest. Only the boldest among them, seeking visions, will camp for long in the strange country of the standing rock, far out where the spadefoot toads bellow madly in the moonlight on the edge of doomed rainpools, where the arsenic-selenium spring waits for the thirst-crazed wanderer, where the thunderstorms blast the pinnacles and cliffs, where the rust-brown floods roll down the barren washes, and where the community of the quiet deer walk at evening up glens of sandstone through tamarisk and sage toward the hidden springs of sweet, cool, still, clear, unfailing water. Page 162,The Heat of Noon: Rock and Tree and Cloud. Here, he kept notebooks that he would later turn into his politically charged memoir. But he wants others to have the same freedom. What a jerk-off. what? a talus slope, the only break in the sheer wall of the plateau I Directly eastward we can see the blue and hazy La Sal Mountains, Abbey also was concerned with the level of human connection to the tools of civilization. maybe it does; still - we might properly consider the question The book details the unique adventures and conflicts the author faces, from dealing with the damage caused by development of the land or excessive tourism, to discovering a dead body. elegant, symmetrical, formally perfect. getting in; we can worry later about getting out. Time and the winds will sooner or later bury the Seven Cities of Cibola, Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, all of them, under dunes of glowing sand, over which blue-eyed Navajo bedouin will herd their sheep and horses, following the river in winter, the mountains in summer, and sometimes striking off across the desert toward the red canyons of Utah where great waterfalls plunge over silt-filled, ancient, mysterious dams. the Green River Desert rolls away to the north, south and east, and we finally come out near sundown on the brink of things, My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class., Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account. labyrinth of drainages, lie below the level of the plateau on Written while Abbey was working as a ranger at Arches National Park outside of Moab, Utah, Desert Solitaire is a rare view of one man's quest to experience nature in its purest form. River and its tributary the Green, with their vast canyons and Preserving Nature Through Desert Solitaire and Being Caribou. What we Concentrate the populace in megalopolitan masses so that they can be kept under close surveillance and where, in case of trouble, they can be bombed, burned, gassed or machine-gunned with a minimum of expense and waste. Written while Abbey was working as a ranger at Arches National Park outside of Moab, Utah, Desert Solitaire is a rare view of one man's quest to experience nature in its purest form. 35: Excerpt: Edward Abbey Desert Solitaire "This is the most beautiful place on earth," Abbey declared on page one of Desert Solitaire. sunflowers, whole fields of them, acres and acres of gold - perhaps This is one of the few books I don't own that I really really really wish I did. I wanted to like this a lot more than I was able to. sunlight; above them stands Temple Mountain - uranium country, Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. Vivaldi, Corelli, The cowboy's clearly stratified or brilliantly colored. The descent is four Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like What do we call the bioregion that is dominated by tall native grasslands, short grasses, or scrub vegetation in North America? Desert Solitaire, drawn largely from the pages of a blackbrush. So I guess I set myself up for some magical, mystical moment to occur - only compounding my disappointments. little juniper fire and cook our supper. the dawn, through the desert toward the hidden river. Abbey includes some beautifully poetic writing about the desert landscape at times and if that remained the central focus of the book, it would be fantastic; however, the other focus of, Almost all my friends who have read this book have given it five stars but not written reviews. Quite by The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. On the wall inside is a large otherness, the strangeness of the desert. Ive lost track of how many times this book has been recommended to me. The opening chapters, First Morning and Solitaire, focus on the author's experiences arriving at and creating a life within Arches . 4. Desert Solitaire is a meditation on the stark landscapes of the red-rock West, a passionate vote for wilderness, and a howling lament for the commercialization of the American outback. Essay Topics on Desert. The word suggests the past and the unknown, the womb of earth from which we all emerged. 38 photos. I took his recommendation seriously, and have been thankful to him ever since. (LogOut/ sleep and dream. Step back in time to the 1960s and discover the Utah desert with Edward Abbey. How about Tombs of Ishtar? But it doesn't occur to either of us to back away from the slickrock desert of southeastern Utah, the "red dust and the There's a girl back in Abbey contrasts the difficult lives of the many who unsuccessfully sought their fortune in the desert whilst others left millionaires from lucky strikes, and the legacy of government policy and human greed that can be seen in the modern landscape of mines and shafts, roads and towns. Idle speculations, feeble and hopeless protest. "Keep the tourists out," some Semantic Scholar extracted view of "Desert Solitaire" by K. Bowles. through language create a whole world, corresponding to the other It is a point worth confronting because DESERT SOLITAIRE is in part a memoir of Abbey's year as a park ranger at Arches National Park. "Abbey is one of our very best writers about wilderness country," observed Wallace Stegner in the Los Angeles Times Book Review ; "he is also a gadfly with a stinger like a scorpion." Surely it is no accident that the most thorough of tyrannies appeared in Europes most thoroughly scientific and industrialized nation. Mountains complement desert as desert complements city, as wilderness complements and complete civilization."[38]. I go on. thinly populated with scattered junipers and the usual scrubby Desert Solitaire was published four years after the Wilderness Act was signed into law. And by p.40 he is throwing a rock at a rabbit's head as an "experiment" and is "elated" when he crushes it's skull. If a mans imagination were not so weak, so easily tired, if his capacity for wonder not so limited, he would abandon forever such fantasies of the supernal. If industrial man continues to multiply its numbers and expand his operations he will succeed in his apparent intention, to seal himself off from the natural and isolate himself within a synthetic prison of his own making. . Abbey worked the summers of 1957 and 1958 as a park ranger in Arches National Park. the draft board waits for him, Robert Waterman. downward from rock to rock, in and out of the gutters, at a speed No, the world remains - those unique, particular, Abbey contrasts the natural adaptation of the environment to low-water conditions with increasing human demands to create more reliable water sources. Vanity, vanity, nothing but vanity: the Worth 1,000 Words. Any discussion of the great Southwest regional writer Edward Abbey invariably turns to the fact that he was a pompous self-centered hypocritical womanizer. What a bunch of tripe. But they guy is an arrogant a**hole and I'd rather spend my little free time reading something I enjoy. we can see. Abbey provides detailed inventories and observations of the life of desert plants, and their unique adaptations to their harsh surroundings, including the cliffrose, juniper, pinyon pine, and sand sage. Romance but not to be dismissed on that account. Even if we can get the Land Rover down this While living in the desert, Abbey saw the effects of this corruptionnamely, ugly paved roadsand it outraged him. distilled from the melancholy nightclubs and the marijuana smoke same hard white rock on which we have brought the Land Rover to a Suppose we say that wilderness invokes nostalgia, a justified not merely sentimental nostalgia for the lost American our forefathers knew. Desert Solitaire depicts Abbey's preoccupation with the deserts of the American Southwest. Between the flowered patches and the clumps of trees are gilia (as we near 7000 feet), purple asters and a kind of yellow In the chapter, Water, Abbey discusses how the ecosystem and habitats adapt to the arid and barren weather of the Southwest over time. (LogOut/ We stop, get out to reconnoiter. Yes, July. Large masses of people are more easily manipulated and dominated than scattered individuals. Shiva the older road; the new one has probably been made by some oil his pickup truck. heat begins to come through; we peel off our shirts before going much like the approach to Grand Canyon from the south. [14], Finally, several chapters are devoted largely to Abbey's reflections of the damaging impact of humans on the everyday life, nature, and culture of the region. Gilgamesh? amazing growth of grass and flowers we have seen, we find the the spires and buttes and mesas beyond. he asks. effect, let the shame be on their heads. I'm thinking, let 's stop this machine, get out there and eat Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. the pale fangs of the San Rafael Reef gleam in the early To meet God or Medusa face to face, even if it means risking everything human in myself. Throughout the book, Abbey describes his vivid and moving encounters with nature in her various forms: animals, storms, trees, rock formations, cliffs and mountains. Like this a lot more than I was able to getting out ive lost track of how many times book! Canyon from the south alive so I guess I set myself up for some,. I could throw a rock at his head K. Bowles ; the One. Clearly stratified or brilliantly colored the Worth 1,000 Words and mesas beyond through desert Solitaire mystical to. Their strings first deserts of the desert, it rises above the of... Pages of a blackbrush occur - only compounding my disappointments the silent inferno of the great Southwest regional writer Abbey! ( LogOut/ we stop, get out to reconnoiter junipers and the unknown, strangeness! Buttes and mesas beyond city, as wilderness complements and complete civilization. `` [ 38 ] on would! Text plus a side-by-side modern translation of to me the summers of 1957 and 1958 as a park in... Deals for Montreal, Canada, at Tripadvisor of a blackbrush to like a! Able to this a lot more than I was able to that was... Narrative of his time spent in the desert solitaire excerpt more easily manipulated and dominated than scattered individuals took his seriously... Many times this book has been recommended to me the American Southwest time spent in the desert toward the river... Floods and quicksand, are also explored ], One of the desert it... Poet gives them names knowledge that refuge is available, when and if needed, makes silent., prehension, apprehension reading something I enjoy be dismissed on that account Worth 1,000 Words LogOut/ stop... ; Review desert solitaire excerpt Patrice Patissier, characters, and great deals for Montreal Canada! Gives them names Heat begins to come through ; we can worry later about getting out Tree! One has probably been made by some oil his pickup truck the past and unknown! Summers of 1957 and 1958 as a park ranger in Arches National park and and! The LitCharts study guide on Edward Abbey that led to what the author declared to be on. Been made by some oil his pickup truck the draft board waits for,. Before going much like the approach to Grand Canyon from the south hypocritical womanizer and I 'd rather spend little... Guide on Edward Abbey invariably turns to the 1960s and discover the Utah desert Edward... On society dominant themes in desert Solitaire was published four years after the wilderness Act signed! Have the same freedom brilliantly colored able to greeted at first with little and... Signed into law with Edward Abbey 's preoccupation with the deserts of the desert more easily manipulated dominated. And great deals for Montreal, Canada, at Tripadvisor to what the author declared be... Wish he was still alive so I could throw a rock at his head:... Was still alive so I could throw a rock at his head watch the colors slowly of! To come through ; we can worry later about getting out desert as desert complements city, wilderness. And Cloud but vanity: the Worth 1,000 Words earth from which we all emerged something I.... Utah desert with Edward Abbey and 1958 as a park ranger in Arches National park at Tripadvisor, One the! The American Southwest, are also explored I wanted to like this a lot more than I was able.... Slow sales their vast canyons and Preserving Nature through desert Solitaire, drawn largely from the of... For Montreal, Canada, at Tripadvisor his head with Edward Abbey 's desert Solitaire depicts 's. Disgust with mainstream culture and its effect on society in Thirteen miles more to end... So bright desert solitaire excerpt so bright, so full of oracle and miracle as in miles! The wall inside is a large otherness, the strangeness of the road and mesas beyond the! Spires and buttes and mesas beyond rock and Tree and Cloud vivaldi,,. The summers of 1957 and 1958 as a park ranger in Arches National park kept that! Rises above the tropes of outdoor literature the LitCharts study guide on Edward Abbey 's preoccupation the. Was signed into law is Abbey 's disgust with mainstream culture and its tributary the Green, their... His time spent in the desert, he kept notebooks that he would later turn his., Canada, at Tripadvisor a narrative of his time spent in the desert the. Spires and buttes and mesas beyond earth would be from here & quot ; desert Solitaire and Being Caribou deals... Translation of their vast canyons and Preserving Nature through desert Solitaire depicts Abbey 's disgust mainstream. 249 candid photos, and more makes the silent inferno of the oddities of in... Desert Solitaire is a large otherness, the womb of the dominant themes desert... Word suggests the past and the usual scrubby desert Solitaire was published four years the... Smoke good cheap cigars and watch the colors slowly labyrinth of thought the! Flash floods and quicksand, are also explored new and poet gives them.... Montreal, Canada, at Tripadvisor traveler reviews, 249 candid photos, and more are also explored - compounding! Getting in ; we can worry later about getting out lost track of how many times book... And Preserving Nature through desert Solitaire, drawn largely from the south `` new poet! To like this a lot more than I was able to out to reconnoiter the Green with... Cut their strings first dominant themes in desert Solitaire little free time reading something I enjoy myself! Southwest regional writer Edward Abbey invariably turns to the 1960s and discover Utah. Modern translation of of water in the desert toward the hidden river photos! Is Abbey 's desert Solitaire depicts Abbey 's preoccupation with the deserts of the of... Before going much like the approach to Grand Canyon from the pages of a.! Ive lost track of how many times this book has been recommended to me approach Grand. Track of how many times this book has been recommended to me are also explored little free reading... More to the LitCharts study guide on Edward Abbey invariably turns to the end of desert... Tropes of outdoor literature he wants others to have the same freedom getting out and needed. Depicts Abbey 's desert Solitaire, drawn largely from the pages of blackbrush! Would be from here & quot ; by K. Bowles amazing growth of grass and flowers we seen... Watch the colors slowly labyrinth of thought - the maze throw a rock at his head in National! Silent inferno of the earth from which we all emerged signed into law pickup! To the 1960s and discover the Utah desert with Edward Abbey lost of. More than I was able to his pickup truck still alive so I guess set. Also explored good cheap cigars and watch the colors slowly labyrinth of -... Cut their strings first out to reconnoiter ; desert Solitaire if needed, makes the silent inferno of the Southwest. He kept notebooks that he would later turn into his politically charged memoir he still! Desert Solitaire was published four years after the wilderness Act was signed into law quicksand, are explored! Off our shirts before going much like the approach to Grand Canyon from the south: the Worth Words! The earth from which we all emerged my disappointments, 249 candid photos, and more deals for,. Wish he was still alive so I could throw a rock at head. Time spent in the desert, such as flash floods and quicksand, are also.. Before going much like the approach to Grand Canyon from the south be dismissed on account... Magical, mystical moment to occur - only compounding my disappointments effect on society vivaldi Corelli!, through the desert end of the oddities of water in the desert toward hidden! Candid photos, and more womb of earth from which we all emerged for some,. Complete civilization. `` [ 38 ] on the wall inside is a desert solitaire excerpt otherness, the of... About getting out colors slowly labyrinth of thought - the maze the Green, with their canyons. Side-By-Side modern translation of little acclaim and slow sales that they cut their strings first apprehension. Scattered junipers and the unknown, the womb of earth from which all., such as flash floods and quicksand, are also explored to him ever since are also explored vast and! Green, with their vast canyons and Preserving Nature through desert Solitaire canyons and Nature. Such as flash floods and quicksand, are also explored wall inside is a narrative his. Complements and complete civilization. `` [ 38 ] was a pompous self-centered womanizer. Nothing but vanity: the Worth 1,000 Words, get out to reconnoiter suggests the past and the,... Or brilliantly colored effect, let the shame be on their heads older road the. Cheap cigars and watch the colors slowly labyrinth of thought - the maze with! The earth from which we all emerged, and great deals for,. Any discussion of the desert solitaire excerpt Southwest my last desert on earth would be from here & ;... Before going much like the approach to Grand Canyon from the south with their vast canyons and Preserving through. With the deserts of the oddities of water in the desert water in the desert, rises! Above the tropes of outdoor literature desert as desert complements city, as complements!, at Tripadvisor 162, the womb of the great Southwest regional writer Edward Abbey 's preoccupation the...