Edward Abbey

[articulate]

With the latest National Geographic Adventure magazine article on El Camino del Diablo (more accurately "the border issue"), I got curious about Edward Abbey.

​

And it turns out there is a fantastic article in the July/August issue of Orion magazine that contains several of his letters to various people. Senators, friends, editors, newspapers, and even one to Jon Krakauer that is utterly hilarious. My kind of desert lover.

In a letter from November 8, 1949:
Reminds me-Bud and I went antelope hunting last weekend with one other fellow. Bud's friend got one. Having neither license nor rifle I drove the jeep while others did the shooting. Quite exciting-driving off the road into the sagebrush over hills and down arroyos, rounding up the antelope like cattle. My but they're fast-we clocked one bunch at 40 miles and hour.

He admitted treading very unlightly in that letter, eh? Everybody's got a story, and everybody arrives from somewhere on the day they die with that story.

Go check it out.

Mark

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I read a couple of his books years ago... Monkey Wrench Gang & Desert Solataire (sp?). As I recall he wrote DS while living in a trailer at the VERY seldomly visted (at the time of course Arches National Park just minutes from Moab. I've been meaning to get around to reading some of his other works... one day.

 

[articulate]

Frankly, I've never read his work. But now I'm interested after reading these letters in Orion.

 

[Mike S]

I've read most of what was published by Abbey. Desert Solitaire and Beyond the Wall are the best, IMO. He is articulate. He is sometimes arrogant. And he was and elitist in a strange sort of way.

Read it, at least. You'll form yourown opinions.

Mike

 

[Wanderlusty]

I was surprised to find, when I researched him on Wikipedia, he was born and raised in the same county, Indiana County, PA, that my parents were from. In fact, his early years were spent in Home, PA, which was literally about 5 miles from where my dad grew up, in Marion Center, PA.

I wonder if he had ever heard of/about him. I will have to ask him some time.

Small world...

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

Abbey was a great writer and a great spokesman for the wild. However, his personal ethics sadly failed to live up to the standards he set for the rest of the community. He fathered, I believe, seven children - that's hardly leaving a light footprint on the earth. And in has waning days he drove an enormous, early 70s Cadillac El Dorado around Tucson.

My question is, if everyone wrote beautiful prose about wilderness and had seven children and drove 10mpg Cadillacs, would the world be better off or worse?

I have friends who would croak if they read this, including two who were with the group that buried Ed in the desert. Many still revere him; personally I loathe hypocrisy and I could never view Abbey's personal behavior with the amusement everyone else seemed to.

 

[bh4rnnr]

I read a couple of his books years ago... Monkey Wrench Gang & Desert Solataire (sp?). As I recall he wrote DS while living in a trailer at the VERY seldomly visted (at the time of course Arches National Park just minutes from Moab. I've been meaning to get around to reading some of his other works... one day.

I cant remember if Solitaire was written while in Arches or afterwords. Thinking afterwords.. One of my favorite books. Love his "master plan" for all the National Parks. Made a point to stop at Arches while at Cruise Moab this year. One of my favorite parts in the book is when he talks about Delicate. It was interesting reading about the park and how it was run in the olden days, before the changes, and seeing it now....

Also while at Cruise Moab this year, got talking with one of the guys from Proffitt's Cruisers. He was telling me how the guy that joined Abbey for the trip down the Flint and into the Maze is living in Aspen. Gues he ran into him one time..

 

[flywgn]

Abbey was a great writer and a great spokesman for the wild. However, his personal ethics sadly failed to live up to the standards he set for the rest of the community.... .

Jonathan, I agree. I had correspondence with EA in the late '70s. In a letter he even admitted this hypocrisy with a cavalier response. I'd throw a couple of his rejoinders in this reply except they are also in an MS that I have in progress.

We've floated rivers with Martin Litton and I found his comments about EA to be interesting as well. ML was a good friend of EA, but on a Green River (Desolation Cyn) trip in '84 he was more than candid in his comments about his good friend's behavior.

Ansel Adams was another who, while not speaking 'ill' of EA, had a couple of terse comments about EA's "not walking the walk."

I still admired EA's writing ability and used Desert Solitaire in some of my classes for years. I also admired the tenets of conservation that he preached, while not necessarily practicing them.

EA rationalized that El Dorado in an magazine article. I'll try to find it. It's among those :box: still in the garage.

Hayduke is still one of my favorite fictional characters.

Allen

 

[goodtimes]

He admitted treading very unlightly in that letter, eh?
Mark

Several years ago I read Desert Solitare by E. Abbey on the recommendation of one of the prof's at the college I was attending. While it was a good read, and had some good points to ponder (and also spurred my first trip to Moab)....I was rather concerned by the descriptions of his driving habits.

 

[Hltoppr]

I read Desert Solitaire at least once a year...my copy is old and tattered...

-H- :ylsmoke:

 

[articulate]

You guys are pretty damn slick. I quoted the old guy in my first about his blatant crosscountry driving over sagebrush and plantlife thinking that he must have (doesn't everybody?!?) changed his ways with maturity and conservationist thinking.

Perhaps not.

This took a wild turn down a road I didn't think existed....

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

I think that what Ed wished was that the West had stayed depopulate enough that it wouldn't matter if you drove over sagebrush chasing pronghorn or threw beer cans out the window or threw rocks at rabbits.

But then he had SEVEN CHILDREN. His own personal Paul Ehrlich Population Bomb.

 

[calamaridog]

I think that what Ed wished was that the West has stayed depopulate enough that it wouldn't matter if you drove over sagebrush chasing pronghorn or threw beer cans out the window or threw rocks at rabbits.

Ah yes, the good old days

 

[Wanderlusty]

I was surprised to find, when I researched him on Wikipedia, he was born and raised in the same county, Indiana County, PA, that my parents were from. In fact, his early years were spent in Home, PA, which was literally about 5 miles from where my dad grew up, in Marion Center, PA.

I wonder if he had ever heard of/about him. I will have to ask him some time.

Small world...

I asked my dad about him. He said he knew who he was. Had never met him that he can remember. My dad is a few years younger than he is. However, he did mention that he went to the same High School as my dad did. My grandmother is a teacher, and knew him, may have even taught him. I will have to ask her about that sometime. Also, my dad pointed out that in Home, PA, there is a historical marker designating the house where he grew up.

Like I said...small world....

 

[desertgirl66]

For all of Edward Abbey's hypocrisy and "not walking the talk" , I still love his beautiful descriptive writing in Desert Solitaire. I love his description of how the smell of burning juniper is one of the finest fragrances on earth!!

A curious fellow indeed!