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Except instead of interesting prose and a provocative chapter about sabotaging construction machinery in Utah (which would, in my opinion, be the only appropriate subject of a chapter titled thus),

Randal Schulhauser wrote:And "The Marauders" has an appropriate subject of a chapter titled thus? Mould broken...

big_load wrote:What frustrates to me about Abbey's followers is how many enslave themselves to his weaknesses as if they were strengths.

big_load wrote:Rob, do you read arctic-oriented folks like Barry Lopez and Gretel Erlich? Farley Mowat is one of my favorites, although he sometimes escaped the bounds of literal truth (mitigated somewhat by later revelations).

PageRob wrote:I've been thinking about this for a little while, after reading some of the extensive selection that we have here at the dam's bookstore. There are a lot of nature/desert/wilderness writers out there. Most of them are forgettable. It is not that they don't describe compelling areas, but in general their work falls flat. I have wondered and pondered this for several years, trying to figure out why. Just this weekend I think I came up with an answer.
The non-standouts in the pack are a bunch of Abbeyphiles. They blindly follow in Abbey's footprints, hero-worshiping, pretending to be the next incarnation of Abbey while falling far short of their mark. In Cedar Mesa: Where Spirits Dwell, there is a chapter entitled "The Raid at Comb Wash Redux", in homage of the famous chapter in The Monkeywrench Gang. Except instead of interesting prose and a provocative chapter about sabotaging construction machinery in Utah (which would, in my opinion, be the only appropriate subject of a chapter titled thus), the authors give us a dud - a hike along Comb Wash, interspersed with quotes from TMG. What a letdown - basically the entire passage is saying "Abbey makes me want to go hike, and I'm mad that things have changed." Except without much character.
In Where the Rain Children Dwell, the author is another Abbeyphile. He states he hates hero worship, but then turns right around and says that he makes an exception in Abbey's case. His long winded and ultimately uninteresting chapter "Down the River with Ed and the Major" describes a float trip down the Green River with works by Powell and Abbey (hence the title). The chapter is generally monotonous, and while the back cover of the book says that the author deserves a place with Abbey and McPhee, I disagree. The chapter is dull, and his imagining ("true story" of seeing the ghost of Abbey) on a beach along the Green is especially tepid and trite.
One need look no further than the internet to see legions of Abbeyphiles marching along, cranking out little "tributes", talking about their favorite place here or there, and how pumpkin sad it is that the place is being destroyed, all in overly descriptive writing. ENOUGH! Enough I say! Regardless of if you hate or love Abbey, one must admit that he set the course for modern wilderness writing. All others, with few exceptions, fall under his umbrella. The four (or three, depending on your perspective) that escape the "write like Abbey" mold are Reisner, Krakauer, Childs, and Roberts. Is it any surprise that they are well known, then? They don't imitate an existing writer. Abbey didn't imitate Stegner, McPhee, or Muir - he broke the mold. I'm sick and tired of reading people that write like they're the Second Coming (of Abbey). It is high time someone else broke the mold.
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jeffmacewen wrote:I think we are losing a lot of great opportunities for narrative on wilderness experience simply because our society is so far detached from nature and so few truly wild areas remain.

PageRob wrote:Regardless of if you hate or love Abbey, one must admit that he set the course for modern wilderness writing. All others, with few exceptions, fall under his umbrella.

jeffmacewen wrote:He did Killing the Hidden Waters, did he not?

jeffmacewen wrote: How are we supposed to get people worried about the lack of water for growth in Tucson with disasters that dwarf such an issue being met with apathy on the global stage?