DOCSLIB.ORG

Edward Abbey Indiana

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Edward Abbey Indiana Edward Abbey Indiana Born and raised on a farm in nearby Home, Penn­ sylvania, Edward Abbey is one of the more important environmentalist writers publishing today. A long-time lover of the American Southwest, he now resides in Wolf Hole, Arizona, "a ghost town, population zero, even the ghosts moved out, even the wolves.': He is the aut_ho; of the beautifully poetic nature classiC Desert Sollta1re, and has written commentarY. for a number of nature­ photography works, including Slickrock with Philip Hyde and Appalachian Wilderness with Eliot Porter. His novels include Jonathan Troy, The Brave Cowboy, Fire On The Mountain, Black Sun, an·d, most recently, The Monkey Wrench Gang, a highly controversial work concerning the tactics of a sma II but fervent band of eco­ raiders operating against the mining interests which are currently ravaging the canyon country of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. On December ninth and tenth of last year , Abbey gave a series of readings and lectures to a number of classes and assorted gatherings on the Indiana campus. The follow ing are excerpts from the evening lecture and an interview conducted with the editors of The New Growth The passion for beauty, the beauty of Arts Revue. pa ssion ... ha ve been the guiding ideals, seldom fulfilled but always there, of my entire life. (Photo by Debra Sampsell) • from the "interview ... I don'! realLy know how the National Park Service feels about The Monkey Wrench Gang. I have a few 1 don't think preaching and co mplaining will do much friends there who I ike the book and feel the same way good. Bu t 1 do think that economic pressures will slow about those matters, as I do. These are not higher-up ad­ down the growth, development, as they call it. I think a ministrators, however. better way of life may be forced upon us. We will resist it, maybe, although some pollsters say that the majority of Americans are quite willing to simplify their ways of I 'm sure a lot of people are involved in night work. living, willing to give up material goods in exchange for You just get so frustrated and fed up sometimes. clean air, clean water. Probably doesn't so·much good to go out and tear down a billboard or shoot a few insulators off a power line, bu t it I don' I know how the rumor about my being a poet got makes you feel good. And it seems so much more effec­ started. I've written an awful lot of poetry, but none of it tive than writing a letter to a congressman or making a is good enough to try to print or publish. Desert statement at a hearing. · · Solitairez Poetical prose, ma y be . but it's not the same thing as poetry, in my opinion: I would like to write good I suppose it's possible to afford too much overt poetry, but I haven't tried very hard. violence. It might be, as they say, sort of counter­ corrective. Perhaps, I don't know. I never really got attached to a camera, and I'm T he non-violent approach of such groups as mighly g lad of it. I think it's a regular nuisance on any Greenpeace is probably a much better tactic . I think it's sort of outdoors trip. I like to look a t good photographs, a wonderful idea .. and wish them luck. I jus t ha ven't and I'm glad that other people are willing to do that kind thoug ht about it hard enough to make those sort of of work. Bu t for me it would just interfere with my en­ methods apply to, say, the prevention of strip mining or jo ymen t of the natural scene to look at everything powerplant building. You can sit do wn in front of a through the lens of a camera, not being able to look at bul ldozer, but only until the sheriff's deputies drag you anything without imagining it as a photograph. I think away, or ·run over you. the camera puts up a barrier between you and the natural world. I think the typewriter does, too, but I do.n't worry about that now. M y rel igious convictions? They're pretty vague. I was rai sed a presbyterian, butt hat didn' t take at all. I could call m yself a paiute, I'm a sun worshiper, a rock I've worked a fire tower several times, in different worshiper, a tree worshiper, a life worshiper, a woman places. It used to be that all writers wer e ambulance worshiper. But I don't use the word god very much, I drivers in war. Now, all writers are fire lookouts. In don't know what it means, I haven't had any personal fact, I was once offerd a job at the same lookout that aquaintance.with such a being. I wouldn't call myself an Snyder and Kerouac worked at. Somewhere up in atheist, either, because that's also a definite stand. Who Wa shington. Turned it down, I went back to the North knows? R im of the Grand Canyon, which was the nicest place I I believe in mystery, in the unknown. That's what ever worked at. see out there, and in here. I ha ven't given up on this area (western Penna .) en­ There's a mystical streak that creeps into my vironmentally, but because I no longer live here, I'm not ty pewriter now and then. I'm not sure whether I really primarily concerned with it. Most people who do live mean it or whether I just like the ideas and words. here don' t care about it enough to fight fori t. I think Pennsylvania is a very beautiful place in so When I think of contemporary poets that I really ad­ many respects. There are probably more trees in this mire, whose poetry really moves me, I think of Robert state than in any other. And yet, what you see f rom the Creeley's early stuff, of Jim Harrison. But I don't really highways is so depressing. try to keep up with contemporary poetry, so I have un­ doubtedly missed a lot. Shellac is more effective than karo •. in the fuel tank. Snyder is one of my heroes, although I like him more, · All the mormons believe that conservation is a com­ I think, for his ideas, his essays, than for his poetry munist p lot. But I get along alright in Utah, ha ve a few itself . The poetry seems a little flat, I don't get any thrill good friends there. I live near Moab. and it's not a or excitement out of his poems. But I certainly admire typical Utah town. There are okies and texans, people his ideas, theway he lives and what he says. drawn by the mining industry. Of course, they're not conservationists - but at least they're not mormons. I never liked Patchen's poetry very much . I like Rex­ I 'm sure they don't read books, Moab has no book store roth for his essays and his translations from the at all. There. is one little shop that sells paperbacks and Chinese has a lot of pinball machines. ' ' I'm writing another novel. It's a· futuristic Western, in the making of decisions, to have a hand in things, to opens with a couple characters riding into Phoenix on participate. I was tired of obscurity, I wanted to be horseback in the year 1999. Phoenix is burning down. famous, like everybody else; at least for ten minutes, Horses are grazing among the sand dunes on Central like [Indy Warhol promised. Avenue. Now I'm older and, maybe, a little wiser (Can one grow wiser without knowing it? Hope so.); and certainly a bit disillusioned. So it's clear to me now that the One of the reasons I was so glad to get out of college writing of words, the making of books, is not a very im· was that I finally had time to read a good book instead of portant activity in our society, that it makes no major those awful text books. difference. After nine books and some 900,000 words, I realize that I am still only another passive bystander, like Uncle Merle; tha-t there are those who make things I started here, at Indiana, in 1947 or '48, and had my happen, those who watch things happen, and those who last classes at New Mexico in '56- .t hat's what, eight or wonder what the hell happened, and most writers, I'm nine years? Then it was a couple years after that that I afraid, belong in that third category. finally got my Master's thesis written, so I say ·ten The writer in America operates in a strange vacuum years. Philosophy and English were my majors. of seeminly total freedom. I can say or write anything I But I didn't spend all that time doing nothing. My wish and get away with it, even get paid for it, because practice was to go to school for a term and then drop out no one cares, or cares very much, or only a few. We for a term and do something else. I hardly ever went two writers in America have lost any and all sense of a con­ consecutive semesters. I couldn't stand it- too boring.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Bancroftiana 110.Pdf
    BANCROFTIANA PUBLISHED OCCASIONALLY BY THE FRIENDS OF THE BANCROFT LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 9472O-60OO *& HO March 1997 cI(etrospe^i & Prospeffi ANUS-LIKE, Bancroft faces forward to the ty, as the first step toward the creation of a Jpast and backward to the future. As an insti­ strategic plan to deal with the issues most crit­ tution dedicated to conserving the past as well ical to Bancroft as we head into a new century. as making it come alive for the future, we must The review committee was chaired by David every so often re-examine both our roots and Farmer, Director of the DeGolyer Library at our route, where we have come from and where Southern Methodist University; other mem­ we are going. bers were Genaro Padilla, Vice Chancellor for These thoughts are motivated by the year Undergraduate Affairs, Joe Duggan, Associ­ just past, my first as the James D. Hart Direc­ ate Dean of the Graduate Division, Bill Sim­ tor of The Bancroft Library. It has been both mons, Dean of Social Sciences, Richard Walk­ exhilarating and exhausting. I am profoundly er, Chair of the Department of Geography, grateful to the Bancroft staff and to the mem­ Ling-Chi Wang, Associate Professor of Eth­ bers of the Council of the Friends, particularly nic Studies, Elizabeth Witherell (UC Santa to Chair Tom Worth, who has been a tower of Barbara), General Editor of the Papers of strength, and to Peter Hanff, who has guided Henry David Thoreau, and Charles Weiner me through the intricacies of the management (MIT), Professor of History of Science.
    [Show full text]
  • A Rhetorical Study of Edward Abbey's Picaresque Novel the Fool's Progress
    California State University, San Bernardino CSUSB ScholarWorks Theses Digitization Project John M. Pfau Library 2001 A rhetorical study of Edward Abbey's picaresque novel The fool's progress Kent Murray Rogers Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project Part of the Rhetoric Commons Recommended Citation Rogers, Kent Murray, "A rhetorical study of Edward Abbey's picaresque novel The fool's progress" (2001). Theses Digitization Project. 2079. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2079 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the John M. Pfau Library at CSUSB ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses Digitization Project by an authorized administrator of CSUSB ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A RHETORICAL STUDY OF EDWARD ABBEY'S PICARESQUE NOVEL THE FOOL'S PROGRESS A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, San Bernardino In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in English Composition by Kent Murray Rogers June 2001 A RHETORICAL STUDY OF EDWARD ABBEY'S PICARESQUE NOVEL THE FOOL,'S PROGRESS A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, San Bernardino by Kent Murray Rogers June 2001 Approved by: Elinore Partridge, Chair, English Peter Schroeder ABSTRACT The rhetoric of Edward Paul Abbey has long created controversy. Many readers have embraced his works while many others have reacted with dislike or even hostility. Some readers have expressed a mixture of reactions, often citing one book, essay or passage in a positive manner while excusing or completely .ignoring another that is deemed offensive.
    [Show full text]
  • Interpreting Class and Work in the Writing of Wendell Berry and Edward Abbey
    Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 8-2012 Farmer, Miner, Ranger, Writer: Interpreting Class and Work in the Writing of Wendell Berry and Edward Abbey Tyler Austin Nickl Utah State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Nickl, Tyler Austin, "Farmer, Miner, Ranger, Writer: Interpreting Class and Work in the Writing of Wendell Berry and Edward Abbey" (2012). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 1283. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/1283 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FARMER, MINER, RANGER, WRITER: INTERPRETING CLASS AND WORK IN THE WRITING OF WENDELL BERRY AND EDWARD ABBEY by Tyler Nickl A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in American Studies Approved: _________________________ _________________________ Melody Graulich Evelyn Funda Major Professor Committee Member _________________________ _________________________ Lawrence Culver Mark R. McLellan Committee Member Vice President for Research and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Logan, Utah 2012 ii Copyright © Tyler Nickl 2012 All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Farmer, Miner, Ranger, Writer: Interpreting Class and Work in the Writing of Wendell Berry and Edward Abbey by Tyler Nickl, Master of Science Utah State University, 2012 Major Professor: Dr. Melody Graulich Department: English The writings of Wendell Berry and Edward Abbey are often read for their environmental ethics only.
    [Show full text]
  • The Monkey Wrench Gang Pdf
    The monkey wrench gang pdf Continue Abbey, Edward. Monkey's wrench gang. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 1975. The Monkey Key Gang is concerned with the use of sabotage to protest environmentally harmful activities in the American Southwest. The abbey's most famous artwork is the story of four environmental warriors liberating parts of Utah and Arizona from evil road workers, miners and redheads. The book fueled a new generation of angry young environmentalists (such as Earth First!) who practice agonizing monkey or sabotage for the sake of protecting wildlife. The book was so influential that the term monkeywrench began to mean, in addition to sabotage and damage to machines, any sabotage, activity, law- learning, or violation of the law for the preservation of wildlife, wildlife and ecosystems. (Text adapted from Wikipedia, free encyclopedia and Abbeyweb.net.) Monkey Wrengues Gang Edward Abbey (1975) French name: Le gang de la Cle Molette. Translation: Juak Maiphos. This book, though fictional in form, is based solely on historical fact. Everything in it is real or actually happened. And it all started a year later. Edward Abbey. Wolf Hole, Arizona. This mysterious edward abbey quote is the first thing you read when you discover the Monkey Key Gang. Abbey (1927-1989) was an American writer and environmentalist. He recounted his experience as a seasonal park ranger in Arches National Park in the 1960s in an autobiographical book, Pasert Solitaire. Monkey key gang is set in desert areas of the American Southwest. Think Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. It was published in 1975 and remember that the city of Page was founded in 1957, the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River was opened in 1964, and that Lake Powell was the result of this dam.
    [Show full text]
  • Promise Beheld and the Limits of Place
    Promise Beheld and the Limits of Place A Historic Resource Study of Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks and the Surrounding Areas By Hal K. Rothman Daniel Holder, Research Associate National Park Service, Southwest Regional Office Series Number Acknowledgments This book would not be possible without the full cooperation of the men and women working for the National Park Service, starting with the superintendents of the two parks, Frank Deckert at Carlsbad Caverns National Park and Larry Henderson at Guadalupe Mountains National Park. One of the true joys of writing about the park system is meeting the professionals who interpret, protect and preserve the nation’s treasures. Just as important are the librarians, archivists and researchers who assisted us at libraries in several states. There are too many to mention individuals, so all we can say is thank you to all those people who guided us through the catalogs, pulled books and documents for us, and filed them back away after we left. One individual who deserves special mention is Jed Howard of Carlsbad, who provided local insight into the area’s national parks. Through his position with the Southeastern New Mexico Historical Society, he supplied many of the photographs in this book. We sincerely appreciate all of his help. And finally, this book is the product of many sacrifices on the part of our families. This book is dedicated to LauraLee and Lucille, who gave us the time to write it, and Talia, Brent, and Megan, who provide the reasons for writing. Hal Rothman Dan Holder September 1998 i Executive Summary Located on the great Permian Uplift, the Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns national parks area is rich in prehistory and history.
    [Show full text]
  • Mypeople Edward Abbey S Appalachian Roots Inindiana County, Pennsylvania
    MyPeople Edward Abbey s Appalachian Roots inIndiana County, Pennsylvania UTHOR OF MORE than 20 books, native Western Pennsylvanian Edward Abbey (1927-1989) became internation- ally known as a writer and a champion " of the canyons and deserts ofAmerica's Mypeople. Abbey was born and grew up in -Edward Abbey, The Fool's Progress (459-60) Indiana County, about 60 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, and spent nearly allofhis first 21years there. His parents were also from the region, and several of his relatives still livein Indiana County. Ed Abbey's writingattracted a popular, even cult following,especially in the West, but there is a double- edged ironyto his fame: he has remained largely unknown in his native Western Pennsyl- < v \u25a0\u25a0•^r-. \u25a0• K&>". r vania, while most ofhis t v " "^ readers inthe West know littleabout the Pennsylvania heritage that Abbey himself .;... Wj considered crucial to his voice as a writer. Desert Solitaire (1968), a book of essays about the red rock country ofArches National Park and Canyon- lands National Park in Utah, tops some lists as the best twentieth-century book about the natural world. The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975), a novel about four activists who believe indirect action against "development" of wilderness James M.Cahalan isprofessor of English at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he directed the doctoral program inliterature from 1987 to 1991. An authority on Irishliterature and arecipient ofIUP's Distinguished Faculty Award for Research (1990), Cahalan is the author ofnumerous articles and fivebooks including, most recently, Modern IrishLiterature and Culture: A Chronology (1993). His article "Edward Abbey, Appalachian Easterner," willappear in November in Western American Literature.
    [Show full text]
  • The Conference on Faith and History at 50
    31st Biennial Meeting of the Conference on Faith and History Calvin College, October 4-6, 2018 Undergraduate Conference History and the Search for Meaning: The Conference on Faith and History at 50 Wednesday, October 3, 2018 7:00 p.m. Welcome: Lisa Clark Diller, Southern Adventist University Introduction of Plenary Speaker: Eric Washington, Calvin College Plenary—Jemar Tisby, The Witness: A Black Christian Collective HISTORY AS ACTIVISM: KNOWING THE PAST TO CHANGE THE PRESENT Recital Hall, Covenant Fine Arts Center Reception to follow in lobby Thursday, October 4 Thursday, October 4, 8:45-10:00 a.m. Session 1: American Women from the Frontier to Suffrage Commons Annex, Room 214 (upper level) Chair: David Snead, Liberty University, [email protected] “The Suffrage Movement, Fight for Equalization and the Voices of Opposition” Tucker Sutton, Southern Adventist University, [email protected] “Carrie Chapman Catt and the Women’s Suffrage Movement” Allison Kobzowicz, Liberty University, [email protected] “Women on the Oregon Trail: The Double Meaning of Pioneer” Christine Abrell, Point Loma Nazarene University, [email protected] Session 2: War, the Environment and the Fallout of Violence Commons Annex, Alumni Board Room (upper level) Chair: William Katerberg, Calvin College, [email protected] “Environmental Impact of the Civil War in Syria” Kincaid Wurl, Southern Adventist University, [email protected] “The National Park Service and the Story of the Buffalo National River: A Social Case Study of Environmentalism”
    [Show full text]
  • Edward Abbey
    A sample entry from the Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature (London & New York: Continuum, 2005) Edited by Bron Taylor © 2005 All Rights Reserved A Abbey, Edward (1927–1989) I hate cement. I have never seen a sunflower grow in cement. Nor a child. Edward Abbey spent many seasons in the wilderness as Now even Aristotle recognized the vegetative fire lookout, back-country ranger, explorer, river rat, self- element in man. It is that which enables us to grow. styled “follower of the truth no matter where it leads.” He A man is a plant, fundamentally, and if he is to grow was the author of twenty-one books and scores of articles he must grow like a cottonwood, upward and out- that collectively express his lifelong commitment to the ward, exfoliating in air and light, his head in the principles of anarchism, and his deep, abiding love for the clouds, perhaps, but his feet rooted in Mother Earth. flow of Nature. With the publication of his classic book of Now if we insist on sealing ourselves off from the essays, Desert Solitaire in 1967, he became recognized as Earth below by cement and asphalt and iron and both a gifted writer and an outspoken advocate for the other dead and sterile substances, and from the sun natural environment. And with the publication of his best- above by a dense layer of smoke, soot, poisonous known novel The Monkey Wrench Gang in 1975, Abbey gases, skyscrapers, helicopters, I do not think we will became the earliest and perhaps most influential voice of survive as human beings..
    [Show full text]
  • Conference Program
    Association for the Study of Literature and Environment Thirteenth Biennial Conference June, 2019 Dear ASLE Conference Participants: On behalf of UC Davis, it’s my pleasure to welcome you to the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment’s Thirteenth Biennial Conference. It’s an honor to open our campus to you as a resource. We’re proud of the breadth, depth and excellence of our scholarship and research in environmental sciences. UC Davis serves as a model of environmental sustainability, not only to our students, but also to industry and the public at large. The innovations coming out of our Institute of Transportation Studies have shaped the direction of clean-fuel policies and technologies in California and the nation. Our West Village housing community is the largest planned “zero net energy” community in the nation. In addition, our sustainable practices on campus earned UC Davis the “greenest-in-the-U.S.” ranking in the UI GreenMetric World University Rankings. We’re working hard to make UC Davis a completely zero-carbon campus by 2025. All of these things speak to our long-standing commitment to sustainability. This conference provides a forum for networking opportunities and crucial discussions to inform and invigorate our commitment to practices that are both environmentally sustainable and socially just. There’s never been a better time to engage our broader communities in conversations about these topics. I want to thank our UC Davis faculty, students and partners for hosting this important conference for scholars, educators and writers in environmental humanities. Enjoy the conference and take time to explore our beautiful campus.
    [Show full text]
  • Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
    Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey In some ways it is regrettable that most readers will begin this book with Edward Abbey’s brief introduction instead of with the simple and somehow poignant opening sentence of the text proper: “This is the most beautiful place on earth.” By this he means the canyon-lands near Moab, Utah, where he worked as a seasonal park ranger for a couple of years in the late 1950s. Similar to most of the naturalists whose writing we meet in this series, Abbey celebrates the flora and fauna he encounters in the desert, but he is probably the most openly political in his message, lashing out in a chapter he calls a “polemic” against the dangers of Industrial Tourism and the “earnest engineers” who support construction and development as “intrinsic goods,” even in national parks. “No more new roads in national parks,” Abbey bluntly asserts. He comments on the uranium boom, on “cowboys and Indians,” and in the chapter entitled “Water” he reminds us of Wallace Stegner’s frequently quote remark that “Aridity, more than anything else, gives the western landscape its character.” The city, Abbey warns, “can be made to function as a concentration camp. At times angry and at times passionate, Abbey dashes back and forth between diatribe and poetry. Wilderness, he insists, “is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread” (169). In the longest chapter Abbey joins a friend in an excursion down the Colorado River, a place he senses is “doomed.” Accused by one visitor of being opposed to civilization and humanity, Abbey writes, “Naturally I was flattered.” Renowned naturalist Edwin Way Teale, in a review for the New York Times, admired the philosophy and humor of the book, which he described as “passionately felt” and “deeply poetic.” Author Information Probably the most widely recognized maverick among America’s environmental activist writers, Edward Abbey was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania, in 1927.
    [Show full text]
  • Deep Ecology and Eco-Defense in Edward Abbey’S the Monkey Wrench Gang, Paul Chadwick’S Concrete: Think Like a Mountain, and T.C
    Hacettepe University Graduate School of Social Sciences Department of American Culture and Literature AMERICAN RADICAL ENVIRONMENTAL FICTION: DEEP ECOLOGY AND ECO-DEFENSE IN EDWARD ABBEY’S THE MONKEY WRENCH GANG, PAUL CHADWICK’S CONCRETE: THINK LIKE A MOUNTAIN, AND T.C. BOYLE’S A FRIEND OF THE EARTH Mustafa Eray EREN Master’s Thesis Ankara, 2019 AMERICAN RADICAL ENVIRONMENTAL FICTION: DEEP ECOLOGY AND ECO-DEFENSE IN EDWARD ABBEY’S THE MONKEY WRENCH GANG, PAUL CHADWICK’S CONCRETE: THINK LIKE A MOUNTAIN, AND T.C. BOYLE’S A FRIEND OF THE EARTH Mustafa Eray EREN Hacettepe University Graduate School of Social Sciences Department of American Culture and Literature Master’s Thesis Ankara, 2019 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this thesis would not have been possible without the support and assistance of a number of special people. Thus, I would like to take this opportunity to show my sincere gratitude to those to whom I am greatly indebted for their help in the process. I would like to express my gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Prof. Dr. Ufuk Özdağ, for providing advice and critical insights, and for her continuous encouragement and enthusiasm. I admire her love of nature, endless devotion to land restoration, and ecocriticism, all of which have inspired me since my undergraduate years. This thesis would not have attained this shape without her constructive feedback and guidance. I would like to thank Assist. Prof. Dr. Ayça Germen, my supervisor during my master’s classes, and Assist. Prof. Dr. Barış Gümüşbaş, for their generous help, support, guidance, and understanding. I am also thankful to my AKE Family, all the members of the Department of American Culture and Literature, for broadening my horizons and sharing their knowledge and experiences.
    [Show full text]
  • THE MONKEY WRENCH GANG’ MOVIE? Forty Years Later, Would the ‘New West’ of 2016 Even ‘Get’ Ed Abbey’S Classic Novel? Jim Stiles
    THE ZEPHYR/ APRIL-MAY 2016 ‘THE MONKEY WRENCH GANG’ MOVIE? Forty Years Later, Would the ‘New West’ of 2016 even ‘get’ Ed Abbey’s Classic Novel? Jim Stiles There’s a new “Monkey Wrench Gang” MOVIE rumor circulating on the internet. A desert grave. web site called “New WorldOdor.com” reports that Leonardo DiCaprio is secretly pro- Oddly, much of the “eco-tage” described in the book survived the edits; it was a hand- ducing the film version of Edward Abbey’s 1975 masterpiece, somewhere in Arizona. Leo ful of social issues that gave her pause. For starters, according to Hardwicke, Seldom himself is reportedly playing the role of ‘Seldom Seen’ Smith. Seen’s days as a Mormon polygamist were over. He could maintain his LDS faith, of According to the web site, DiCaprio’s project takes his “environmental activism to course, but multiple wives was not going to fly. He’d have one wife, one set of kids and a new level advocating for direct action and monkey-wrenching to protect the planet why he’d continue to be called “Seldom Seen” by his sole surviving spouse was not clear. from climate change related disaster.” They also include this alleged direct quote from And there was the Hayduke problem. First his use of the F-word had to go. Appar- DiCaprio: ently, a PG film can only use the F-word once; this must have been Hardwicke’s motiva- tion when she explained that in the film version, Hayduke would be roundly criticized “I’ve been working with many of the big environmental groups for a long time.
    [Show full text]