Edward Abbey
Edward Abbey | |
---|---|
Born | Indiana, Pennsylvania, U.S. | January 29, 1927
Died | March 14, 1989 Tucson, Arizona, U.S. | (aged 62)
Occupation | Essayist, novelist |
Education | University of New Mexico |
Notable works | The Monkey Wrench Gang |
Edward Paul Abbey (January 29, 1927 – March 14, 1989) was an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of
Early life and education
Abbey was born in
Abbey graduated from
In the
When he returned to the United States, Abbey took advantage of the
Upon receiving his honorable discharge papers, he sent it back to the department with the words "Return to Sender". The
After graduating, Schmechal and Abbey traveled together to
Abbey's
Work for National Park Service
In 1956 and 1957, Abbey worked as a seasonal
In the 1960s Abbey worked as a seasonal park ranger at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, on the border of Arizona and Mexico. [citation needed] In 1961, the movie version of his second novel, The Brave Cowboy, with screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, was being shot on location in New Mexico by Kirk Douglas who had purchased the novel's screen rights and was producing and starring in the film, released in 1962 as Lonely Are the Brave. Douglas once said that when Abbey visited the film set, he looked and talked so much like friend Gary Cooper that Douglas was disconcerted. However, over 25 years later when Abbey died, Douglas wrote that he had 'never met' him.[18] In 1981, his third novel, Fire on the Mountain, was also adapted into a TV movie by the same title.[18]
On October 16, 1965 Abbey married Judy Pepper, who accompanied Abbey as a seasonal park ranger in the
Desert Solitaire, Abbey's fourth book and first non-fiction work, was published in 1968. In it, he describes his stay in the canyon country of southeastern Utah from 1956 to 1957.
Later life
Abbey met his fifth and final wife, Clarke Cartwright in 1978,[27] and married her in 1982.[28] Together they had two children, Rebecca Claire Abbey and Benjamin C. Abbey.[29] In 1995, Abbey's granddaughter, Sophia Abbey-Kuipers, was born.
In 1984, Abbey went back to the University of Arizona to teach courses in creative writing and hospitality management. During this time, he continued working on his book Fool's Progress.[30]
In July 1987, Abbey went to the Earth First! Rendezvous at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. While there, he was involved in a heated debate over his views on immigration with an
Death and burial
One final paragraph of advice: [...] It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here.
So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space.
Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.
- — Edward Abbey[34]
Edward Abbey died on March 14, 1989,[35] at the age of 62, in his home in Tucson, Arizona. His death was due to complications from surgery; he suffered four days of esophageal hemorrhaging due to esophageal varices, these often a consequence of portal hypertension, commonly due to cirrhosis.[36] Showing his sense of humor, he left a message for anyone who asked about his final words: "No comment." Abbey also left instructions on what to do with his remains: Abbey wanted his body transported in the bed of a pickup truck, and wished to be buried as soon as possible. He did not want to be embalmed or placed in a coffin. Instead, he preferred to be placed inside of an old sleeping bag, and requested that his friends disregard all state laws concerning burial. "I want my body to help fertilize the growth of a cactus or cliff rose or sagebrush or tree." said the message. For his funeral, Abbey stated "No formal speeches desired, though the deceased will not interfere if someone feels the urge. But keep it all simple and brief." He requested gunfire and bagpipe music, a cheerful and raucous wake, "[a]nd a flood of beer and booze! Lots of singing, dancing, talking, hollering, laughing, and lovemaking."[36][37]
A 2003 Outside article described how his friends honored his request:
"The last time Ed smiled was when I told him where he was going to be buried," says Doug Peacock, an environmental crusader in Edward Abbey's inner circle. On March 14, 1989, the day Abbey died from esophageal bleeding at 62, Peacock, along with his friend Jack Loeffler, his father-in-law Tom Cartwright, and his brother-in-law Steve Prescott, wrapped Abbey's body in his blue sleeping bag, packed it with dry ice, and loaded Cactus Ed into Loeffler's Chevy pickup. After stopping at a liquor store in Tucson for five cases of beer, and some whiskey to pour on the grave, they drove off into the desert. The men searched for the right spot the entire next day and finally turned down a long rutted road, drove to the end, and began digging. That night they buried Ed and toasted the life of America's prickliest and most outspoken environmentalist.[38]
Abbey's body was buried in the Cabeza Prieta Desert in Pima County, Arizona, where "you'll never find it." The friends carved a marker on a nearby stone, reading:[39][40]
EDWARD
PAUL
ABBEY
1927–1989
No Comment
In late March, about 200 friends of Abbey's gathered near the
Abbey is survived by two daughters, Susannah and Becky; and three sons, Joshua, Aaron and Benjamin.[citation needed]
Documentaries
- Wrenched,[41] by Jerome filmmaker ML Lincoln is a 2013 documentary film that picks up where Edward Abbey's iconic novel The Monkey Wrench Gang left off, chronicling Abbey's legacy of environmental civil disobedience. This was originally called Lines Across the Sand'.[42][43]
- Edward Abbey: A Voice in the Wilderness is a 1993 award-winning PBS documentary by Eric Temple.
- The Cracking of Glen Canyon Damn—with Edward Abbey and Earth First! (1982)[44] captured the legendary first action of radical desert rats when they dropped a 300-foot long black plastic "crack" over the dam and called poetically for its demise. Produced by Toby McLeod, Glenn Switkes and Randy Hayes.
Literature
Abbey's literary influences included
Regarding his writing style, Abbey states: "I write in a deliberately provocative and outrageous manner because I like to startle people. I hope to wake up people. I have no desire to simply soothe or please. I would rather risk making people angry than putting them to sleep. And I try to write in a style that's entertaining as well as provocative. It's hard for me to stay serious for more than half a page at a time."[49] Abbey felt that it was the duty of all authors to "speak the truth--especially unpopular truth. Especially truth that offends the powerful, the rich, the well-established, the traditional, the mythic".[50]
Abbey's abrasiveness, opposition to anthropocentrism, and outspoken writings made him the object of much controversy. Agrarian author Wendell Berry claimed that Abbey was regularly criticized by mainstream environmental groups because Abbey often advocated controversial positions that were very different from those which environmentalists were commonly expected to hold.[51]
Abbey has also drawn criticism for what some regard as his racist and sexist views.[52] In an essay called "Immigration and Liberal Taboos", collected in his 1988 book One Life at a Time, Please, Abbey expressed his opposition to immigration ("legal or illegal, from any source") into the United States: "(I)t occurs to some of us that perhaps ever-continuing industrial and population growth is not the true road to human happiness, that simple gross quantitative increase of this kind creates only more pain, dislocation, confusion and misery. In which case it might be wise for us as American citizens to consider calling a halt to the mass influx of even more millions of hungry, ignorant, unskilled, and culturally-morally-genetically impoverished people. At least until we have brought our own affairs into order. Especially when these uninvited millions bring with them an alien mode of life which—let us be honest about this—is not appealing to the majority of Americans. Why not? Because we prefer democratic government, for one thing; because we still hope for an open, spacious, uncrowded, and beautiful—yes, beautiful!—society, for another. The alternative, in the squalor, cruelty, and corruption of Latin America, is plain for all to see."[53]
It is often stated that Abbey's works played a significant role in precipitating the creation of
Works
Fiction
- Jonathan Troy (1954) (ISBN 1-131-40684-2)
- The Brave Cowboy (1956) (ISBN 0-8263-0448-6)
- Fire on the Mountain (1962) (ISBN 0-8263-0457-5)
- Black Sun(1971) (ISBN 0-88496-167-2)
- The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975) (ISBN 0-397-01084-2)
- Good News(1980) (ISBN 0-525-11583-8)
- The Fool's Progress (1988) (ISBN 0-8050-0921-3)
- Hayduke Lives(1990) (ISBN 0-316-00411-1)
- Earth Apples: The Poetry of Edward Abbey (1994) (ISBN 0-312-11265-3)
Non-fiction
- Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness (1968) (ISBN 0-8165-1057-1)
- Appalachian Wilderness (1970)
- Slickrock (1971) (ISBN 0-87156-051-8)
- Cactus Country (1973)
- The Journey Home (1977) (ISBN 0-525-13753-X)
- The Hidden Canyon (1977)
- Abbey's Road (1979) (ISBN 0-525-05006-X)
- Desert Images (1979)
- Down the River (with Henry Thoreau & Other Friends) (1982) (ISBN 0-525-09524-1)
- In Praise of Mountain Lions (1984)
- Beyond the Wall (1984) (ISBN 0-03-069299-7)
- One Life at a Time, Please (1988) (ISBN 0-8050-0602-8)
- A Voice Crying in the Wilderness: Notes from a Secret Journal (1989)
- Confessions of a Barbarian: Selections from the Journals of Edward Abbey, 1951–1989 (1994) (ISBN 0-316-00415-4)
Letters
- Cactus Chronicles Archived 2008-09-19 at the Wayback Machine published by Orion Magazine, Jul–Aug 2006 (no longer active,)
- Postcards from Ed (book)|Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast (2006) (ISBN 1-57131-284-6)
Anthologies
- Slumgullion Stew: An Edward Abbey Reader (1984)
- The Best of Edward Abbey (1984)
- The Serpents of Paradise: A Reader (1995)
See also
Notes
- ISBN 978-0-313-30884-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-55566-287-5.
- ISBN 978-0-87417-357-4.[dead link]
- ISBN 978-0-87565-021-0.
- ^ For Abbey's full account of this trip, see his essay "Hallelujah on the Bum"
- ^ Edward Abbey; Pennsylvania Center for the Book Pennsylvania State University Libraries. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
- ^ a b name="Bishop", [Epitaph For a Desert Anarchist: The Life and Legacy of Edward Abbey], "Macmillan Publishing Company", 1994
- ^ ISBN 978-0-87417-357-4.[dead link]
- ISBN 978-0-684-80439-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-684-80439-2.
- ISBN 978-0-415-93889-1.
- ^ "FBI response to Freedom of Information Act request for its file on Abbey". Archived from the original on 2011-04-10. Retrieved 2011-06-21.
- ISBN 978-1-55566-287-5.
- ISBN 978-0-8050-3133-1.
- ISBN 978-0-8203-2759-4.
- ISBN 978-0-8203-1781-6. Archivedfrom the original on 2023-04-06. Retrieved 2016-09-28.
- ISBN 978-1-57131-284-6.
- ^ a b Cox, Alex (29 July 2012). "The fretful Birth of the New Western". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 28 July 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-8263-2388-0.
- ISBN 978-0-8263-2388-0.
- ISBN 978-0-8263-2388-0.
- ISBN 978-0-8204-6330-8.
- ISBN 978-0-684-80439-2.
- ISBN 978-0-8204-6330-8.
- ISBN 978-0-87745-708-4.
- ^ a b Scheese, Donald. "Abbey, Edward". Encyclopedia of American Environmental History. Ed. Kathleen A. Brosnan. Vol. 1. New York: Facts on File, 2011. 75-76. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 June 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-684-80439-2.
- ISBN 978-0-8160-5158-8.
- ^ "Genealogy data" Archived 2011-06-17 at the Wayback Machine, AbbeyWeb
- ISBN 978-0-8263-2388-0.
- ISBN 978-0-8156-0365-8.
- ISBN 978-0-8156-0365-8.
- ISBN 978-0-8263-2388-0.
- ISBN 1-55963-248-8.
- ISBN 978-0-87417-264-5.[dead link]
- ^ ISBN 978-0-313-30884-0.
- ^ Quammen, David, "Bagpipes for Ed", Outside, April 1989
- ^ Daley, Jason (September 30, 2003). "Forever Wild". Outside. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved June 27, 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-521-56559-2.
- ISBN 978-1-55566-187-8.
- ^ "Movie Homepage". Wrenched. Archived from the original on 19 May 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
- ^ "Lines Across the Sand - HOME". Archived from the original on 2011-11-19.
- ^ "Home | Wrenched". Wrenched. 2014. Archived from the original on 6 December 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
- ^ "The Cracking of Glen Canyon Damn with Edward Abbey and Earth First! (1982)". Archived from the original on 2014-07-15. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
- ISBN 978-0-684-80439-2.
- ISBN 978-0-299-14174-5.
- ISBN 978-0-299-14174-5.
- ISBN 978-0-87451-752-1.
- ]
- ISBN 978-0-230-60669-2.
- ]
- ^ Goetzman, Keith (July 30, 2009). "Was Edward Abbey Racist and Sexist?". Utne Reader. Archived from the original on May 19, 2014. Retrieved May 19, 2014.
- ISBN 0-805-00602-8.
- ISBN 978-0-253-21006-7.
- ^ Peterson, David, ed. (2006). Postcards From Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast. (publisher?). p. [page needed].
Further reading
- Prentiss, Sean. (2015). Finding Abbey: The Search for Edward Abbey And His Hidden Desert Grave. University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 978-0-8263-5591-1 .
- Abbey, Edward (2010). "Earth First! and The Monkeywrench Gang". In Keller, David R. (ed.). Environmental Ethics: The Big Questions. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-4051-7639-2.
- Cahalan, James M. (2003). Edward Abbey: A Life. University of Arizona Press. ]
- Foreman, Dave (1992). ISBN 0-517-88058-X.
- Gessner, David (2015). All the Wild That Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, and the American West. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-08999-8.
- Knott, John Ray (2002). "Edward Abbey and the Romance of the Wilderness". Imagining wild America. University of Michigan. ISBN 978-0-472-06806-7.
- Lane, Belden C. (2002). "Mythic Landscapes: The Desert Imagination of Edward Abbey". Landscapes of the sacred: geography and narrative in American spirituality. JHU Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-6838-2.
- Meyer, Kurt A. (1987). Edward Abbey: freedom fighter, freedom writer. University of Wyoming Press.
- Quigley, Peter, ed. (1998). Coyote in the maze: tracking Edward Abbey in a world of words. University of Utah Press. ISBN 978-0-87480-563-5.
- Ronald, Ann (2003). "The Nevada Scene Through Edward Abbey's Eyes". Reader of the purple sage: essays on Western writers and environmental literature. University of Nevada Press. ]
- Slovic, Scott (1992). ""Rudolf the red knows rain, dear": The Aestheticism of Edward Abbey". Seeking awareness in American nature writing: Henry Thoreau, Annie Dillard, Edward Abbey, Wendell Berry, Barry Lopez. University of Utah Press. ISBN 978-0-87480-362-4.
- ISBN 978-0-292-79129-9.
External links
- AbbeyWeb – information about Edward Abbey and his books
- Edward Abbey at the Internet Book List
- Edward Abbey at the Internet Book Database of Fiction
- Edward Abbey at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Edward Abbey at IMDb
- Edward Abbey collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Edward Abbey papers, 1954–1980 University of Utah library
- Edward Abbey audio collection, 1981–1989