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Desert Notes and River Notes
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Desert Notes and River Notes discussion
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Becky
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Mar 23, 2020 05:41PM
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I have read this one more than once. Really enjoyed it. The two were originally published as separate volumes.
He begins with two brief quotations. One is from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin. The other is from Thomas Merton. Both are lovely. The book is a quick read but, in my opinion, filled with metaphors.
Excited for this read, I'm a fan of Lopez's writing. Since all of the libraries near me are closed down, and I don't already own this book, I was afraid I would have to sit this one out. Luckily, one of my local libraries has an ebook version, so I'll be reading that!
I saw the first story, immediately following the quotation from Merton., as an extended metaphor. I won't say for what. that would be a spoiler. Do you see a metaphor there?Added later - I said the first story, but I actually meant the introduction to Desert Notes.
Cassidy wrote: "Excited for this read, I'm a fan of Lopez's writing. Since all of the libraries near me are closed down, and I don't already own this book, I was afraid I would have to sit this one out. Luckily, o..."Yes. He is one of my favorites too. I particularly liked Arctic Dreams, winner of the National Book Award. I am currently reading Horizon, his latest and perhaps last work. He has cancer.
My earliest recollections of his writing was the book Giving Birth to Thunder, a collection of Trickster tales.
Chapter One - The Hot Spring - What is the meaning of this ritual,enacted alone in the desert?
Chapter Two - "The Raven" Ravens and crows are closely related, but oh so different. what do they symbolize for this author? What do they say to you?
Third story "Twilight."After my first reading, I thought it was pure fantasy. Now. I see it as an example of magical realism. in any case it's a great story. Has anyone else read this far?
Chapter 4 PerimeterI have been using the word chapter, but Desert Notes is a set of linked short stories, linked by location. River Notes is the same.
in the previous story, the narrator lays out a blanket precisely east to west. I n this story, he lays out a description of the four directions. Powerful symbols are at work here.
The fifth story The Blue Mound People is, in my opinion, a metaphor for contemporary urban America.
At this point I am not sure anyone else is reading, but I will continue to try to provoke discussion. Anyone else have a question or comment?
OK Here is what I have to say about the first set of stories. Disagree if you dare. Desert Notes
In Desert Notes, Barry Lopez shows us a strange and magical place. I have perhaps visited such a place once in my lifetime, but that is another story, and I am not prepared to reveal the location.
When I first read the book Desert Notes, originally published as a separate volume from River Notes, I saw it as mere fantasy. I have since concluded that it is a fine example of magical realism.
The final story, “Directions,” gives us a key to the book’s meaning. Here, the reader encounters an enigmatic guide named Leon. One must encounter him as though meeting by chance and he will draw an excellent map on a napkin. There is more to Leon than his map, but I leave other readers to discover what that more may be for themselves.
Maps have a prominent place in other works by Lopez. His nonfiction book, Arctic Dreams, includes an appendix with numerous maps of the terrain. His short story collection, Light Action in the Caribbean includes a story about a mapmaker, one who uses older techniques and writes books about cities under a pen name.
The mapmaker uses older techniques and is thorough. He describes cities in layers beginning with the terrain, followed by infrastructure, pipes, culverts, electrical lines, streets, and buildings. He proceeds to the human description including government, the arts, etc. Modern mapmakers say he takes too long to complete a project. His results are much like GIS the modern Geographic Information System used by contemporary ecologists and geographers.
So, maps are important to Lopez, perhaps in the way that mirrors are to Jorge Louis Borges. So are directions. One story tells the perimeter of the desert with mythic symbols included. In the story, “Twilight,” the narrator lays out a Navajo blanket aligned to east and west. Only from the height of sitting on the blanket can he truly see the desert.
Another key appears in the introduction, which I once took as a metaphor for the writing process. Here, Lopez presents a struggle with no map, - Reach a roadblock. Rest. Try again. Leave. Come back. Take a different approach. It could describe any human endeavor.
Between the struggle of the introduction and the map at the end the reader encounters several people who come to terms, in one way or another, with the desert landscape. For me, the most intriguing were the Blue Mound People who lived a life of plenty with various foods and a rich material culture. No one can determine how they acquired these things. It is explained that hunting a small antelope, their favorite food, was not practical given their resources.
The Blue Mound People lived in caves carved out of the walls of cliffs. They remind me of contemporary American urbanites who live with plenty. Few of them could explain the means of production by which that plenty arrives at their door.
Wendell Berry used a similar analogy in his book Think Little, in which he said that a contemporary preteenager knows how to make a baby but by the age of 30 still will not know how to make a potato. Isaac Asimov drew an analogy of future dwellers in sky scrappers to cave dwellers in his first robot novel, The Caves of Steel,
I’ve read Desert Notes twice now because I didn’t begin to understand it until I read Directions which is at the end. A few random thoughts:Ray, why isn’t Directions at the beginning? I agree with you about magical realism as I recently read Bless Me, Ultima with similar elements. But I’d proffer that The Wind is a little time-out for erotica.
Certainly The Desert is not a particular physical location but a wilderness where one goes seeking that which cannot be found physically or in reality. The lesson of the Desert is what the rattlesnake knows and the coyote has yet to learn.
Iris wrote: "I’ve read Desert Notes twice now because I didn’t begin to understand it until I read Directions which is at the end. A few random thoughts:Ray, why isn’t Directions at the beginning? I agree with..."
Sorry I have not replied sooner. We had major tornado action here Monday night and I have been checking on friends and trying to get a tarp to one friend to cover his roof. Emergency supplies were already in short supply due to Covid-19 related hoarding. Fortunately, my dwelling came through unscathed, but some eastern parts of Chattanooga may be without power for a week.
I think that putting the story title "Maps" at the beginning would be like putting the surprise ending on the final page of a novel at the beginning. There would be no point to reading the book.
I have read Desert Notes half a dozen times or more and can't say that I fully understand the book. I think a good part of it is about struggling to come to terms with the world. The following is from my highlights and notes, most of which are now public.
Highlight (blue) - Introduction > Location 34
When it doesn’t , you weary . You are no longer afraid of its secrets , cowed by its silence . You break away , angry , a little chagrined . You will tell anyone the story : so much time spent for nothing . In the retelling you sense another way inside ; you return immediately to the desert . The opening evaporates , like a vision through a picket railing .
I am also reading his nonfiction book, Horizon. More maps in the section namesdPuerto Ayora, named for a port city in Galapagos. He is looking at a map by the British Admiralty, based on observations by Captain Fitzsimons of HMS Beagle, the ship on which Darwin Sailed. Lopez thinks maps are rally important.
Over the past week, I have read his book Field Notes and reread Winter Count. I have made my notes and highlights public on each of these books.
