edward abbey- a fly in the ointment
...t. He crossed the Midwest, continued to the Rockies, and made his way to the Pacific, he returned home by way of the Southwest. It was then that he fell in love with the desert, a love that would shape his life and his art foe over 40 years. In Late 1945 he was drafted he spent time in Naples, Italy as a motorcycle MP, and in 1947 he was released from duty. When he returned to the states in ’47 he entered the University of New Mexico. It was at UNM that Abbey became interested in writing; he was the editor of the student literary magazine “The Thunderbird”. He ultimately took his MA in Philosophy, and his thesis was on “Anarchism and the Mortality of Violence” After he earned both a graduate and postgraduate degrees from UNM he entered another graduate program at Yale. Edward Abbey could not stand the stricture of Ivy League life and so he dropped out after two weeks. Writing was a passion for Abbey. It was not a career; it was his life. Home to Abbey was the Southwest. Although he preferred country life he lived within 50 or 60 miles of a city. For 15 years he worked as a part time ranger in several different national parks, including his two seasons as a ranger in Arches National Monument (now a national park) in Utah. It was here that the inspiration and raw material for Desert Solitaire came from. In Abbey’s life he did jail time for reckless driving and public drunkenness, as did many of his characters. There is violence in most of his books; Abbey believed that the modern world contains violence as a part of it but that few things are worth killing for. As with many Southwestern writers Edward Abbey saw the land as the chief character in any novel. He believed that the land shapes the people living there. A lot of his inspiration came from other authors such as: Wallace Stegner, William Eastlake, Tom McGuane, Wright Morris, and Larry McMurtry. He was a fan of down to earth honest writing, and that is how he wrote. No sugar coating no fluff, just the truth as Abbey saw it. He believed that is was important to speak out emotionally on social issues. Both The Monkey Wrench Gang and Hayduke Lives exemplify this attitude. They both are centered on the destruction of Glen Canyon, a particularly sore spot with Abbey. Many labeled Abbey an environmental radical, but because Edward Abbey used humor in all that he did he made very few enemies. This sense of humor is showed in the author’s introduction to One Life at a Time when he quips, “ If there is anyone still present whom I have failed to insult… I apologize.” Even at the time of his death in 1989 he still had his sense of humor. He wrote to his wife in a letter about his post-death wishes, “ No formal speeches desired, though the deceased will not interfere if someone feels the urge.” Abbey loved to be in nature above all else. Three of his four wives found the competition too tough. So did the American Academy of the Arts and Letters. In 1987 Abbey was offered a major award but declined the offer because he had plans to run a river in Idaho the same week of the award ceremony. Edward Abbey led a full life he died on March 14, 1989 at his home “Fort Llatikcuf” (read it backwards if...