Back On The Fire - Essays (Hardcover, First Trade Paper Edition)

Following The Practice of the Wild and A Place in Space, this new collection of essays by Gary Snyder blazes with insight. In his most autobiographical writing to date, these essays employ fire as a metaphor for the crucial moment when deeply held viewpoints yield to new experiences, and our spirits and minds broaden and mature. Surveying the current wisdom that fires are in some cases necessary for ecosystems of the wild, Snyder contemplates the evolution of his view on the practice while exploring its larger repercussions on our perceptions of nature and the great landscapes of the West. In two sections, he writes and riffs on a wide range of topics, from explorations of southwestern European Paleolithic cave art to his own personal poetic history with haiku; from pungent reminiscences of youthful West Coast logging and trail crew days to talks given in Paris and Tokyo on art and archetypes. He honors poets of his generation, like Philip Whalen and Allen Ginsberg, and meditates on art, labor, and the making of families, houses, and homesteads. All of these essays maintain Snyder's reputation as an intellect to be reckoned with, while often revealing him at his most emotionally vulnerable. This is a work that requires us to make friends with impermanence and error--to make "wildfire" a partner--and to keep burning the hazardous, the excess, and even one's own dreams and attainments, over and over again, for a lifetime practice. The final impression is holistic: We perceive not a collection of essays, but a cohesive presentation of Snyder's life and work expressed in his characteristically straightforward prose.