A Voice Crying in the Wilderness: Vox Clamantis in Deserto: Notes from a Secret Journal

By Edward Abbey

Thoughts on nature, politics, love, and much more—from the environmentalist and author of such classics as Desert Solitaire and The Monkey Wrench Gang.
 
Finished just two weeks before his death, A Voice Crying in the Wilderness is a collection of Edward Abbey’s observations, both bitingly witty and inspirational, on a wide range of topics—from philosophy and writing to music, money, sex, and sports.
 
Abbey chose each passage himself from his own journals and previous writings—and warns us in his typical humorous style that some of the notes “may be unconscious plagiarisms from the great and dead (never steal from the living and mediocre).”
 
Abbey’s last wish was to be buried in an unmarked grave somewhere out in the vast desert he loved so much. This book is an enduring signal from that desert, through the words of one of the singular American thinkers of our times.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Apr 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9780795345548

Edward Abbey

<p>Edward Abbey spent most of his life in the American Southwest. He was the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, including the celebrated <em>Desert Solitaire</em>, which decried the waste of America’s wilderness, and the novel <em>The Monkey Wrench Gang</em>, the title of which is still in use today to describe groups that purposefully sabotage projects and entities that degrade the environment. Abbey was also one of the country’s foremost defenders of the natural environment. He died in 1989.</p>

Book preview

AN INTRODUCTION

It is with considerable diffidence and in the spirit of true humility which only a modern American writer can summon to the page so easily that I hereby offer this pretentious and artistically crafted little volume to the literary public. For years, I have been threatening that public—my readers—such as it is, with the detonation of a Fat Masterpiece. This book, readers, you will be relieved to learn, is not that book. My Vox is not fat, not masterly, not even a piece, but a deliberate collocation of fragments.

Most of the statements in the above paragraph are false. Not all of them.

The above statement is false.

In truth, I’m happy to see my Vox emerge from its shell, and cannot imagine any pretext for an apology. (A cheap paperback edition will follow in due time.) The shell, in this case, consists of a private journal I’ve been keeping, fairly faithfully, since 1948; a journal now twenty-one volumes long, and this chick, the bird or book, is simply a collection of fragments from that twenty-one-year-old personal record.

The fragments, or notes, were obviously not chosen at random but with an eye to propositions and declarations that say something provocative in a minimum number of words. I’ve always been an admirer of the epigram and the aphoristic style—from Montaigne: It is good to be born in a depraved time; for, compared to others, you gain a reputation for virtue at a small cost. From Schopenhauer: Style is the physiognomy of the mind, to Samuel Johnson: Of all forms of wealth, intelligence at least seems fairly distributed; for no man complains of a lack of it. Back to Schopenhauer: A pessimist is an optimist in full possession of the facts. And on to Ambrose Bierce: Love is a disease for which marriage is the perfect cure. And George Santayana: For good or ill I am an ignorant man, almost a poet. And finally, Aristotle: Melancholy men, of all others, are the most witty. Some of my favorite books, such as Thoreau’s Walden, can be read as a mosaic of epigrams.

Herewith, I try my hand at it, making no claims at wit or wisdom, but hoping nonetheless (in secret) that within this paper bin the reader may discover a few nuggets of genuine gold, or of that which glitters even better: fool’s gold.

Some of these notes have appeared, in altered form, in previous books of mine, floating along in a flood of earnest prose. Others may be unconscious plagiarisms from the great and dead (never steal from the living and mediocre), ideas absorbed in my reading so long ago that I’ve made them mine and forgotten the source. If so, the author would appreciate hearing from readers on this point. (Be kind.)

Good or bad, I like to think of these selected journal notes as potential essays, germinal essays, essays in a nutshell—one-liner or one-paragraph monographs—in which some vast formidable thesis, together with resounding conclusion, bristling from end to end with a full armament of apparatus scholasticus, is presented in nuclear form, leaving to the reader’s discernment, learning, logic, and intellectual energy its unfolding and full development.

An isolate voice, crying from the desert.

Vox clamantis in deserto is a role that few care to play, but I find pleasure in it. The voice crying from the desert, with its righteous assumption of enlightenment, tends to grate on the nerves of the multitude. But it is mine. I’ve had to learn to live within a constant blizzard of abuse from book reviewers, literary critics, newspaper columnists, letter writers, and fellow authors. But there are some rewards as well: The immense satisfaction, for

Reviews for A Voice Crying in the Wilderness

[hardlyhardy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An aphorism is to an essay as a haiku is to a sonnet. It delivers the message in as few words as possible. Edward Abbey (1927-1989) was a master of these one-sentence essays. Even in his longer work, acclaimed books like “Desert Solitaire,” readers might be tempted to underline choice sentences here and there, those clever statements that pack a punch in very few words.Just before his death, Abbey compiled many of his best one-liners into the book “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness.” Some of those one-liners were probably written on his death bed just for this book. Reading them, one can switch moods in an instant, from laughter to anger (with Abbey or at him, as the case may be), from compassion to resolve.They are a mixed lot, even when divided by category. Some examples:On government and politics: "A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."On education: "The best thing about graduating from the university was that I finally had time to sit on a log and read a good book."On music: "Music clouds the intellect but clarifies the heart."On women: "Girls, like flowers, bloom but once. But once is enough."Abbey is best remembered for his ruthless defense of the natural world, especially the American desert (which helps explains the title of the book). Many of his aphorisms touch on this subject, although they may sometimes seem contradictory, such as: "Nature, like Maimonides said, is mainly a good place to throw beer cans on Sunday afternoons." More characteristic is this one: "If wilderness is outlawed, only outlaws can save wilderness." Or this one: "Phoenix, Arizona: an oasis of ugliness in the midst of a beautiful wasteland."This may be the best Edward Abbey book I've read. It packs a lifetime of thought into barely a hundred pages.

[pghdragonman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It is time for America to rediscover Edward Abbey. If you only know him from The Monkey Wrench Gang, and you liked it, the little collection of his sayings, A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, will give you an insight to Abbey’s inner workings. While he does not have the body of work left by Mark Twain, some of the sayings are just as pity as anything Twain penned.Since it is a collection of sayings, you don’t need to read it in a linear order. In fact, it may be better not to. It is often enjoyable to just open to any page at random and read whatever your eye falls on. You could almost develop a cult based on daily readings from this book. Not quite Mao’s Red Book, but you get the idea.This book is best enjoyed sitting in the shade of your front porch, or under a shady tree, with a cold one in one hand and some good company by your other hand. If you’re easily offended, too late: you shouldn’t have even read this review.

[devil_llama · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The best sayings of Edward Abbey - and some that weren't so good - collected together in a short, readable book that can serve as a valuable reference for anyone who wants something pithy to answer the next time they're confronted with an anti-environmental heckler.