A reissue of a twentieth-century classic in the acclaimed Tusk Ivories series A twentieth-century classic, Mount Analogue combines the author's poetic gifts and philosophical accomplishments in a manner that is both entertaining to read and profound to contemplate. The novel is a representation of the author's own spiritual quest, transposed into fictional form, and was published posthumously in 1952. This edition is newly translated by Carol Cosman, with an afterword by Vera Daumal. Among other things, this is an allegory for the journey of life, as well as a marvellous tale in which the narrator/author, one of an intrepid company of eight, sets sail in the yacht Impossible to search for Mount Analogue, the solid, geographically located, albeit hidden, peak that reaches inexorably towards heaven - as Mount Olympus reached to the home of the Greek gods, or Mount Sinai to the presence of Yahweh. Daumal, often described as one of the most gifted literary figures in twentieth century France, died before the novel was completed, providing an uncanny one-way quality to the journey that the reader cannot help but share.
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About the Author
Rene Daumal (1908-44) was one of the most original thinkers of the twentieth century. A follower of the teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff, he was also a poet, philosopher, and scholar of religion and Sanksrit. In his late-teens his avant-garde poetry was published in leading journals, and barely in his twenties, as a counter to Surrealism and Dadaism, he founded a literary journal Le Grand Jeu. He wrote many essays on religion and philosophy, trained himself in Oriental languages, and engaged in drug experiments to test the limits of the consciousness of the mind, which probably precipitated his death from tuberculosis at age 35. and received the Jacques Doucet prize for his first volume of poetry Le Contre-Ciel. Mount Analogue was first published posthumously, in 1952.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
By Jaz
Format:Paperback
This is an absolutely incredible book: the use of transcendental imagery and metaphors ensures that it is enlightening, yet the simplistic and logical way the story is told makes it seem as if it is genuinely possible. It is extremely fast-paced and the forward and afterward provide remarkable insight into the works of Daumal and his inspirations (I would recommend reading neither until after you have read the novel itself!) Fantastic read.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The messages from this novel reach out on different levels. This is an excellent mind travel
through the work of Gurdjieff as portrayed by one of his students.
through the work of Gurdjieff as portrayed by one of his students.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.9 out of 5 stars
7 reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A terrific read and a literary classic
12 Jun 2004
By Steven E. Bradbury
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
This is a terrific book even for those who are not into mountain climbing or the spiritual philosophy of Gurdjieff. Indeed, when I first read Mount Analogue more than 25 years ago--back in the days when I ignored introductions and back-cover blurbs--I took it for a surrealistic parody of the SciFi travel fantasies of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. Part of its appeal for me lay in the way it connected my childhood interests in SF and Fantasy to my growing fascination with the high road of literary modernism. Like some armchair basecamp, Daumal's novel helped me to acclimatize myself before ascending to the loftier and more rarified air of The Magic Mountain and The Waste Land and Ulysses. But it's continuing appeal is that it is an absolutely gripping story, one that seizes you from the first page with all the tenacity of its half-crazed visionary hero Pierre Sogol, and doesn't let go for days and even weeks after you've finished reading it. Here, I think the translator, Roger Shattuck, deserves half the credit, for his English is a pleasure to the eye and the ear and to whatever it is in us that aspires to reach those sublime states where, like Daumal's narrator, we can say : "I ASSURE YOU THERE WAS FIRE AROUND US IN THE AIR!"
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A symbollically non-Euclidian adventure in mountainclimbing.
1 Aug 2004
By tommyterror
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
This is one of those 'secret books' passed from friend to friend, artist to artist. My own initiation into this work certainly came at the most needed moment, and I hope this deliriously engaging analogy speaks to you now as sweetly as it whispered to me back then. Daumal's intriguing characters are hell-bent on marking the mountain that unites heaven and earth, a geographical place that "cannot not exist." Daumal draws obvious inspiration from his metaphysical tutelage under G.I. Gurdjieff, and the book has been radically reimagined by filmmaker and Tarot master Alejandro Jodorowsky in his epic 70's masterpiece "The Holy Mountain." Have a go-go.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A small gem.
3 Jan 1998
By Matt
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
This small, unfinished work is packed with wonderful ideas and a spirituality that appeals to both the head and the heart. Daumal's characters have the conviction that the mythical mountain that reaches from earth to heaven must actually exist, so they do the only reasonable thing -- they mount an expedition. A beautiful book.
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4.9 out of 5 stars
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