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 WHAT THE CRITICS SAY ABOUT POETS ON THE PEAKS “Poets on the Peaks: Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen & Jack
Kerouac in the North Cascades is a gem that combines literary scholarship,
Northwest history and a dash of Zen Buddhism into a coffee-table
book that is a visual stunner, thanks to Suiter's photographs.” “Suiter comes up with something that most recent studies
of the Beat poets don't -- original research and a fresh perspective.
Forsaking Beat's urban geographies, Suiter takes to the Zen-like
solitude and fierce natural world that these poets sought in their
summers as fire watches in the American West. Beautifully published,
with photo-graphs Suiter both took and assembled, it's the one Beat
book of the year worth “Nothing in recent years has made a greater contribution
to the understanding of the Beats as nature writers than Suiter’s
book.” “Poets on the Peaks is a landmark work, compelling in word
and image.” “...compelling narrative and luminous photos.” “...a fresh, engaging chronicle of a gateway period in American
cultural life, the rise of the beats...The book works best not as
a chronicle, although it does that well, nor as a set of mini-biographies
but as a reminder that the twin of the active life is the contemplative
one.” “...an accurate and elegantly written account...” “This is a very cool book. Buy it. Read it. Let its story
sink in, slowly, with appreciation, like watching a mountain at
sunup. It is a scholarly book about the connections between people,
places, cultures (and culture), politics, religion, scholarship,
wilderness, mountains, rivers, poetry, literature, ecology, community,
environment and revelation. It is full of information, insight,
inspiration, history and wisdom.” “An inspirational chronicle of fire lookout poets.” “John Suiter has mined letters, journals and extensive interviews to recreate that time. His evocation of the North Cascades landscape in words and some 50 black-and-white photographs is detailed and authentic. He presents a fascinating look into the formative years of two major American poets [Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen], and a brief glimpse into a rare, golden time for Kerouac, a gifted novelist before his long plunge into self-destruction. “Suiter has paid poetic homage to the work of these three
writers and to the timeless landscape that inspired them. Pilgrims
take note: The trails up Sourdough, Crater and Desolation mountains
are likely to become a bit more crowded.” “When we think of the Beat generation and its literary icons,
we think, mainly, of urban scenes: raucous poetry readings, sparsely-furnished
lofts, cosmopolitan coffeehouses, smoky jazz joints and bars ...
thus has the myth of this generation been sculpted, when, in fact,
nature and the natural world played a major role in the formation
of the lives and minds of many of this movement’s major poets.
Nowhere has this nature-based perspective been magnified more telescopically
than in Boston photographer and writer John Suiter’s book
Poets on the Peaks.” “a sensitive and beautifully crafted account of those times.”
“John Suiter has yanked Jack Kerouac off the barstool, stranded
him far from urban bustle and the road.” Suiter, a Boston-based writer and photographer who began his research in 1995, delivers his literary history in lucid prose that’s grounded in solid research. He’s not an academic but an enthusiast who climbed and wandered the mountains he writes about, and this, along with the photographs he both took and assembled, gives his book its character.” “Suiter’s book is rich with a sense of adventure, and his photographs—as well as those he includes from the National Park Service and other sources—put you there. The views have more grit than what you’d see in an Ansel Adams photograph, and you can easily imagine the splendor and the scariness of such isolation.” “If this book introduces you to Philip Whalen and his work,
you are a lucky reader.” “Full of beautiful photos...a skillful chronicle.” “Captivating and contemplative...” “...Suiter has done a yeoman's job of pulling together the
essential Pacific Northwest-Woodsman-Zen Buddhist strain of the
beat movement in his fine book Poets on the Peaks...an essential
wave in literature and East-West thought has been recorded at last.”
“Suiter's exquisite photos are worth the price of the book
and provide a type of meditation in themselves." |
