Into the Wild
It may, after all, be the bad habit of creative talents to invest themselves in pathological extremes that yield remarkable insights but no durable way of life for those who cannot translate their psychic wounds into significant art or thought. – Theodore Roszak
I just can’t get enough of this stuff!
I’m skirting around the edges of this whole Alaska thing, picking over what I have on my shelves here at home. After watching Grizzly Man the other night, I couldn’t get the similarities to Into the Wild out of my head. So, today I pulled it down off the shelf and dove in. I practically read it in one sitting, it’s that good. All the familiar passages came flooding back to me. I’d originally read this book about 6 or 7 years ago when I was wandering in my own private wilderness, and it’s still speaking to me.
Jon Krakauer’s book is an account of the last days of passionate idealist and wilderness lover, Chris McCandless. McCandless had hitchhiked to Alaska in 1992 after giving away his life savings, burning all the cash in his wallet and sending his last postcards to friends. He hiked into the Alaskan bush intending to live off the land and find that hidden core within himself. Four months later his decomposing body was found by a group of moose hunters.
What happened to this kid? Did he have a death wish? Why such outrage at his senseless death? And what’s the fascination with these characters who seem to be answering the call of the wild? Krakauer takes us into a culture that drives young men into the wilderness to escape, to find something, to loose something. It’s more than just the tale of one kid’s end days, it’s a real meditation on what it is to grow up in a culture that has largely tamed wilderness in our environment and our hearts.
Through McCandless’ journal entries and underlined passages in books that he took along with him, as well as interviews with people who he befriended along the way, Krakauer pieces together a vivid picture of this restless wanderer. But he also writes about other kindred spirits who ventured into the wilderness, so that McCandless isn’t seen as an isolated dreamer. Krakauer also throws in stories of his own adventures to focus on the fine and often arbitrary line between those who survive and those who don’t.
Like Timothy Treadwell who lived amongst wild grizzlies for 13 summers, also in Alaska, McCandless was unable to fit into what we would call normal society. These guys shared a somewhat troubled past, an idealism about the natural world, and a naïve desire to test themselves in a Big Country. And eventually both paid the price. Were they happy when the end finally came? Is this the way they wanted it to go, surrounded by what they love? I don’t believe these guys went into the wilderness to die, they went there to live. Willful ignorance of the risks involved does not equal a death wish, however stupid they seem to those more experienced or just plain lucky enough to have survived similar experiences.
In one of the last postcards McCandless sent he wrote, Please return all mail I receive to the sender. It might be a very long time before I return South. If this adventure proves fatal and you don’t ever hear from me again I want you to know you’re a great man. I now walk into the wild.
And Krakauer adds later…
At long last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence.
However misguided McCandless’ visions of reality may have been, and whatever side we come down on in the ongoing debate of naive dolt vs. counter-culture pilgrim hero, Krakauer’s book is like a wanderlust bible that touches core issues in our DNA. It speaks to the restless dreamer in us all.
Check it out here
I just can’t get enough of this stuff!
I’m skirting around the edges of this whole Alaska thing, picking over what I have on my shelves here at home. After watching Grizzly Man the other night, I couldn’t get the similarities to Into the Wild out of my head. So, today I pulled it down off the shelf and dove in. I practically read it in one sitting, it’s that good. All the familiar passages came flooding back to me. I’d originally read this book about 6 or 7 years ago when I was wandering in my own private wilderness, and it’s still speaking to me.
Jon Krakauer’s book is an account of the last days of passionate idealist and wilderness lover, Chris McCandless. McCandless had hitchhiked to Alaska in 1992 after giving away his life savings, burning all the cash in his wallet and sending his last postcards to friends. He hiked into the Alaskan bush intending to live off the land and find that hidden core within himself. Four months later his decomposing body was found by a group of moose hunters.What happened to this kid? Did he have a death wish? Why such outrage at his senseless death? And what’s the fascination with these characters who seem to be answering the call of the wild? Krakauer takes us into a culture that drives young men into the wilderness to escape, to find something, to loose something. It’s more than just the tale of one kid’s end days, it’s a real meditation on what it is to grow up in a culture that has largely tamed wilderness in our environment and our hearts.
Through McCandless’ journal entries and underlined passages in books that he took along with him, as well as interviews with people who he befriended along the way, Krakauer pieces together a vivid picture of this restless wanderer. But he also writes about other kindred spirits who ventured into the wilderness, so that McCandless isn’t seen as an isolated dreamer. Krakauer also throws in stories of his own adventures to focus on the fine and often arbitrary line between those who survive and those who don’t.
Like Timothy Treadwell who lived amongst wild grizzlies for 13 summers, also in Alaska, McCandless was unable to fit into what we would call normal society. These guys shared a somewhat troubled past, an idealism about the natural world, and a naïve desire to test themselves in a Big Country. And eventually both paid the price. Were they happy when the end finally came? Is this the way they wanted it to go, surrounded by what they love? I don’t believe these guys went into the wilderness to die, they went there to live. Willful ignorance of the risks involved does not equal a death wish, however stupid they seem to those more experienced or just plain lucky enough to have survived similar experiences.
In one of the last postcards McCandless sent he wrote, Please return all mail I receive to the sender. It might be a very long time before I return South. If this adventure proves fatal and you don’t ever hear from me again I want you to know you’re a great man. I now walk into the wild.
And Krakauer adds later…
At long last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence.
However misguided McCandless’ visions of reality may have been, and whatever side we come down on in the ongoing debate of naive dolt vs. counter-culture pilgrim hero, Krakauer’s book is like a wanderlust bible that touches core issues in our DNA. It speaks to the restless dreamer in us all.
Check it out here
posted by alex | 11:59 PM
1 Comments:
I think I read it ages ago, just after you did. Every so often, I think about Chris McCandless and his wanderlust. When I have traveled over the years, there will be times when I wonder if he was there and what was he thinking at the time. You have a different voice in your reflections than when we talked about it years ago.
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