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tenn_dawg
Nov 18, 2003, 6:58 PM
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Any one read "Going Home" yet? I thought it was a pretty damn good article.
Makes me feel bad about all those years of hunting, or supporting hunters. Even though we think we are the masters of the world and the montains for now, long after we are gone, there will still be an emperor somewhere looking over a pristine high desert valley.
Kind of inspirational in a twisted kind of way. Nice pictures too!
http://www.rockclimbing.com/articles/view.php?ID=225
Travis
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cracklover
Nov 18, 2003, 7:46 PM
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Creepy. It's like Arthur C Clarke meets John Muir meets H. P. Lovecraft. Very unsettling.
Okay, here's a serious answer. I tried to post it under the feedback on the story, but keep getting an SQL error.
There is a tug we feel as we head out into wild country. A flirtation with something wilder and deeper than us, and we inherantly feel its seductive danger. Calling it a siren song is not quite right, because it is something _inside_ us that makes us keep pushing the bounds of rationality - tears us away from ourselves and our lives, to try to touch something deeper. But can we go too far? As it translates metaphor to reality, this story, to me, captures the sense of unease, the "what if" that is wrapped around that question.
Except that the article is much better than I make it sound. Don't let my sappy prose disuade you from reading the article. Unlike me, Dingus can actually write.
GO
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dingus
Nov 19, 2003, 9:30 PM
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In reply to: As it translates metaphor to reality, this story, to me, captures the sense of unease, the "what if" that is wrapped around that question.
Nice catch cracklover. Exactly the direction I envisioned when I wrote the thing. Some consider the 'why not keep going?' to be the most important question. I long ago realized that was not the case.
It's more, 'why do we keep turning back?' We get to these thresholds and see a path to the wild side and we ... turn back. Why?
Well, humans have become our civilization. Most of us really couldn't hack it at all in the emperor's world! We learned to love fire and all the rest that goes with it. Yet I love to toy with it and do so often enough... why not keep going, like Mason?
Call of the Wild. Jack London, though drunk, disorderly and flat out wrong about some of his notions of nature, was pretty good at flirting with this line too.
Cheers
DMT
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philbox
Moderator
Nov 20, 2003, 3:41 AM
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I`ve read it and thought it masterful. Thanks Dingus for perservering with the effort it took to get this up on the site. I would highly recommend people read this story in the articles section. You`ll be in for a treat.
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dingus
Nov 20, 2003, 3:16 PM
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In reply to: Creepy. It's like Arthur C Clarke meets John Muir meets H. P. Lovecraft. Very unsettling.
Wow! Thanks! That's like a tripple whammy of a compliment. Cut my teeth on all of them! Didn't really see the Lovecraft thing, but he is EXCELLENT at putting "transformations" to words now that I think about it. Ever read Colors Out of Space? Chilling!
In reply to: There is a tug we feel as we head out into wild country. A flirtation with something wilder and deeper than us, and we inherantly feel its seductive danger. Calling it a siren song is not quite right, because it is something _inside_ us that makes us keep pushing the bounds of rationality - tears us away from ourselves and our lives, to try to touch something deeper. But can we go too far? As it translates metaphor to reality, this story, to me, captures the sense of unease, the "what if" that is wrapped around that question.
That is exactly what I was driving at with this story. We extend ourselves, be it on a scary lead or way out in the back country or recklessly into a solo, what have you. We push till as John Bachar describes, its as though we're on the other side of the moon. We may as well BE on the other side of the moon, for all the help we can expect if something goes wrong.
We get to that point of no return and we ask ourselves the eternal, Call of the Wild question, "why not keep going?"
Try this... next time you find yourself in that position, ask a different Q. Ask, "why go back?" instead! You may be surprised at your answers. Rather than turning back due to negatives, we GO BACK out of the positives. We find, deep down in the fire loving part of our soul, the civilized part of us, we really WANT to go back.
Cheers and thanks for the kind words.
DMT
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cracklover
Nov 20, 2003, 3:39 PM
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It's been quite a while since I read Lovecraft, but my recollection of his stories brings to mind a sense of ancient forces, greater than us, but deeply tied to our subconscious urges... and not at all benevolent. Inevitably in his books, it was those on the fringes of society who got sucked into their realm.
But what do I know, I just call 'em like I see 'em. ;)
Anyhow, thanks again.
GO
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timstich
Nov 22, 2003, 6:11 AM
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"Not a man breathed for several seconds. Then a cloud of darker depth passed over the moon, and the silhouette of clutching branches faded out momentarily. At this there was a general cry; muffled with awe, but husky and almost indentical from every throat. For the terror had not faded with the silhouette, and in a fearsome instant of deeper darkness the watchers saw wriggling at that tree top height a thousand tiny points of faint and unhallowed radiance, tipping each bough like the fires of St. Elmo or the flames that come down the apostles' heads at the Penticost."
-The Colour Out Of Space
"He did not respond, and still the viol shrieked on without slackening. I moved my hand to his head, whose mechanical nodding I was able to stop, and shouted in his ear that we must both flee from the unknown things of the night."
-The Music of Erich Zann
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lcoyne
Nov 22, 2003, 7:01 AM
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Teen-dawg, Could not agree more...better than the trash you get in the American climbing rags nowadays....funny too in that you used to get lots of quality articles like that in Climbing 20 odd years ago. BTW Teen-dawg what are those thinks chasing the kittens?
Dingus - you should submit some stuff to Alpinist. Christian Beckwithm the editor is a nice, approachable guy and is always looking for good material.
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canrocker
Jan 10, 2004, 5:34 AM
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Absolutely loved the story. I could see myself and my nature in Mason, and it really drew me in.
PS: cracklover hit the nail on the head with those comments.
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polarwid
Jan 17, 2004, 6:43 AM
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polarwid moved this thread from Trip Reports to Feedback.
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