The Back Country
by Gary Snyder
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This collection is made up of four sections: "Far West"--poems of the Western mountain country where, as a young man. Gary Snyder worked as a logger and forest ranger; "Far East"--poems written between 1956 and 1964 in Japan where he studied Zen at the monastery in Kyoto; "Kali"--poems inspired by a visit to India and his reading of Indian religious texts, particularly those of Shivaism and Tibetan Buddhism; and "Back"--poems done on his return to this country in 1964 which look again at our show more West with the eyes of India and Japan. The book concludes with a group of translations of the Japanese poet Miyazawa Kenji (1896-1933), with whose work Snyder feels a close affinity. The title,The Back Country, has three major associations; wilderness. the "backward" countries, and the "back country" of the mind with its levels of being in the unconscious. show lessTags
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This collection is made up of four sections: "Far West"—poems of the Western mountain country where, as a young man. Gary Snyder worked as a logger and forest ranger; "Far East"—poems written between 1956 and 1964 in Japan where he studied Zen at the monastery in Kyoto; "Kali"—poems inspired by a visit to India and his reading of Indian religious texts, particularly those of Shivaism and Tibetan Buddhism; and "Back"—poems done on his return to this country in 1964 which look again at our West with the eyes of India and Japan. The book concludes with a group of translations of the Japanese poet Miyazawa Kenji (1896-1933), with whose work Snyder feels a close affinity. The title, The Back Country, has three major associations; show more wilderness. the "backward" countries, and the “back country" of the mind with its levels of being in the unconscious. show less
Bought used at Powell's. Correctly smells of damp and patchouli. Good poems too.
This is my favorite book of poetry by Snyder. I think it's much better than Turtle Island, which won the Pulitzer.
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Author Information
150+ Works 6,239 Members
Gary Snyder was born in San Francisco, California on May 8, 1930. He received a B.A. in anthropology at Reed College in 1951. Between working as a logger, a trail-crew member, and a seaman on a Pacific tanker, he was associated with Beat poets such as Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso and studied in a Zen monastery in Japan. He wrote numerous books show more of poetry and prose including Danger on Peaks, Mountains and Rivers Without End, No Nature: New and Selected Poems, The Practice of the Wild, Regarding Wave, and Myths and Texts. He received an American Book Award for Axe Handles and the Pulitzer Prize for poetry for Turtle Island. He has also received an American Academy of Arts and Letters award, the Bollingen Prize, the Bess Hokin Prize, the Levinson Prize from Poetry, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, and the Shelley Memorial Award. In 2012, he received the Wallace Stevens Award for lifetime achievement by the Academy of American Poets. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
New Directions Paperbook (249)
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1968
- Epigraph
- ". . . So--when was it--I, drawn like blown cloud, couldn't stop dreaming of roaming, roving the coast up and down . . ."
--Basho - Dedication
- FOR KENNETH REXROTH
- First words
- Fur the color of mud, the smooth loper
Crapulous old man, a drifter,
Praises! of Coyote the Nasty, the fat
Puppy that abused himself, the ugly gambler,
Bringer of goodies. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)About when the stars of the Skeleton
were paling in the dawn:
Striding the crackly glitter
--frozen mud--
The thief who had just stolen a celadon vase
from the front of a store
Suddenly stopped those long black legs
Covered his ears with his hands
And listened to the humming of his mind.
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- Popularity
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- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.13)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 2
- ASINs
- 6
