Introduction to Edward Abbey Part II
Edward Abbey became known as an "environmental writer". This title
was not of his choosing, nor to his liking. He preferred not to
categorize his style at all, but rather to "let his prose do his
talking for him."
Placing a label on Edward Abbey's style would be akin to picking up
all the grains of sand in the desert South-west, putting them in a
large glass container, and labeling that container "Desert". What
Ed wrote about was the Earth, and his deep love of it. Whether he
was writing about two snakes engaging in a mating ritual in Utah,
or about a slow train ride across the Australian desert to Alice
Springs, the Earth itself functions as the medium, and not
something made up or manufactured by the author. To begin to
understand Abbey, you must first take his advice to heart:
"Do not jump into your automobile next June and rush out to the
Canyon country hoping to see some of that which I have attempted to
evoke in these pages. In the first place you can't see anything
from a car; you've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and
walk, better yet crawl, on hands and knees, over the sandstone and
through the...cactus. When traces of blood begin to mark your trail
you'll see something, maybe."
