Edward Abbey
Edward Abbey’s writing primarily focused on environmental issues. But it would be inaccurate to simply name him an "environmentalist." Abbey seemed to constantly critique the culture surrounding him. His works ranged from fiction to blunt, sometimes slighting, essays. Some groups of environmentalists rebuked his exceedingly controversial stance. Abbey was known to throw beer cans from his car because the landscape was already ruined by the highway under his tires. He wrote essays degrading western farming and ranching methods, yet he was a proponent of the National Rifle Association. His writing suggests he wasn't comfortable with environmental activists or activism as a whole. He wasn't concerned with keeping either a liberal or conservative point of view–his were directed by nature and love of the American West.
Originally from Home, Pennsylvania, Abbey spent most of his life in the southwestern United States. His parents, Paul and Mildred Abbey, were labeled liberal for their views on homosexuality and their pursuit of socialism. Edward Abbey grew up during the Depression era and moved with his parents and four younger siblings around the East, spending time at small campsites around Pennsylvania and living in New Jersey. Abbey often wrote about his parents, demonstrating how they shaped the man he became. Abbey's first notions of the West, a love they shared, were from his father.
Abbey, spirit of freedom fully intact, hitchhiked around the Southwest at age 17 and spent two years (1945-1947) in the military where he received two promotions and two demotions (for refusing to salute). His nearly 15 years of experience working as a park ranger featured prominently in his writing in the 1950s. He studied at the University of New Mexico and later at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Abbey finished at UNM with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Philosophy in 1951 and a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy in 1956. His thesis was titled "Anarchism and the Morality of Violence,” indicative of the movement Abbey would start in the environmental community.
Abbey's first novel, Jonathon Troy, (1956) seems near autobiographical. The main character is a loner, a societal outcast–traits shared by the protagonist in Abbey's second work of fiction. The Brave Cowboy was turned into a screenplay in 1962, entitled Lonely Are the Brave. After these first two novels, Abbey wrote a piece of non-fiction work, Desert Solitaire. He called this finished work, an embittered enumeration on the beauty of the Southwest (mainly Utah, where he worked as a ranger), a "eulogy." Desert Solitaire became a cult classic, almost immediately gaining a deep, solid base of fans despite lack of mainstream popularity. His next novel caused the most well-known controversy. The Monkey Wrench Gang actually launched an entirely new offshoot of the environmental movement: sabotage (not violence) as a means of protest. Abbey once stated "If wilderness is outlawed, only outlaws can save wilderness."
When asked about sabotage, Abbey responded:
"Well I'm not going to advocate sabotage publicly on the federal airwaves here. But I think there probably will be more of it if the conflict between conservation and development becomes more intense, and if the politicians fail to follow the popular will on the matter. I think a lot of people are going to become very angry and they're going to resort to illegal methods to try to slow down the destruction of our national resources, our wilderness, our forests, mountains, deserts. What that will lead to I hate to think. If the conflict becomes violent and physical then I'm pretty sure the environmentalists will mostly end up in prison or shot dead in their tracks. So I hope we can save what's left of Arizona and the United States by legal, political means and I still think we can. I still vote in elections...even though there doesn't seem to be much to vote for or against, when there's not much choice. I think if enough people get sufficiently concerned, why we can still make changes...needed changes in this country by political methods...I hope so.
(From a KAET-TV [Phoenix, Arizona] interview, given in December of 1982.)
This idea of sabotage was well-received by some conservationists, illustrated by the group EarthFirst!, a non-governmental organization formed in 1979. Though well-known by the group Abbey was never a formal member of the association. Some of the policies EarthFirst! proposed took directly from Abbey's writing. Even today, the EarthFirst! website uses the term "monkeywrenchers" stating, "While there is broad diversity within EarthFirst!, from animal rights vegans to wilderness hunting guides, from monkeywrenchers to careful followers of Gandhi, from whiskey-drinking backwoods riffraff to thoughtful philosophers, from misanthropes to humanists, there is agreement on one thing, the need for action!"
Abbey was not a loud advocate for monkeywrenching, and the extent of his involvement with the movement seems to be merely initiating the simple idea–he was accused of monkeywrenching crimes, but no evidence has ever been produced. Other, more mainstream environmental groups have not embraced the type of gonzo environmentalism of some of Abbey's fans. Green Peace makes no mention of Abbey in their archives, and a May 1st, 1982, article in The Nation by Dennis Drabelle lists Abbey's writing as arrogant and elitist, saying the "immense popularity [of Abbey] among environmentalists is puzzling."
Abbey was truly a man either loved or hated by those who knew him and his work; he kept his supporters and his cynics speculating on his next move, often a move no one expected. His fan base is and was sturdy and unyielding, including a strong base of women. Details concerning the number and intimate nature of Abbey's relationships with women are typically a matter of conjecture.
He was married and divorced several times. It’s suggested in the book Edward Abbey: A Life (Cahalans, 2001) that Abbey was something of a lady's man. He fathered five children during his lifetime, supporting himself and his offspring through a plethora of jobs, including as a caseworker (1960), teacher (1956, 1962, and 1970), bus driver (1966 and 1967), and technical writer (1962).
A great number of Abbey's jobs reflected his passion: the outdoors. Abbey was a ranger at the Arches (now a national park) from 1956-1957, Casa Grande from 1958-1959, Canyonlands in 1965, the Everglades from 1965-1966, Lee's Ferry in 1967, and Aravaipa from 1972-1974. He watched for fires as a lookout on the North Rim and Numa Ridge and at Aztec Peak in Arizona, where trail #151, climbing to the top, is called Abbey's Way. Abbey's love for the West is demonstrated in many of his books, journals, and interviews. No thought sums up Abbey's approach as much as when he originally discovered the West: "For the first time, I felt I was getting close to the West of my deepest imaginings, the place where the tangible and the mythical became the same."
Abbey endeavored to be close to the West in life, and he desired to be close to the West, the desert, and nature, in death. On March 14th, 1989, Abbey passed away in his home, Fort Llatikcuf, from what was determined to be an esophageal hemorrhage. He was 62 years old and survived by his last wife, five children, and his father. The accounts of his burial vary greatly, but it’s believed the southern Arizona desert is his final resting place. The common thread connecting all the myths is a headstone believed to read Abbey's name, dates of birth and death, and a simple sentence: "No Comment."
In one account of his burial and final resting place, it’s said he wished not be embalmed but to be transported, postmortem, in the bed of a pickup truck to his grave, wrapped in only a sleeping bag, and buried without concern for the law. He supposedly left a note stating his final wish: to fertilize the growth of a tree, bush, or other desert plant. With what we know of Abbey, this account is easy to believe and satisfies a need for a rambunctious end to his colored life.
Literary Works
Fiction
- Jonathan Troy (1954)
- The Brave Cowboy (1956)
- Fire on the Mountain (1962)
- Black Sun (1971)
- The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975)
- Good News (1980)
- Fool's Progress (1988)
- Hayduke Lives! (1990)
Nonfiction
- Desert Solitaire (1968)
- The Journey Home (1977)
- Abbey's Road (1979)
- Down the River (1982)
- In Praise of Mountain Lions (1984)
- Beyond the Wall (1984)
- The Best of Edward Abbey / Slumgullion Stew (1984)
- One Life at a Time, Please (1988)
- Vox Clamantis in Deserto (1989)
- Confessions of a Barbarian (1994)
- The Other Confessions of a Barbarian and Earth Apples: The Poetry of Edward Abbey (1994)
- The Serpents of Paradise (1995)
References
Abbey, Edward. Personal interview. December 1982. Interview by Eric Temple of KAET-TV of Arizona.
EarthFirst!
James M. Cahalan, Edward Abbey: A Life. 2001, University of Arizona Press
Peacock, Doug. Chasing Abbey. Outside Magazine, August 1997.
Hepworth, James R., The Life and Legend of Edward Abbey, from the Bloomsbury Review. Volume 22, #3 2002.