"And You, What Do You Seek?" [the title of the last chapter, never written]

Here's the outrageous City Lights edition of Rene Daumal's Mount Analogue. Apparently it is their first edition from 1968 (and that date seems about right!...Roger Shattuck first translated it in 1959). The cover photo is copyrighted 1967 by Casey Sonnabend & Michael Bowen. It seems this may have been used for a "Human Be-in" poster as well. I think that third eye is on the guy's head and not superimposed. Looking at this makes me want to go watch Holy Mountain again. A blogger named Susie Bright has a post about Sonnabend (quote: " Casey knows—and has outlived—all his contemporaries. He studied with Kokoschka, had a little skirmish over his first wife with Bob Dylan...").

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First posted 8/22/07:

One more quick post before I collapse.

I've read Rene Daumal's Mount Analogue at least four times. I bought it in this compact 3" x 4.5" Shambhala Pocket Classics size. It's the complete text...well not complete, because it's an unfinished novel, but as complete as it can be. The book was recently brought back to print by Tusk/Overlook (thank you!) in a normal size (though in a non-Shattuck translation which I have not read).

I found this folded piece of paper in my copy where I had scribbled down excerpts. Roger Shattuck is an amazing translator, but I'll still need to look up the French original for the phrases "soft pillow of doubt" and "monkey-cage agitation" and "relatively real."

Here's the front side of the paper, a flier for an old dj night (I stopped doing this at least 6 years ago...note I spelled my name how it's pronounced). You should definitely heed my scribbling and flip through Mount Analogue to the story of Mo and Ho. Do this the next time you find it in a bookstore, seriously, you'll thank me.