Finding just one aspect from Robert Macfarlane’s writings is difficult, so being from Minnesota and coming to Montana, I focused much during the book on the draw to the mountains and what Macfarlane has to say about it. In relation to last week’s discussion on the draw to mountaineering despite its obvious danger and lack…

Mountains of the Mind is to say well titled, it chronicles the history of Eurocentric views towards mountains and perhaps more appropriate, it was to me at least, a very difficult book to work through. I found Macfarlane’s metaphors very dramatic and out of place in a nonfiction work; and it seemed to me he…

Sublime: awe-inspiringly grand, excellent, or impressive. The very definition of sublime not only defines what it means to scale a vast range of mountains but it also subverts the other emotions that come along with climbing a mountain such as fear and panic; emotions that come more naturally to a human being when faced with…

Mount Analogue was an intriguing and thought provoking read as well as captivating the imagination. The idea of the story has a connection with readers on multiple levels including, general aspects of mountaineering, the desire to explore and find the impossible and the spirituality in all of us. The first line that really pulled me…

Before I began reading this book I fully expected to be reading a work of non-fiction. I was confused because of Daumal writing seemed to be coming from the first person perspective as it seemed he was writing about a biographical account of one of his mountain exploits. I was pleasantly surprised that this was indeed…

Let’s start with Monte Veritas. It struck me as though du Maurier used the symbol of Monte Veritas to shed light on the sublime and primitive magnetism of mountains. A force not to be underestimated. The mountain generates an atmosphere that can be intoxicating at the very least, and at most truly enlightening. This eden would be…

  In the beginning of the novel Mount Analogue I believed this work to be a work of nonfiction. However, after completing the reading and with a helpful hint from a fellow classmate, while I was still reading the introduction, I was able to deduce that it was a fictional work. The way that Rene…

Within the context of mythical mountains and journeys in the pursuit of enlightenment, both Daumal and de Maurier depict Mount Analogue and Monte Verita as the pinnacle of intellectual fulfillment. Like any voyage, there are a series of preparations one must make in order to be “ready” for the expedition. Those unfamiliar with the extreme…

Mount Analogue is full of imagery that paints a picture of mountaineering and mountains that gives the reader analogy after analogy to place an image of mountaineering seen through eyes of various professions in the world, rather than the usual mountaineer, that contributes his/her life to the practice. Beginning with the end of the novel…