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1-Page Summary of Desert Solitaire
Overall Summary
Edward Abbey’s “Desert Solitaire” is a memoir of his experiences as a park ranger in Utah. Throughout the book, he describes his encounters with nature that are both moving and vivid. He has an uncommon reverence for nature, which comes through in every page of the book. He also shares his disdain for people who don’t appreciate nature and prefer to live their lives indoors or behind walls instead of experiencing life outside.
Abbey spends six months living in a small, government-supplied trailer. At first he has to deal with mice but then gopher snakes move in and take care of the problem. Abbey is determined to experience nature in all its raw simplicity but his imagination causes him to project qualities onto the desert that cause him to feel fond of some aspects and dislike others.
The author’s descriptions of nature are very detailed, and he seems to know the names of even obscure plants and creatures. He describes these things in a poetic way that sounds like music.
Throughout the book, Abbey seeks to be closer to the wilderness. He doesn’t seek human companionship and goes off into remote areas of the park that have not been explored by others, in order to get a deeper sense of nature.
This book is about a man named Edward Abbey. He takes the reader with him on various adventures, including an excursion to recover a neighbor’s herd of wandering cattle, a manhunt for a lost (and deceased) tourist, and explorations of remote areas in the region. This is very much his story; there are no human relationships that play any significant part in this book except for one conversation he has with an unnamed tourist/visitor. The only other men he spends time with are stoic like himself and don’t share their thoughts or feelings beyond short exchanges of necessary information and rough-hewn humor.
Chapter 1: “The First Morning”
In the late 1950s, Edward Abbey takes a position as a seasonal park ranger in Arches National Park. He describes the area as “a sea of desert”.
Abbey also states that it’s one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
It’s a cold, snowy night when he arrives at the tin government house. He wakes up in the morning and spends time outside, taking in the view of lavender clouds, dark gorge of Colorado River, Moab Valley between thousand-foot walls of rock, Roan Cliffs and Book Cliffs. The Arches themselves are holes in rock that have been formed through hundreds of thousands of years by weathering huge sandstone walls.
The author talks about his experience in the desert and how he wants to confront the reality of life. He says that he is looking for a “brutal mysticism” as opposed to any sentimental notions of nature, and concludes by saying that even if you are alone, you can’t be lonely.
Chapter 2: “Solitaire”
The park superintendent and the chief ranger show up to bring Abbey some supplies, and they give him a tour of the park in their truck. They walk out on trails, stop by a spring-fed creek, taste the water even though it isn’t potable, and then agree that it’s not good for drinking.
McRae and Bence don’t go to dinner with Abbey. Instead, they leave him at his trailer after dropping him off there. He is alone in a “great stillness” that includes the sounds of birds and the wind. Abbey describes a feeling of “overwhelming peace”. After eating beans and beer for dinner, he builds himself a fire outside when it gets dark out. When the fire dies down, he goes on a walk without using his flashlight because flashlights can separate people from their surroundings.
Once Abbey returns to his trailer, he decides to write a letter. He cranks up the generator that powers his lights and notes how it feels like being cut off from the world around him. After finishing his letter, he turns off the generator and reverts back to feeling serene. He writes, “I am twenty miles or more from any of my neighbors but instead of loneliness I feel loveliness.”
