Conversations with Frank Waters

Description

Publication of these candid, informational conversations offers a rare opportunity to meet Frank Waters the man--his closeness to the land and to the Indians, his mysticism, his rich and varied life, his understanding of Southwest Indian culture and religion, his compassion. In a series of seven taped interviews, Waters and Milton ranged freely over many topics. Here are Waters' experiences on the Mexican border, from which came The Yogi of Cockroach Court; his stay in Mora where he met the old woman who became the unforgettable Maria del Valle of People of the Valley his first-hand experiences with the secret Penitente sect cameo portraits of his father and grandfather; his friendships with Taos artists Leon Gaspard and Nicolai Fechin; the reactions of his neighbors, the Pueblo Indians, to his classic novel of Pueblo life, The Man Who Killed the Deer. Apart from the rich store of anecdotes, these conversations also touched often on the values which unify and give such force to Waters' many published books: the powerful "spirit of place" experienced in the American Southwest and its influence on every group of people who have settled there; the role and the meaning of the subconscious in both Anglo and Indian cultures; the possibility that we may one day learn to reconcile the dual aspects of human nature. Unpretentious, informal, Conversations with Frank Waters illuminates the visionary and gentle nature of one of this century's most powerful and intuitive writers -- Back cover.

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