Customer Reviews

Mont Analogue

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I first read this awesome and remarkable book in the 60's and it has always returned to me in so many ways: in my memories, in my dreams, in unique settings, in my interactions with others, and so on and on (and that's a lot to say for an incomplete novel which ends in mid-sentence because someone knocked on the door while it was being written and the author died a few days later -- whew!). I decided I just had to revisit it if I could find it and was totally delighted to find it on Amazon. I buy lots of books and CDs from Amazon and have never needed to pay attention to the section titled "Product Details" where, hidden from my awareness, was the "French language edition" fine print! I don't read French at all! What a disappointment that this information is not more apparent to purchasers (I think this information should have been under the "Edition" heading, since this is the French "Edition", and this "Edition" heading is right at the top near the price where I would surely have noticed it instead of a screen down in a Product Details section I've never really needed to use at any time until now). Well, this book is useless to me since I don't understand French! I now see there's another edition of Mt. Analogue listed by Amazon, but since it doesn't say anything at all about language (and I mean nothing about language), I guess I can assume, but not know, that it's in English (but I'm not going to take the chance -- I know my old 60's edition of the book in English is somewhere around here, almost "waiting" for me to find it -- let's see, how would they have proceeded with such a step as they climbed Mt. Analog? -- in Mt.-Analog style, the path forward sometimes unfolds as you prepare the way for those unknown others who follow, and then your own path just "opens up" in front of you; so I'll venture forward on my own personal journey up my personal mountain of life and trust that being true to myself and others will help me find my own way; I think that's how it went -- or was it?). Don't miss this great book (it may become one of "those most memorable" books you'll ever read), but definitely be aware that getting a copy in a language you can read will help a lot!

Daumal never completed Mont Analogue, sadly, since he died while in the middle of the fifth chapter... in fact the book ends in the middle of a sentence. But the main ideas are presented in what does exist of the book, which is both entertaining and provocative. The basic idea is that a group of adventurers sets out to find and explore "Mont Analogue," the mountain which connects our human world with things beyond it. Metaphor becomes reality, and vice versa.