Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Pathos & Glory: The Work of Everertt Ruess







On Desert Trails With Everett Ruess (by Gary James Bergera, Editor, Afterword, W.L Rusho, Editor), is a collection of Ruess’ letters, diary entries, poems, watercolors, and ink prints.

Ruess had a strong urge to leave civilization, and from the age of 17 until his disappearance at 20, he spent much of his time wandering southern Utah, northern Arizona, and western Colorado.  He wrote passionately about his experiences.  In 1934 he set off in Davis Gulch, in the Escalante region of southern Utah, the last area of America to be mapped, and disappeared.

His parents kept alive his memory, and this book, and its predecessors, initiated his legend and myth.  The fact that he vanished with very little evidence of his ultimate fate adds an aura of charmed mystery to his story; it punctuates his young and expressive life with pathos and glory.

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