The Friendship of a Mountain: A Brief Treatise on Elevation

Why are we fascinated by mountains? These outcrops of rock were once considered unsightly, something to be avoided at all costs, but, since Rousseau, they have been contrasted with our corrupt cities and viewed as serene enclaves of beauty and relaxation. But why climb to the summit only to come back down again? Why does the toil of climbing convert into joy? What metaphysics of the absolute is playing out here – what challenge does climbing pose to time and ageing, to fearful panic, to the brush with danger which leads to conquest? It’s not faith that elevates mountains – it’s mountains that elevate our faith in challenging us to overcome them. These hooded majesties crush some people while exalting others. For the latter, climbing means being born again, reaching a state of exhilaration. Being seized by exhaustion upon arriving at the summit is akin to casting your eyes upon paradise. Is it the stinging cold, the wind so strong that it almost knocks you down, or is it higher powers that speak to us in this mixture of terror and beauty? A child of the mountains who spent his youth in Austria and Switzerland, Pascal Bruckner has special ties to the subject of this book: the further he climbs, the more he reconnects to his past. In sparkling and sensual prose, Bruckner’s paean to the majesty of mountains weaves together things seen and things read, childhood memories, literature and philosophy, interlaced with reflections on life, ageing and the unrivalled beauty of an ecosystem that we are in danger of destroying.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Preamble: The Test of the Coconut Tree Chapter 1: Where Goes the White When Melts the Snow? Chapter 2: Why Climb?             Chapter 3: Our Universal Mother Chapter 4: The Mesmerizing Confederation Chapter 5: The Show-Offs and the Yokels Chapter 6: Lived Experiences Chapter 7: The Aesthetics of the Adventurer: Princes and Peasants             Chapter 8: The Two Faces of the Abyss              Chapter 9: Reynard and Isengrim Chapter 10: Loving What Terrifies Us Chapter 11: Death in Chains? Chapter 12: Protecting the Great Stone Books Chapter 13: Sublime Chaos Epilogue: Once You’ve Reached the Summit, Keep Climbing Notes

About the Author :
Pascal Bruckner is the bestselling author of many books including The Tyranny of Guilt, Perpetual Euphoria and The Fanaticism of the Apocalypse.

Review :
‘Pascal Bruckner is one of the great French essayists of our time. In his newest, and most beautiful, book he ruminates on what mountains have represented to human beings throughout the ages and why we are drawn to climb them, often at great risk. The Friendship of a Mountain is about awe, danger, self-overcoming, and, yes, blisters. We die and the mountains remain: and thus it should be.’ Mark Lilla, Professor of Humanities, Columbia University ‘This book is a remarkable meditation on the natural world, how humans imagine and distort it and all too often fail to understand and learn from it. Like all of Bruckner’s work, it is steeped in a remarkable intellectual culture, wide reading, and the spirit of the moraliste which informs all of Bruckner’s work. It is an original and important intellectual contribution and, at the same time, an extremely enjoyable read that will appeal to all ages, especially in these pandemic or endemic times.’ Richard J. Golsan, University Distinguished Professor, Senior Scowcroft Fellow, the Bush School, Texas A&M University "The book unfolds partially like what one would imagine of a conversation between John Muir and Edward Abbey if they met at a Swiss ski lodge: penetrating perspectives, aloofness, appreciation for the landscape, but most of all insightfulness into the environment’s impact on and transformation of the human soul, all captured with a soaring, insistent lyricism that vibrates between macro and micro." Ecokritike