Look out: A Selection of Writings

Beginning with the publication of The Back Country in 1968, Gary Snyder’s association with New Directions continued through the publication of his poetry books: the Pulitzer Prize-winning Turtle Island (1974) and Myths and Texts (1978); as well as his prose works, Earth House Hold (1969) and The Real Work (1980). More recently, Snyder’s No Nature: New and Selected Poems , a finalist for the National Book Award, was published in 1993 by Pantheon, and his epic poem Mountains and Rivers without End was published by Counterpoint, 1997. Snyder has had a seminal place among American landscape writers. As a poet, he once wrote, I hold the most archaic values on earth. He has long been associated with Beat writers such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and other poets such as Kenneth Rexroth, Robert Creeley, and Robert Duncan. His poetics are founded in Poundian modernism, Chinese and Japanese poetry, and ancient oral native traditions. Look Out is a collection personally compiled by Gary Snyder, containing poems and essays from all his New Directions books. It offers first-time readers a chance to see the evolution of his thought and poetry, spanning two decades, and old-time fans the opportunity to read all the favourites. Also included is Snyder’s introduction, as well as a new poem written about the late New Directions founder James Laughlin.