'The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge' first was published by the University of California Press in 1968, after which it became a countercultural touchstone; having 'read Castaneda' became a mark of true hipness.
In 1974 Pocket Books released this mass market paperback edition (256 pp), which immediately became a best-seller. Succeeding volumes dominated the bestseller lists throughout the remainder of the 70s and on into the early 80s.
It's hard to overstate how influential the 'Teachings' became on American, and worldwide, pop culture. The photography session the Eagles took for their first album cover is derived from Castaneda. Castaneda was gently satirized in the pages of 'The Furry Freak Brothers' underground comic. And the 1981 film Altered States had a Castaneda-inspired segment where the protagonist, played by William Hurt, participates in a peyote ceremony and acquires Cosmic Awareness.
The Eagles at Joshua Tree National Park for their first album photography session, 1972
The cover for the paperback version was the same as that for the hardcover version issued in 1972 by Simon and Schuster; the artist was Roger Hane (who also did the cover for the second volume in the Don Juan series, A Separate Reality).
Original cover art by Roger Hane
I remember reading 'Teachings' in early 1981, when I was in college, and finishing the book with an immediate desire to head to the Sonoran desert to locate Don Juan, take peyote and mushrooms under his tutelage, and become A Man of Knowledge. So many other people who read the book had the same idea, that a crisis of peyote over-harvesting has emerged.
By the time I had finished all four of the books in the initial Don Juan series I had begun to doubt their truthfulness. At the time there was no internet and no Google, and so getting information on the entire Castaneda phenomenon was not easy. Nowadays such information can be easily accessed and the fact that everything that Castaneda wrote was fake is now common knowledge.
(For a particularly uncomplimentary look at the 'real' Castaneda, readers are directed to this excerpt from John Gilmore's Laid Bare).
I recently re-read 'Teachings' and despite my awareness that is fictitious, I found the book to still be engaging........in many ways I wanted to believe it was true. Which, I suppose, is as good a measuring method for any work of fantasy fiction as any other criterion.
For those who are unfamiliar with the whole 'Don Juan' library, Castaneda claimed that from 1960 to 1965 he regularly visited the Sonoran desert to commune with a Yaqui Indian medicine man or 'brujo' named Don Juan Matus. Matus agreed to teach Castaneda to become 'A Man of Knowledge', albeit with warnings and admonitions that such a path is arduous, even fatal.
Castaneda's first person narrative relates how he learns to ingest psychedelic substances extracted from Jimson weed, mushrooms, and peyote; under the influence of these substances, he experiences visions of otherworldly entities that bring with them profound insights into the existence of 'A Separate Reality' underlying our own.
I won't divulge any spoilers, save to say that the while 'The Teachings of Don Juan' ends on a note that suggests it may originally have been intended to be a one-volume book, its commercial and critical success led Castaneda to issue a number of sequels.
Whatever his faults, and however all-encompassing they might have been, Castaneda was a skilled writer, and he knew how to keep his readers engaged. There is little fluff or padding in the 'Teachings'; the chapters are short and to the point; the conversations have an air of authenticity; and Don Juan Matus is one of the most fully realized characters in fiction or nonfiction.
If you haven't yet read 'The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge', then I recommend doing so. The paperback edition is so ubiquitous in used bookstores that finding an affordable copy isn't much of a problem. And when you're done reading it you can draw your own conclusions about whether it contains a grain of truth........... or not.
I recently re-read 'Teachings' and despite my awareness that is fictitious, I found the book to still be engaging........in many ways I wanted to believe it was true. Which, I suppose, is as good a measuring method for any work of fantasy fiction as any other criterion.
For those who are unfamiliar with the whole 'Don Juan' library, Castaneda claimed that from 1960 to 1965 he regularly visited the Sonoran desert to commune with a Yaqui Indian medicine man or 'brujo' named Don Juan Matus. Matus agreed to teach Castaneda to become 'A Man of Knowledge', albeit with warnings and admonitions that such a path is arduous, even fatal.
Meeting the shaman: lobby card for Altered States (1981)
Castaneda's first person narrative relates how he learns to ingest psychedelic substances extracted from Jimson weed, mushrooms, and peyote; under the influence of these substances, he experiences visions of otherworldly entities that bring with them profound insights into the existence of 'A Separate Reality' underlying our own.
I won't divulge any spoilers, save to say that the while 'The Teachings of Don Juan' ends on a note that suggests it may originally have been intended to be a one-volume book, its commercial and critical success led Castaneda to issue a number of sequels.
Whatever his faults, and however all-encompassing they might have been, Castaneda was a skilled writer, and he knew how to keep his readers engaged. There is little fluff or padding in the 'Teachings'; the chapters are short and to the point; the conversations have an air of authenticity; and Don Juan Matus is one of the most fully realized characters in fiction or nonfiction.
If you haven't yet read 'The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge', then I recommend doing so. The paperback edition is so ubiquitous in used bookstores that finding an affordable copy isn't much of a problem. And when you're done reading it you can draw your own conclusions about whether it contains a grain of truth........... or not.
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2 comments:
Funny book, this. I first read it as a teenager sitting out in the scorching heat, and found it mesmerising - as close to a trip as a teetotaller could get. Got a copy again years later, and it didn't work at all.
I had your exact same experience. I really enjoyed the books and as with any fictional character you feel you are right there with them - or you want to be. Fortunately, my impressionabiliy with CC didn't go beyond the 3rd book. I enjoyed the read and the memories of any good book experience. I won't re-read for fear of diminishing those memories. I came here as I prepare a presentation on found paper.As I was reading the series in college I came across a letter sent by CC as a response to visiting the school for a talk in 1971. He never did come to speak. I stilll have it to this day and will report on the joy of having his signature.. Still not trying peyote. Great post thanks
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