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⇱ Peter Matthiessen (Author of The Snow Leopard)


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Peter Matthiessen


Born
in New York City, The United States
May 22, 1927

Died
April 05, 2014

Genre


Peter Matthiessen is the author of more than thirty books and the only writer to win the National Book Award for both non-fiction (The Snow Leopard, in two categories, in 1979 and 1980) and fiction (Shadow Country, in 2008). A co-founder of The Paris Review and a world-renowned naturalist, explorer and activist, he died in April 2014.

Average rating: 3.99 Β· 52,898 ratings Β· 5,210 reviews Β· 151 distinct works β€’ Similar authors
πŸ‘ The Snow Leopard

4.06 avg rating β€” 20,961 ratings β€” published 1978 β€” 2 editions
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πŸ‘ Shadow Country

4.07 avg rating β€” 5,575 ratings β€” published 2008 β€” 29 editions
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πŸ‘ In the Spirit of Crazy Hors...

4.23 avg rating β€” 4,347 ratings β€” published 1983 β€” 45 editions
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πŸ‘ At Play in the Fields of th...

4.03 avg rating β€” 3,314 ratings β€” published 1965 β€” 82 editions
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πŸ‘ In Paradise

3.39 avg rating β€” 2,811 ratings β€” published 2014 β€” 36 editions
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πŸ‘ Killing Mister Watson (Shad...

3.84 avg rating β€” 1,987 ratings β€” published 1990 β€” 31 editions
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πŸ‘ Far Tortuga

3.91 avg rating β€” 1,317 ratings β€” published 1975 β€” 24 editions
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πŸ‘ The Tree Where Man Was Born

3.93 avg rating β€” 1,061 ratings β€” published 1972 β€” 2 editions
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πŸ‘ Lost Man's River

3.93 avg rating β€” 536 ratings β€” published 1997 β€” 28 editions
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πŸ‘ The Cloud Forest: A Chronic...

3.70 avg rating β€” 525 ratings β€” published 1961 β€” 16 editions
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More books by Peter Matthiessen…
Quotes by Peter Matthiessen  (?)
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β€œThe secret of the mountain is that the mountains simply exist, as I do myself: the mountains exist simply, which I do not. The mountains have no "meaning," they are meaning; the mountains are. The sun is round. I ring with life, and the mountains ring, and when I can hear it, there is a ringing that we share. I understand all this, not in my mind but in my heart, knowing how meaningless it is to try to capture what cannot be expressed, knowing that mere words will remain when I read it all again, another day.”
― Peter Matthiessen, The Snow Leopard

β€œWhen we are mired in the relative world, never lifting our gaze to the mystery, our life is stunted, incomplete; we are filled with yearning for that paradise that is lost when, as young children, we replace it with words and ideas and abstractions - such as merit, such as past, present, and future - our direct, spontaneous experience of the thing itself, in the beauty and precision of this present moment.”
― Peter Matthiessen

β€œSoon the child’s clear eye is clouded over by ideas and opinions, preconceptions, and abstractions. Simple free being becomes encrusted with the burdensome armor of the ego. Not until years later does an instinct come that a vital sense of mystery has been withdrawn. The sun glints through the pines and the heart is pierced in a moment of beauty and strange pain, like a memory of paradise. After that day, we become seekers.”
― Peter Matthiessen

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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fiction files redux: Peter Matthiessen 6 37 May 07, 2009 11:39PM
The Life of a Boo...: πŸ‘ This topic has been closed to new comments.
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Summer Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks (do NOT delete any posts in this thread)
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Book Nominations
100 125 Nov 10, 2010 10:34AM
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Fall Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks (do NOT delete any posts in this thread)
2785 1209 Nov 30, 2010 09:03PM
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SP11 Reading w/Style Completed Tasks
931 319 May 31, 2011 09:15PM
The Life of a Boo...: Jen C. 2011 TBR Challenge 28 114 Oct 12, 2011 03:49AM
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Fall Challenge 2011 Completed Tasks - DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS IN THIS TOPIC!
2251 795 Nov 30, 2011 09:05PM





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