THE RIVER-KEEPERS, A MAN AND A WOMAN WHO CAUGHT ON FIRE
A novella describes a possible transcendental life of spiritual ecology in the tradition of Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist and Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha.
A man and a woman do no more than find each other and set out to contrive a life together. But in this process, they come to live by an obscure river, and gradually open a luminous gateway into the very best of life. The natural events occurring in season after season and graceful provocations from the Old Boss, a river-keeper, kindle an awakening.
The central protagonists-He and She-are presented without detailed characterization. Because of who they ultimately are, just as you and I, she and he might have a thousand true names--something akin to names such as "Bright Water" (Chosin*) or "Cloud Gate" (Yun Men**) or "True Emptiness" (Chan Kong***) or "Clear Mirror" (Kyong Ho****).
Our view is so very small. Ordinary reality is an expression of a very real, extraordinary super-reality. Our true home is to be found in the landscape that designs us.
*Japanese **Chinese ***Vietnamese ****Korean
In a time of possible coming ecocide, The River Keepers is a novella that explores the grace that persists in wildness both within and without. Lance Kinseth has published creative nonfiction essays in literary magazines, and a book-length collection of essays. For "Homing," The North American Review, 272(4), Dec, 1987, pp. 10-19, Editor Robley Wilson wrote, "...a long and keenly observed essay on Nature, by Lance Kinseth. It has been a while since we were fortunate enough to print so sensitive a praise of River, of Earth, of Sun." For River Eternal: The Wonder of Common and Ashen Days Alongside a Prairie River. New York: Viking, 1989, Barry Lopez wrote, "In River Eternal, Lance Kinseth has built an elegant bridge between nature and culture. His vision is liberating, his ideas fresh, his language clean and beautiful. This is wondrous, invigorating, and humane work."
