Henry Miller Describes The Beauty Of Big Sur Giving Literature The Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch
© Robert Edward Bell
Northern California in the fifties and early sixties became a mecca for artists seeking solace from the confines of modern society. Through-out the ages, artists living on the margins have often sought out an international city for the expression and commonality of their art. In the sixteen hundreds, Holland and the Dutch would have a growing influence on the art world, due to their prosperity and wealth caused by the growth in commercial sea trading. England and her islands would carry the weight for literature and her critics, from the seventeen hundreds well into the fading twilight of the Romantic movement in the early eighteen hundreds. Paris became the home of the bohemian set in the late eighteen hundreds, when impressionism came to dominate the world of watercolors and oils. The music scene of Berlin in the l920's also easily comes to mind, when thinking of great centers that eventually produced great movements in the arts for future generations.
The names have varied with each age: Bohemian, Beat, Hippie, Dada, etc. The list varies, but a center normally developes as the movement grows in importance. Northern California became such a place for the Beat movement; becoming imbedded in public memory with the wild antics taking place daily in San Francisco. Secrets and origins became mixed with legend in the books written by the authors living during the period. Soon, a hazy cloud descended over the north pacific coast; as the press became more and more interested in the imagery and style of the Beat movement. The humble beginnings of this movement were soon lost as Kerouac's road to deliverance became larger than life.
Lying along the rugged coastline of the pacific, underneath the wild lights of San Francisco, rested the quiet beaches of Big Sur. Her sands would reign immortal, as the grains churned against the waters of the pacific ocean, helping to give birth to some of the greatest writers, musicians, and artists of the age. It was around the shores of Big Sur that many of the writers of the Beat movement took their leave from the crowds of the city.
Known for its' incredible beauty, Big Sur had become home to a variety of unique geological formations that gripped the coast, forming small channels between the rocky outcroppings and the coastline. The harsh weather and strong winds along the Big Sur coastline produced some of the most spectacular landscape formations imaginable. The trees grow in strange spectre-like fashion, and the cracks in between the hardened rockened cliffs have given birth to a lost floral hiding
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