Study a map of Point Reyes and the names of its features as christened by its past explorers seem as if from fiction, from myth, as if from some ancient allegory: Point Resistance, Mount Vision, Secret Beach... There is a tangible air of mystery that permeates the peninsula as surely as its summer fogs. And nowhere on earth have I so strongly sensed the immanence of the Spirit.
Ten years in the making, "Elegy from the Edge of a Continent: Photographing Point Reyes" is a testimonial borne of my adventures in that extraordinary place. It is about Sir Francis Drake and the Golden Hind, about Miwok Indians and eucalyptus trees, sea lions and elk. It is about wind and fog, clouds and sun, starfish and granite and daffodils. It is about memory and desire, solace and solitude, despair and transcendence. It is about photography, philosophy, and the power of art, about how we both make, and are made, by the world around us. It is, above all, a work of love.
“(Granger's) writing perfectly captures the wild, incredible landscape... (Elegy) is masterful, and engaging, and unique. It deserves a wide audience!”
–Georgia Hughes, Editorial Director, New World Library
“As an editor who has read hundreds of unpublished books over the last 30 years, I have found a handful of manuscripts that I loved, but Austin Granger’s Elegy from the Edge of a Continent is the first manuscript that truly stunned me–and thrilled me–from beginning to end. It is an ecstatic paean to a place, that reminds me of Henry Beston’s 'The Outermost House' (although its intent is quite different). Its transformative language explores this place so deeply and profoundly that the reader comes away with a whole new relationship to all places and to life itself. The book is, in my mind, one long, meticulously crafted, prose poem, with immense power. I think (it) actually has the potential to become a classic.”
–Sidney Hall Jr., Owner, Hobblebush Books, Author, "Fumbling in the Light"