Alan V. Goldman, the author of “Reflections on Mountaineering: A Journey Through Life as Experienced in the Mountains”, is interviewed by Benji Cole of CBS Radio
Alan V Goldman, the poet and insightful author of “Reflections on Mountaineering: A Journey Through Life as Experienced in the Mountains,” was interviewed by CBS Radio’s Benji Cole. They explored the Book’s message as well as the author’s purpose in writing it. The Book addresses the struggles, obstacles, successes, and accomplishments we all encounter in daily life — through the lens of a journey in the mountains.
The author is a graduate of Horace Mann School (1975), Harvard College (1979), and Harvard Law School (1982). He spent many years practicing law, from which he is retired, and experienced mountaineering as his avid avocation.
His collection of poems, entitled “Reflections on Mountaineering: A Journey Through Life as Experienced in the Mountains”, weaves together a number of thought-provoking experiences. The mountains frequently serve as a symbol of what we are trying to conquer or accomplish, since they speak to the interaction between Humans and nature. Throughout the Book, the author employs clever language and stunningly vivid imagery.
Presented as one hundred fifteen narrative-style poems, some of which rhyme, while others are in blank verse, or structured prose, the Book captures much of what the author learned in his many years of climbing, either from personal experience or from his mountaineering peers. Mr. Goldman came to realize that many of the same moral issues that confront us in everyday life are likewise present in high mountains, only to a sharper degree. Still, many of the poems reflect on themes and situations that are peculiarly prominent in the mountain environment.
Collectively, the poems constitute a “meditation” on the nature of reality itself as perceived in the context of exploring the limit of human understanding and achievement. Musing on topics such as Awe and Wonder, Fear and how to confront it, the Lure of the big mountains, as well as the role of Luck, Fate, and Chance, Mr. Goldman makes accessible to the general public the otherwise “Hidden” truths that mountaineers often confront. Further, many of the poems address the human perception of reality in the context of the meaning of life itself, and of how climbers impart that meaning to the mountains by the very act of climbing them.
Other poems deal with the need to confront mountain’s challenge, the varying perceptions of time’s passage in the mountains, a climber’s insight and situational awareness in the mountain arena, and dealing with the force of a mountain’s very presence. There’s also the phenomenon of the interrelation of these and other topics in a single experience, as is reflected in any given poem.
Of course, the poems deal with the feelings evoked by striving for success in the mountains, but they also cope with the trauma of defeat, including the frustrating inevitability of growing old. Above all, there’s human meaning to be found in the very preparation and discipline required for mountaineering, as well as in experiencing the elation of conquest, of both the mountains and of ourselves.
To listen to the full interview with Benji Cole, please: