MOUNTAIN OF TRUTH: The Counterculture Begins--Ascona, 1900-1920

by Martin Green ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1986

This scholarly but accessible defense of the Asconan ideal is written with a constant eye to its contemporary relevance, particularly to 60's counterculture and the current Green party and peace movements in Germany. Ascona, the Swiss mountain village of alternative lives, has been relegated to a small place in history. Then and now, it is easy to dismiss these nature curists, vegetarians, and occultists, with their tunics, sandals, long hair and beards, but, notes the author, ""Even in intellectual history the cranks and fools are important too."" In general, though they influenced such visitors as Hesse, Kafka, Lawrence, and Isadora Duncan, it is difficult to give these diverse Asconans their due. The Asconan Idea, which Green labors to simplify, remains an elusive, if fascinating complex of atavism, idealism, and anarchism. The study begins with biographies of three exemplary members of the community: Otto Gross, an anarchist and a brilliant practitioner of psychoanalysis, whose incarceration as a madman caused a political storm; Gusto Graser the naturmensch vagabond; and Rudolf von Laban, the proponent of eurythmic dance. Of these, Graser, a true barefoot prophet, makes the most fascinating portrait. He believed writing or any art would be a betrayal of the call to action and life. His creation was his life. As useful balance, Green might have chosen one of the influential women--Ida Hoffman or dancer Mary Wigman--out of this strongly feminist counterculture that even included a mystic cult of the Earth Mother. The gravest accusation against the Asconans is the resemblance of their ideas to those of National Socialism. Green admits these similarities--racism, fear of industrialization--but also shows how the two must be distinguished. He does this, oddly enough, by comparing Asconan ideas to Gandhi's. It is an interesting, but not totally convincing essay. The Asconan idea did have dangerous elements. Nonetheless, this is an intriguing study of significant actors in a turbulent period in intellectual history.

Pub Date: June 1, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Univ. Press of New England

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1986

Categories: NONFICTION