Bound for the Crags of Ithaka
Steven Foster
At the end of his life, Steven Foster indulges his love of Homer’s Odyssey and writes “a romance for men going home,” based on the life experiences of 65 years, as a professor,of literature, a wilderness initiatory midwife, a field therapist, a writer and poet, a son, husband, father, and grandfather. Co-founder of The School of Lost Borders, the Training Center for Wilderness Passage Rites, and grizzled veteran of countless forays into the deserts and mountains near his home in the Eastern Sierra, he is no stranger to solitude, hardship, exposure, and the ocean-like desert wilderness. He has written many books and articles, and is married to Meredith Little, his partner of 30 years. Steven completed this last work in the final days before surrenduring to a rare genetic lung disease. Bound for the Crags of Ithaka is dedicated to the many thousands of people whose lives have been touched by his raging spirit and generous heart.
“Steven Foster, wise elder, trickster, wilderness guide, brilliant student of nature, beloved mentor, whole-hearted friend to thousands, and broken-hearted voyager, unravels the archetypal journey of Odysseus, seeking the roots of the contemporary man’s struggles and joys, roots that reach across time and anchor Everyman’s journey in a matrix of longing and lament. BOUND FOR THE CRAIGS OF ITHAKA is an enchanted and poetic mediation on one of the foundational myths of the western world.” – Bill Plotkin, Director, Animas Valley Institute, author of Soulcraft.
“As a poet, professor, author, and leader in the international resurgence of wilderness rites of passage, Steven Foster has devoted his life to supporting the heroic journeys of ordinary people. Now he draws on one of the greatest adventure stories of the Western world to inspire and guide us to live our own lives as the magnificant-yet-common, humble-yet-audacious stories they can be. Here you will find three heroic journeys: the profoundly archetypal journey of Odysseus, Steven’s very human story, and your own story.” – John Davis, Ph.D., professor Naropa University.
“Steven Foster now offers us a guide for the ultimate journey: to life’s end and beyond. Read the wise words contained in this book, knowing that you too must one day navigate your own great passage home. ‘[Then] I knew,’ Steven writes, ‘that dying to live and living to die were one and the same.’ With his help, may you too know this to be true.” – Scott Eberle, M.D., Medical Director, Hospice of Petaluma.