Palm Desert Professor's Book Highlights Desert Poetry, Literature

Associate English Professor Ruth Nolan is on a diehard mission to prove that literature is alive in the desert.

Nolan debuted “No Place For A Puritan: The Literature of California’s Deserts” Monday night at the Palm Desert Public Library. Her steadfast presence in the valley’s literary scene has provided an outlet for talented desert writers.

The book features some of the most spectacular poetry and prose that exists in the English language and in American literature, related specifically to the California deserts, including the Mojave, Western Colorado, Sonoran and Anza-Borrego.

She highlights works penned by iconic writers John Steinbeck, Joan Didion, and Mary Austin; emerging regional authors Susan Straight, Ruth Nolan, Gayle Brandeis and Tod Goldberg; and contemporary poets Sylvia Plath, Juan Felipe Herrera, and Beckian Fritz Goldberg.

The book also centers on the writings of famous and little-known desert residents alike, including Nina Paul Shumway, artist John Hilton and an excerpt from the book Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer.

In addition, Nolan puts together an essential compilation of creation stories, autobiographical excerpts, and other pieces by the desert's Native American tribes, representing the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Serrano, Timbisha/Western Shoshone, Mojave, Quechan and Kumeyaay Indians.

“The anthology also contains magical and sometimes harrowing pieces that speak to the desert's iconic symbols: one man's encounter with a rattlesnake; rock climbing in Joshua Tree; the natural phenomenon of the flash flood and the mirage; and the search in the desert's deepest recesses for spiritual renewal,” Nolan said. “I like to say that there is a little something for everyone in this collection, something for every reader.”

The original inspiration for the compilation came from Ruth’s childhood growing up in the California deserts, starting in the remote Mojave at the age of 13, and now in Palm Desert for the past 12 years.

“It's the landscape that embodies my life and my poetry, writing and teaching, so it's a natural fit that I'd want to create a collection that captures some of my own experiences and reflects my own life and passion for the region,” she explained.

“Also, when I began teaching at College of the Desert in 1999, I realized the need for a broad reader of local materials, in a literary sense, for the students on our campus: something that gives them a connection and comprehension and articulation of where they live. I wanted my students, and those beyond the college, to develop an understanding and inspiration of this region.”

She will be using the book as a required reader in her classes at College of the Desert. 

The book can be purchased online here.