This summer while I was in Greece I re-read one of my favorite books, Mount Analogue by Rene Daumal. Mount Analogue is an unfinished novel of 4 and one half chapters, that details a group of people who are on a journey to visit a mountain that connects earth to heaven. Lets not dwell to much on the idea of connecting heaven (whatever that might be) because there is no religion (dogmatic religion) in the book to speak of, there is however the idea of some kind of spirituality that is connected to the present.
The image of the mountain is cast in numerous cultures and Duamal uses this to a great advantage, gently coaxing different approaches of the symbolic significance of the mountain, while expanding the culture and classism of the mountain and the villages that surround the mountain.
One of the great themes of the book is the idea that to move forward, you must also have moved back. This idea of give and take is handled quietly and graciously, it is to me the idea that allows the book to reach its loftier approach.
As for it’s relationship to art? I think the book could also resonate as an allegory of studio practice, not so much as a guidebook per se, but as a meditation on process and artists working.