W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A . C O M
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Jim Harrison, poet, novelist, and essayist, died on
March 26th at his writing desk. e author of 39 books, he was
78 years old. Pervading his body of work was a grand love for the
landscape, Native Americanism, delicious food and wine, friend-
ship, and sensual women. Just four months earlier his wife of 55
years, Linda, died. He had two daughters and three grandsons.
He scripted six films, including Legends of the Fall with Brad Pitt
and Wolf with Jack Nicholson.
He divided his time between Livingston and Patagonia (AZ).
An eye had been poked blind in childhood, prompting Jimmy
Buffett to say that his "one-eyed stare reminded me of Long John
Silver." News stories about his death appeared around the world,
especially in France where he was so well known that he was
recognized on the street. In 2003, he consumed a 37-course lunch
there that lasted until dawn.
His latest book of novellas, e Ancient Minstrel, had just been
released in March by Grove Atlantic, his major publisher of prose.
His latest book of poems, Dead Man's Float, was published in Fall
2015 by Copper Canyon Press, his major poetry publisher.
He is illustrated in his own voice best:
I've decided to make up my mind about nothing, to assume
the water mask, to finish my life disguised as a creek, an
eddy, joining at night the full sweet flow, to absorb the sky, to
swallow the heat and cold, the moon and the stars, to swallow
myself in ceaseless flow.
His longtime friend and author Tom McGuane wrote:
"His strength of personality was such that his death will cut
many adrift."
~ Valerie Harms, Editor
Anthony Bourdain in Montana.
He checks in with the Crow
people and Jim Harrison.
www.distinctlymontana.com/bourdain163
DISTINCTLY MONTANA | DIGITAL
ILLUSTRATION BY ROBERT RATH
