Finally Gabi Geuter, who has known the elusive legend of cultural anthropology, Carlos Castaneda in person, has published her tremendous book Filming Castaneda: The hunt for magic and reason. I know Gabi face-to-face (she was willing to be my informant on Castaneda while I wrote my Ph.D.-thesis -- a big Thanks again) and can assure you that her book is none of the New-Age-rubbish which partially sprang up around the name Castaneda. During the genesis of her book Gabi frequently sent me chapters in progress and I always was thrilled and delighted while reading them. You may know that Castaneda was reluctant to have himself photographed and even made sure that false pictures of him, showing someone other, got into circulation. When Castaneda died, AP delivered a picture of him which was reprinted in countless obituaries around the world -- until today the picture keeps popping up, even in social/cultural antropological publications. Some days later AP wrote to its customers that they should delete the picture, as it was not depicting Carlos Castaneda. But it was too late -- the old trickster's last deception? Besides the concept of 'erasing oneself' in Castaneda's books the concept of 'stalking' is described as another faculty of 'his' magical system. Gabi took those concepts a substantial step further: She stalked Castaneda by camera. Her book is both a meditation and an analysis of all this and her entanglement with Castaneda and his circle -- a hunt for magic and reason. There's a press release, too.

GEUTER, GABI. 2004. Filming Castaneda: The hunt for magic and reason. Bloomington: 1stBooks Library/Authorhouse. [ISBN: softcover: 141404612X, hardcover: 1414046138]

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