Volume 1987 Parnassus

Forward

In Genesis 8:22, the continuation of seasons is established by God, who said “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” The Preacher echoes this truth in Ecclesiastes, asserting that there is a time for every season as well as a time for laughter and a time for mourning.

“Migration to Solitude” has been chosen for the theme of Parnassus this year. In his poem “Wild Ducks, People and Distances,” Wallace Stevens speaks not only of the migrations of ducks but of people to solitude, through the seasons, from winter to spring. It is with this thought that we have arranged this year’s Parnassus. As we, ourselves, migrate to places of solitude where we, like the Preacher, can ponder on the nature of things, we are also aware of the passing of time from winter to summer and of our own migration through the seasons. Whether for good or ill, it is often done solo.

In human experience, solitude can occur in any season, and the seasons themselves can be more than winter and spring—they can be seasons of gloom and happiness, seriousness and light-heartedness. And though we like to picture the flow as being from winter to spring, and would like to end there, we are inevitably struck with autumn and reminded that another winter is yet to come, beginning the cycle of life over again.

As the staff of Parnassus, our hope is that you will discern a noticeable flow and order to the magazine, and that in doing so you will find a correlation between it and your own life, one that is common to all people.