The Power and the Allegory

How flies the Crow from Ixtlan to Huautla?
Why does Death stand at a Warrior's left hand?
Who brings Truth but cannot be trusted?
When did the Little Smoke come to Popayan?*

One way or another, don Juan lives! But are the books fact or fiction? Richard de Mille saw we could not ap-preciate Carlos Castaneda as a dissenting anthropologist, an original philosopher, a psychic visionary, a literary genius, or a practical sorcerer without settling that question—so he settles it here once and for all. Don Juan and Carlos emerge as modern myths, impervious to the puny assaults of sophisticated parodists, flying much too high to be brought to earth by proofs of fictioneering, destined to join the ranks of memorable teachers and tricksters, metamorphs and allegorists.

De Mille builds the first don Juan theory to fit the facts. Castaneda's unorthodox UCLA career is explained. His hidden learning is uncovered. His private life and public character are analyzed. The many voices of sorcerer and apprentice are sorted out. Don Juan is praised for bringing indispensable knowledge, but the shortcomings of his Way are not ignored. Arguing both for Castaneda and against him, this startling study obeys don Juan's dialectical maxim: "Only if one pits two views against each other can one weasel between them to arrive at the real world."

'Clues at the end of the book.