A Quest Among the Bewildered: The Early Autobiographical Novel by Wulf Zendik

by Wulf Zendik

"A Quest Among the Bewildered" is Wulf Zendik's first full-length work, written at the artistic height of the Beat Generation. More than 40 years later, this tough, witty, semi-autobiographical take... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0963056638
• ISBN13: 9780963056634
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Zendik Arts
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.5" x 6.3"
• Age Range: 15 years and up

Customer Reviews

Honest, Powerful and True

I agree that this is the best thing I've yet read by a Beat Author - I'd love to have been at those places, met those people and witnessed the scenes described by Zendik. The writing style is so moving and poetic. His revelations and observations about love, romance, sex, the women he was with and the artists he knew are a missing piece of true history about that time and place. Just going through those experiences would change anyone, but the courage to go forward in pursuit of those ideals, that's what gives me courage in my life to believe in my own possibilities. And the possibilities for humanity.Definitely the most honest powerful book I've ever read, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to "think outside the box". Zendik writes with a great hunger to express, but precisely, and with generous wit - always with the willingness to turn the penetrating look on himself. I found myself identifying with the feelings and attitudes described, and more than a few times it struck me how absolutely true it is that everybody has these types of thoughts and feelings...If you're a fan of Henry Miller, J.D. Salinger, Hunter Thompson or Kurt Vonnegut - I recommend this book to you... this is a fierce piece of work... Dennis Holcombe - Asheville, NC

AMAZING

This book is amazing......thats all i have to say....he (Wulf Zendik) actually created a commune that lives on TODAY as the embodiement of his ideals in this book......just browse for "Zendik Farm" and you will find it......The work that they have done has had a HUGE influence on me.....and not in a bad way but making me a better more world consious and compassionate person......if you want truth read this....

"The Line Between Living and Meditating"

Reviewer: A. Boggess from Adirondack Review, NY When a publisher I had never heard of queried me about a posthumously-published novel by an "undiscovered Beat," I was skeptical at first, but also curious.  The Beats to me are like a secret lover to the more literary wife I cling to most of the time.  I pick up 'Naked Lunch' or 'The Dharma Bums' whenever I want a break from the highbrow fiction I am accustomed to reading.  Needless to say, the thought of something new in the Beat vein intrigued me.  As I said, though, I was hesitant.  After all, any Beat writer worth publishing would have been "discovered" 50 years ago at the height of the movement.  Right?  Well, apparently not. Wulf Zendik easily fits in with the likes of Burroughs, Kerouac, Ferlinghetti and the rest.  His writing is equal parts Bukowski and Buddha, as much Ginsburg as Gao Xingjian.        In 'A Quest Among the Bewildered', described as an "early semi autobiographical novel," Zendik straddles the traditional Beat line between living and meditating.  He touches on all the familiar themes: love, lust, homosexuality, intoxication, spirituality, the subculture, and the quest for enlightenment as found in experiencing all the rest and moving beyond.  His language rages and burns, then mellows, slows, lulls the reader into a feeling of safety before lunging with a sharp blade:       ...Zendik writes with the enthusiasm of a young seeker, while topping off his prose with the insights of a learned master.  While all the Beat basics are here: the energy of Kerouac, the poetics of Ginsburg, the over-the-top edginess of Burroughs, Zendik's work often resembles something more eloquent and grand.  It often reminded me of Rilke's novel 'The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge' in the way the narrator stops to contemplate the simplest things while keeping what can loosely be called a story hidden far in the background.      'A Quest Among the Bewildered' is the kind of novel one hesitates to enter, but rejoices in having left after its unexpected soul-searching, its journey to places of self and society, its magnificent dreamscape of language and idea.  How Zendik remained an "undiscovered Beat" seems as much a curiosity as his work.  This book makes a case for his being included among the more noted writers of his generation.  At times harsh, at times dazzling, Zendik's prose touches every nerve and reaches every secret desire.  It hooks the reader and refuses to let go, not in the way a Stephen King novel might, more in the way carnival rides and conversations do.      Recommendation: BUY THIS ONE.  While it might be the last book on your shelf, it will not be last in your thoughts.  The words and insights will stay with you for days until you feel the urge to pick it up again, go back for a second helping of life at its most raw, its most fascinating.  Expect a truly wonderful reading experience.