Amy Wallace – author of Sorcerers Apprentice: My Life with Carlos Castaneda Frequently Asked Questions from the Elliss Place Discussion Forum 1. Do you believe that there was a real Don Juan?
No. I believe that Carlos made up this wonderful literary figure as a composite of many teachers. These included Oscar Ichazo and Claudio Naranjo, of Sufi tradition, his hero, philosopher Alan Watts, Swami Muktananda and Swami Vivekananda, and many more. I assume he made many trips to Latin America, where he met shamans and took a wide variety of “power plants.” I believe he added his own genius to these experiences, and gave us the magnificent, but fictional, don Juan. I was contacted by a man in the New York publishing industry who requests anonymity — he wants to keep his job — and he wrote quite firmly that Carlos’s work called for “very heavy editing.” Perhaps this would explain the widely differing literary quality of Carlos’ books — different editors. Using a single mentor worked as a moving, forceful literary device, as most readers agree — whether or not they agree with my conclusions.
Related Questions
- Amy Wallace - author of Sorcerers Apprentice: My Life with Carlos Castaneda Frequently Asked Questions from the Elliss Place Discussion Forum 1. Do you believe that there was a real Don Juan?
- How many of the effects in The Sorcerers Apprentice were CGI and how many were on-set practical effects and which type of effect do you prefer to work with?
- What was life really like for the athletic, humorous, sometimes "seedy" author of Cry, the Beloved Country?
