The big-hearted hero of Mark Sargent’s irrepressible new novel sheds the trappings of modernity and sets himself up as a faux shaman in the foothills of the Tayegetos mountains near Sparti, Greece, encouraging all pilgrims with his ad hoc warmth, wit, and wisdom.
“Mark, I read the ending of ‘Fool on the Hill’ like I do all your work—breathlessly, to coin a cliché. Your story-teller is homeric (without big battles), and his friends, especially the animals, are totally engaging. I don’t even mind when they engage in over philosophising. It’s what hermits and inquiring minds do.” — Andrei Codrescu
Born in 1950 in Olympia, Washington, Mark Sargent moved to Oregon to attend Mt. Angel College. In Portland he founded the Impossibilists, a Dada publication/performance group, and the jazz poetry band Defenestration. In 1990 he moved with wife and son Alekos to the mountains of southern Greece, where he has remained, writing poetry, fiction, screen and theatre plays while caring for an olive orchard. Books include Out Loud & Loudly, Stelae Stories, Crisis: Letters from Greece, Pagan Favors, and Li Ho Reflux Tour 2003. Films include Behold and Wall.
