Occult Harry Smith

Harry Smith (1923-1991) was a filmmaker, painter, anthropologist, alchemist, and artist of the twentieth century.Peter Valente is a writer, editor, translator, and filmmaker. He was born in Salerno, Italy, in 1970 and grew up in New Jersey. The author of 12 books and the translator of several influential works, including Gérard de Nerval’s The Illuminated, he lives in North Carolina.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Heaven and Earth Magic:Harry Smith the Alchemist at WorkPeter Valente1 Mystic Traveler: Thoughts on Harry SmithRaymond Foye2 Harry Stays with Henry for a WhileM. Henry Jones3 Harry Smith and the Indians:Teaching Film Direction in the SixtiesMarc Berger 4 Harry Smith: The Alchemy of CapriceScott Feero5 Intention, Vision, and Action:My Time with Harry SmithPaola Igliori6 The First Surrealist in New York CitySrijita Banerjee7 Harry Smith on the Holy City:From Boulder to KathmanduDarrin Daniel8 Hanging out with Harry Smith at Naropa:A Collection of Fictional AnecdotesRob Pacheco9 The Women in Harry Smith’s Early WorldBret Lunsford10 Harry Smith’s Alchemy and MagicCharles Stein11 Harry Smith: Cosmic CollageMaggie Corrigan 12 The Tree with Roots: Why Harry Smith’s AnthologyIs Such a Big DealMike McGonigal13 Remembering Harry Smith: A Conversation withSteven Taylor, Harry’s Friend and Colleague at NaropaInterview Conducted at Naropa Universityby Ariella Ruth during the Summer of 201114 At Naropa with Harry Smith (1989–1991)Tom Banger15 Automatic Synchronization:Music and Image in the Films of Harry SmithDavid Chapman16 Backstage of a Glyph: The Structure ofHarry Smith’s MahagonnyRose Marcus17 Visionary Charlatan: Harry Smith’s Way-Out Scienceof Thought FormsEd Hamilton18 A Yoyo Shaped Like a Hamburger, or The WorldAccording to Harry SmithBeth Borrus19 The Paradoxical Life of the Artist Harry SmithJohn Szwed20 You’re the One Who Signs the Checks!:When Harry Lived with Allen GinsbergBob Rosenthal21 Harry Smith’s Universal (Digital) String FigureHenry Adam Svec22 String Figures, Not Cat’s CradlesMarc Berger23 Like a Talisman for the Guardian Angel:What I Learned from Studying Harry Smith’s WorkPeter Valente24 Essays on Harry Smith’s Tree of Lifein the Four WorldsJames Wasserman and Khem Caigan25 Harry Taught Me How to Be a Complete Human BeingPesach Betzalel (Peter Fleishman) Interviewed byZia Ziprin (2022)26 A Short History of the InstallationHarry Smith: A Re-CreationM. Henry Jones and Friends27 Correlating Irrationalities in The Moving Mathsof Harry Smith: Essay on Harry Smith’sThe 96 Apparitions of 96 Alchemical Formulae(1 to 36), with the Original TextRobert Podgurski28 Unlocking the Secrets of the Unseen Universe:Essays on Harry Smith’s Letter to Arthur M. Young(August 30, 1960)Kathy Goss and Elliot Wolfson, PhD29 Harry Smith Live: Three Interviews with Harry SmithHarry Smith Interviewed by Dawn-Michelle Baude(Boulder, Colorado, 1988)A Conversation with Harry Smith Recorded at HisNaropa Cottage on December 18, 1988Interview from Cantrills Filmnotes, No. 19(October, 1974)ReferencesIndex

“Alchemist, magician, filmmaker, artist, mystic, anthropologist, collector, rebel, eternal omnivore, and 20th-century Renaissance man, Harry Smith was many things to many people, and this outstanding collection of lovingly written testimonies pays tribute to Harry with wit, respect, love, and laser-like precision. It is absolutely impossible to forget any interaction you had with Harry—and the beautiful tales in this remarkably readable and heartfelt book will have you awestruck, laughing out loud, and hungry for more. Perhaps the best collection of writings about one of the most enigmatic and fascinating figures the world has ever known.”