The Peter Matthiessen Center
In 2019, family, friends and former students of Peter Matthiessen, renowned writer, naturalist, and Zen teacher, came to the Trust with an idea to acquire, protect, and restore Peter’s former home and writing studio in Sagaponack as a writer’s retreat, meditation center, and gathering place for social and environmental activities – The Peter Matthiessen Center (PMC).
The Trust provided the fledgling organization with advice and guidance regarding the acquisition process while serving as its fiscal agent. This enabled PMC to secure donations for the project while the organization pursued and obtained its public charity status.
While PMC was ultimately unable to purchase the property, it now focuses on bringing Peter’s legacy to the public through a speakers program, special events, and a future writers’ award program.
Background
A novelist, naturalist, wilderness writer, and Zen teacher, Peter Matthiessen was a true “literary lion” of 20th Century American literature - writing over thirty books during his six-decade career. The only author to win the prestigious National Book Award for both the fiction and non-fiction, his poetic explorations of wild places and Indigenous people, as well as his novels, were often set in far-flung locales featuring characters on the edges of civilization.
Born on May 22, 1927, into a family of wealth and privilege in New York City, Peter Matthiessen was the son of an architect and spokesman for both the Audubon Society and the Nature Conservancy. At a young age, he developed a love of animals that would later influence his career as a naturalist. Serving in the U.S. Navy from 1945-47, he attended Yale University and the Sorbonne in Paris - later moving to the city where he briefly worked for the C.I.A. and founded the literary journal The Paris Review with childhood friend George Plimpton. There, Matthiessen spent time with other expatriate American writers such as William Styron, James Baldwin, and Irwin Shaw.
Eventually moving to the farmland of Eastern Long Island, he worked as a commercial fisherman to support his young family. From his home in Sagaponack - where he resided for sixty years -Matthiessen traveled the world. He developed an appreciation for Indigenous people living amongst Native tribes in New Guinea and the Amazon Rainforest; a love for the African bush while exploring animals with leading conservationists; the thrill in the quest for the Great White whilst accompanying scientists in South Africa and Australia; and trekking the Himalayan Mountains in search of ultimate truth.
Having spent years journeying the mental landscape through Zen Buddhism, Matthiessen enjoyed time in monasteries in the mountains of California, New York and Japan - eventually becoming a ZenMaster or “Roshi” - a journey he accounted in two books: The Snow Leopard and Nine-Headed Dragon River. “Muryo Roshi” would go on to lead a group of dedicated worshippers in his Zendo for nearly thirty years.
A nature-steeped writer who dedicated much of his life to giving a voice to the voiceless among both animals and humans, Matthiessen believed in a world where environmental and human rights coexist. As an advocate for the natural world, his unique writing encompassed themes of nature, philosophy, spirituality, the human condition and an exploration to understand man’s place on earth and within the universe -creating a legacy that has inspired countless readers and writers throughout the world.
Matthiessen Talks
The Matthiessen Talks is a series that brings together thought leaders, activists, and cultural voices to explore our interconnectedness with the natural world. Rooted in Peter Matthiessen’s deep respect for Indigenous wisdom and his unwavering dedication to environmental and spiritual exploration, this series seeks to inspire dialogue and action for a more sustainable future.
To learn more visit them online at www.matthiessencenter.org