Ru Marshall on their new Carlos Castenada biography

John Wisniewski, who has done other interviews for this blog, returns with an interview with the author of an important new book. Ru Marshall is the author of American Trickster: The Hidden Lives of Carlos Castaneda.

Marshall's  publisher, O/R Books, says the new book, released June 25 this year, "unravels the story of the secretive faux-anthropologist who pulled off one of the greatest literary hoaxes in modern history." Reviewers seem to agree. Publisher's Weekly, for example, said it is "an entrancing biography." The New York Times review, by Kurt Andersen, called the book "illuminating and relevant." 

When I was a college student in the 1970s, a friend of mine persuaded me to read Castaneda's breakthrough book, The Teachings of Don Juan. I remember finding the book's revelations of insight gained from indigenous psychedelic practices hard going, but others were more impressed. The publisher's blurb notes, "Admirers ranged from John Lennon and Joni Mitchell to Federico Fellini, George Lucas, and Octavio Paz. His books became international bestsellers and remain the most popular titles ever published on Native American spirituality—despite having little to no connection to actual Indigenous practices." It seems hilarious to me that Castaneda actually apparently didn't use drugs, as Marshall reveals. 

Michael Johnson, writing about Castaneda for this  blog in 2022, surmised, "At present, my main model of Castaneda is that he never went to the Sonora Desert and probably wrote all the Don Juan books from sources in the library at UCLA. When he submitted his thesis, he was asked to show his field notes, and basically: the dog ate 'em, and they signed off on his degree anyway."

Ru Marshall is an American artist, writer and critic. They labored for 20 years on the Castaneda biography. See also the official website. 

You can also read Mr. Wisniewski's interview with Nick Herbert, his interview with Adam Gorightly,  the Tea Krulos interview,  the David Halperin interview,  and two interviews of John Higgs, here and here. 

JOHN WISNIEWSKI: Are there many who believed in Carlos Casteneda, as far as his writing is concerned?

RU MARSHALL: There were millions. Although exact figures are impossible to ascertain, he was among the four or five bestselling nonfiction authors of the 70s, and his books continued to sell handsomely well into the 80s. For the first five years following the publication of The Teachings of Don Juan, almost no one publicly questioned the authenticity of his work. That rare exception being Gordon Wasson.

Did Don Juan Matus exist? No. He was a fictional creation.

JOHN WISNIEWSKI: Did Casteneda have a coven of witches who were his companions?

RU MARSHALL: I wouldn’t use the word “coven.” Castaneda never called it that. But there were three women, Taisha Abelar, Florinde Donner Grau, and Carol Tiggs whom he referred to as his witches, and who claimed (falsely) to have met Don Juan. Florinda and Taisha both disappeared immediately following his death in 1998, and all evidence points to they’re having committed suicide to follow him into the next dimension. 

JOHN WISNIEWSKI: Would you consider Casteneda to be a cult leader?

RU MARSHALL: You bet. Definitions of a cult vary, but the one I employ in American Trickster is as follows: a tightly bounded social group the underlying purpose of which is the aggrandizement of the leader or leaders at the expense, psychological but also financial, emotional, so forth, of the followers. Castaneda’s followers were told to cut off their families, leave behind partners, pets, and jobs to become part of his magical, alternative family. It rarely ended well.

JOHN WISNIEWSKI: What was Casteneda's early life like?

RU MARSHALL:  This is sort of too massive a question to answer. He was born in Cajamarca Peru, his birth name was César Arana. He came from the not quite so wealthy branch of an extremely wealthy family. Although his parents were revolutionaries, he was, on his father’s side, descended from one of the most infamous genocidiares in Peruvian history. Carlos attended art school in Lima, where, shortly before fleeing to the U.S., he impregnated a thirteen year old girl.

JOHN WISNIEWSKI: Why were Casteneda's documents and paper work burned by his followers, at the time of his death?

RU MARSHALL: One of the central principles of his work and in his cult was the mandate to “erase personal history.” He did not want his real story told. This didn’t make my life easy.

JOHN WISNIEWSKI: Does the  Casteneda cult continue to this day?

RU MARSHALL: I no longer pay close attention to this, but it appears to still exist, although it is likely less cultlike than when Carlos was alive. But you can still take classes in Tensegrity, the faux Toltec movement practice which Carlos and the witches suggested could provide the opportunity for eternal life.

JOHN WISNIEWSKI: Did Casteneda use drugs to alter his consciousness?

RU MARSHALL: Shockingly, there is almost no evidence that he did. He gave them to others, and artfully plagiarized accounts by others. In interview after interview, I was told, “he only did them with Don Juan.” But there is definitive evidence that don Juan was a fictional creation. I came across only one eye witness account of Carlos ever using any psychoactive plant or drug—Datura. And, in this account, by Jack Leoffler, he did it wrong. No one got high. He clearly never used mushrooms, since his account in his books has him getting high by smoking them. This doesn’t work.

JOHN WISNIEWSKI: Have his works proven to be an influence on the New Age movement?

RU MARSHALL: Absolutely. He is quoted often, and still regarded with reverence by many.

JOHN WISNIEWSKI: Why was Casteneda's life so often shrouded in mystery?

RU MARSHALL: Because he went to great lengths that it be so. He had far too much to hide.