The Encounter

Book excerpt: The incredible true story of a journey to the heart of the Amazon, published alongside Complicite's critically acclaimed stage production 'The Encounter' 1969: Loren McIntyre makes contact with the elusive Mayoruna 'cat people' of the Amazon's Javari Valley. He follows them - into the wild depths of the rainforest. When he realises he is lost, it is already too late. Stranded and helpless, McIntyre must adjust to an alien way of life. Gradually, he finds his perception of the world beginning to change, and a strange relationship starts to develop with the Mayoruna chief - is McIntyre really able to communicate with the headman in a way that goes beyond words, beyond language? Petru Popescu's gripping account of McIntyre's adventures with the Mayoruna tribe, and his quest to find the source of the Amazon, is reissued here to coincide with Complicite's acclaimed new stage production, The Encounter, inspired by McIntyre's incredible story. Pushkin Press are reissuing The Encounter: Amazon Beaming, with a new foreword by Simon McBurney and cover designed by David Pearson, to accompany McBurney's and Complicite's dazzling, highly acclaimed stage production inspired by the book. Born in Bucharest in 1944, Petru Popescu is a Romanian-American writer, director and film producer. He studied English language and literature at Bucharest Univerity, before defecting to the United States from Communist Romania in 1975, after which his books were banned in his home country.