The 23
FOUNDER’S MESSAGE
Technology Meets Funk
A publication of the Brautigan Library
Volume 1, Number 2
A Very Public Library
March 1991
My Disneyland
I had three fathers. One had a drinking
problem that led to his eventual suicide. One
was a sad, abused little boy who was cautious
about changing a light bulb and wouldn’t eat
food out of dented cans for fear of botulism.
One was wise, wonderful and creative, and
when I was with him he made me feel I was
the luckiest person in the world. And I am
not so sure I wasn’t. He saw the world in
the most unique way possible and took the
time to show it to me. He was not the kind
of parent who would take me to Disneyland
or buy me a Barbie, not because he was
making a statement about what I should be
exposed to, but simply because it just never
occurred to him.
My Disneyland was in a national park
under a bridge casting into a deep river pool
with a delicate pale red salmon egg. The
water was a blue-black with the morning
sun beginning to warm the rocks we were
sitting on.
I caught a little rainbow trout that morning, and I made it a little grass bed to lay on.
I was six years old.
I never have caught another fish. But
what was instilled in me on that day was the
beauty of where we were and the longing
to see it again, and that there was a solace
to be found there.
We walked everywhere because he
couldn’t drive. When he wanted to tell me
something it was often on a walk. When we
walked in the woods we often came back
with pockets full of trash because he hated
to see it there.
This newsletter is published quarterly
by The Brautigan Library, Burlington,
Vermont - America's only library of
unpublished writing. “The 23” is the title
of a chapter in Richard Brautigan's novel,
The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966,
describing the unpublished works of 23
unknown American authors.
Richard Brautigan and his daughter
Ianthe in 1962.
He never told me to smile or be nice or
stand up straight. Only once did he ask me to
brush my hair, and it took us a while to find
a comb in his apartment on Geary Street so
I could, and of course it was a comb shaped
like a fish.
The drinking was the drinking and
doesn’t need to be explained. As a friend of
his said, “What did you expect from such a
terrible childhood?” What did you expect?
Certainly not a man of my father’s
caliber, intelligence, wit and gentleness. He
was able to see life through his blue eyes in
a way that put a trust and delight in all he
saw. It was a Brautigan world of his own
creation. It was a world that made us feel
bright and shiny as a new penny, as though
we are important and what we see and say
and write is also.
He was almost mythological in his rising
up from a cold and hungry childhood during
the Depression, finding some peace in the
trout streams of Washington and Oregon,
fishing in ragged sneakers.
But as in all myths there was an end. But
as in all myths, his story, his stories, will live
on and on and on. As in some myths we all
know where the weakness is and the end is
(continued on page 6)
When considering a library like the
Brautigan, most people are inclined to
categorize it along with grass-rootsy
ventures that harken back to the sixties
in one way or another. Yes, it’s true that
we have mayonnaise jar bookends and
deliberately mismatched furniture in our
library. We’ve even been known to serve
cider and donuts, and read poetry aloud.
But we don’t do these things for want of a
return to the past — we do them because
they work.
Somewhere along the line our culture has gotten a bit confused about such
things. We seem bent on making symbols
of everything. If the sixties weren’t so far
behind us, I fear that many people would
have written off the Brautigan Library as
a “hippie” thing — just another symbol
of an era gone by.
But one look at the Brautigan Library
catalog and you can see that we are anything but a symbol of the past. The library
has caught the imagination of thousands
of people of all ages, many of whom
don’t have any recollection of Richard
Brautigan, or any other fond memories
of the sixties for that matter. For many,
the library is just a good idea.
In Brautigan’s fictional library in
The Abortion, things were done with a
casualness appropriate to the times. New
books were registered in a massive log
book, known as the “Library Contents
Ledger.” The entries were done by hand,
and the writing of these entries was more
a symbolic gesture than serving any practical purpose.
At the Brautigan Library — behind
the scenes, that is — we operate on a
level more appropriate to the nineties.
Along with sophisticated machinery for
the binding of manuscripts, we utilize a
powerful Apple MacIntosh II computer to
keep track of things. The computer and its
laser printer combine to give us capabilities undreamed of in the sixties.
About six years ago, when Apple
Computer released the first Macintosh
computers, the world was introduced to a
completely different approach to computing — one that was far more intuitive for
(continued on page 6)
Loading Mercury With a
Pitchfork All Over Again
Here I am loading mercury with a pitchfork all over again. It’s been done before,
and probably better, but of course it has to
be done again and forever, or else we might
incline to use our forks in more dangerous
ways. This tall, skinny room where I work
was formerly a used bookstore, and now it’s
an unused book repository, and the voices of
all these writers percolate and sigh. Welty and
Updike schmooze over the back fence with
Albert Helzner and Verbena Pastor.
The heater kicks in, whirring white
noise to warm my hands. The telephone
answering machine clicks: Another author
wants to know how to submit a manuscript.
I’m trying to concentrate on a scene in Paris,
but my characters keep clamoring to get out
and stretch their legs.
Edward, the charming ne’er-do-well,
says, “Hey, let’s go out for coffee.”
Henry, his dutiful brother, says, “No,
come on, Will’s got to write this thing.
How can he work if you’re bolting out all
the time?”
Edward says, “Hey, he can’t force it,
right? Brautigan would want him to just
cut loose.”
Ailsa, the wayward Scotswoman, concurs. “Ay, it would be a fair shame if the lad
were to push it when he’s uninspired. O, for
a muse of caffeine, I say.”
Henry resists. “Sure, you’ve got to cut
loose, but first there has to be something to cut
loose from. Brautigan must have known that,
or he never would have finished a single book.
Solange, the mysterious Franco-American,
inquires, “What was it, this Brautigan?”
Ailsa answers, “O, you know, he wrote
La Pêche à la Truite en Amerique.”
“Oh, oui,” says Solange, and returns to
her saxophone.
Edward wanders over to the bookshelves. “So who wrote all these books,
anyway?”
“A lot of people like Will,” says Henry.
“They stuck to it, even when their characters
wandered.”
“Yeah? So where’s the fiction section?”
Ailsa explains. “There is no fiction section, Edward. It’s all fiction.”
Edward takes a book off the shelf. “What
do you mean?”
“I mean, it’s all invention — even the
true stories, they’re the fictionest of all.”
“Or,” says Henry, “it’s all nonfiction.
Since every story is true. Now, can we get
back to business, guys?”
“No way,” says Edward, lounging on
the stairs. “I’m reading this book.”
“Sorry,” says Ailsa, “I’m going for that
coffee.”
Solange toots a silver riff.
The heater whirs. The answering machine clicks. At least someone out there is
getting it done. There’s so much mercury
to load.
— Will Marquess
Loading Mercury With a Pitchfork
was the name of a book written by Richard
Brautigan.
Will Marquess, a Brautigan Library
trustee, is writing a novel. Recently, when
an unemployed friend camped in his living
(and writing) room for six months, he took
to writing daily at the Brautigan Library. He
sent us this report.
Albert Helzner and the
Meaning of Life
Pesky questions. They’re with Albert
Helzner when he wakes up in the morning,
and they’re with him when he lies down at
night. In between, he writes them down and
does his best to come up with answers.
Reading Helzner’s books — there are
about 20 of them on the Brautigan Library’s
shelves, making him its most prolific contributor by a longshot — give you the sense
that he’s a man on a quest. He tosses questions up like tennis balls, and whacks them
enthusiastically over the net.
Many of Helzner’s queries are metaphysical (What is the effect on the planet of
a single birth? What happens to molecules
over time?) Others, while still metaphysical,
verge happily on the arcane (Where, today, is
the food you ate one year ago? How does the
human body convert nutrients into hair?) Still
others exist in a class by themselves, as when
Helzner asks: “Who are the fools?” (Answer:
You guessed it; they’re everywhere.)
Helzner’s mind zig-zags so deftly between the sublime and the mundane in the
essays, journals and stories that comprise his
ever-expanding oeuvre that reading him in
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bulk can make your head spin. (It did mine;
I felt like I’d just tossed back a stiff dose of
a nonfiction Borges.)
Helzner, a retired engineer who lives
in Marblehead, Massachusetts, would
much rather talk about his work than his
life. “Ideas are what are important to me,”
he says. “There are so many new things to
think about, so many new questions to ask.
That’s what keeps me going.”
From reading his books, we do know a
few random things about this self-described
scientist/philosopher. He plays duplicate
bridge and chess. He’s married and has two
daughters. He watches TV. His house is white,
and his car is blue. If that reads like Name,
Rank and Serial Number, that’s probably the
way he wants it.
Although Helzner says he’s been writing
off and on for as long as he can remember, it
was a Boston Globe article about the Brautigan Library that renewed his interest.
“I read that article and I thought, ‘This
is it,’” he says. “This is the place where I can
present my ideas, where people will read them
and talk about them. Magazines, newspapers
and publishers these days publish only a very
narrow range of things, and that’s why this
library appealed to me.”
At the time, Helzner had written several
books, but has cranked out seven or eight
more in the year since the Brautigan opened.
He has also visited twice, and hopes to make
the trip again soon.
Although Helzner says he’s constantly
thinking of topics to write about, he calls the
writing process itself “slow and difficult.” He
tends to write the books out longhand, then
type them into his computer.
It’s safe to say that Helzner’s books
aren’t like anyone else’s. A typical Helzner
book has a title like, A Revolutionary Way of
Looking at the Earth as a Planet, and asks
us to “take the position of an astronaut living
permanently in outer space looking back at
the earth.” In other words, Helzner enjoys
taking the long view of things.
But for every book of his that gets
metaphysical about the Big Picture, there’s
another, quirkier Helzner book waiting to be
discovered. In one, titled October 6, 1990,
Helzner writes of the annual visit he makes to
Salem Hospital in Salem, Mass., to witness a
child born that day, a child whom he neither
knows nor will see again. In the year prior
to that day, he has kept a record of his life,
just to let this unknown child know that he’s
spent time “thinking about you and would
like to tell you a little of what transpired
before you were born.”
Recording things is clearly important
to Helzner. In a recent book he quotes Todd
Lockwood’s statement about the Brautigan
that, “If anthropologists in the year 3000
happen to stumble across this, they’ll have
a field day.” Helzner’s own work serves a
similar purpose; he wants to get as much
thought and experience on paper as he can.
Another of his books is called 365 Bits
of Wisdom To Enrich Your Daily Life, and it
features nuggets like, “Due to scheduling of
TV programming, the best time to telephone
anyone at home is on the hour or half-hour”
(Feb. 13), or, in an entry that may be revealing, “The dream of life is to be recognized
for superior talent” (Jan. 3).
In an essay in another book, Some
Observations About the World We Live In,
Helzner asks, “What do you imagine goes
on in the mind of a wildebeest as it lives its
life in the African plains?” He answers by
leaping into its mind: “Plenty of food here.
Chomp. Chomp. Chomp. Looks safe, but I’ll
keep my eyes open for lions...They caught
me. Help me, Fred...”
Some other Helzner titles: The LongRange Effect of a Birth; Life On Earth
Before You Were Born; The World Is Wrong;
Calendar Time and the Physical Meaning
of Life. (Helzner also has a few books on
the library shelves under the pseudonym
R.J. Heale.)
When Helzner first heard about the
Brautigan Library, he didn’t know much
about Richard Brautigan. “When I visited
Burlington I read [Brautigan’s] The Abortion, which is the first book of his I’ve read.
It was...interesting.”
Through his visit to the library Helzner
has also initiated a correspondence with
another Brautigan contributor, Minnesota
resident Hollis Rosendahl. Helzner read
Rosendahl’s book, A Circle of Life — a
fictionalized account of a man who plots
revenge on the people who murdered his
wife and children — and admired it a great
deal. The two have continued to correspond
regularly.
“The Brautigan has meant a lot to me,”
Helzner says. “It’s really something to realize
that there’s now a place where people can go
and find my work and talk about it. That’s
what it’s really all about.”
— Dwight Garner
Volunteer Librarian
Letters We Have Known
Sometimes the Brautigan Library gets
letters that are what my mother would
probably call “doozies.” That is, they’re
interesting, unique and/or colorful — a lot
like many of the books in the Brautigan Library — which inspired us to keep them in a
notebook at the library for others to read. In
fact, we like them so much that we’re going
to share a few in our newsletters for those
of you who haven’t yet been to the library.
In keeping with our library policy, they are
unedited and unexpurgated. Only the names
are disguised to protect the innocent.
So, as somebody or other said (probably
on television), keep those cards and letters
coming!
— Pamela Polston, Trustee
4/11/90
enthslcybp.mkv-”01x528934zj67q:()&?;%/
=*+^!$]@#[eKFZV (this is my typewriter
giving me shit, i don’t know why)
Dear Todd Lockwood,
I know that after your “appearance” (so
to speak) on NPR yesterday you’re going
to be awash in blither, so I’ll lay my bona
fides on you right off the top: Richard was
a friendomine, I co-reviewed (w/Gurney
Norman) Revenge of the Lawn (lavishly
lovingly) for Rolling Stone, I own a Richard
Brautigan’s 40th b’day tee shirt (w/a picture
of a trout upn’t), my neighbor Sherry Vetter
Burns (right cheer in greater metropolitan
Port Royal, pop. 80) is the girl with the cake
on the cover of Revenge of the Lawn, and I
am the proprietor (sole proprietor, you might
say, since I alone had the presence of mind
to remember it) of a particularly splendid
anecdote involving the aforementioned RB,
SVB, Ken Kesey, and yrs. truly.
I offer all that just in the interest of getting your attention long enough to say that I
think the Richard Brautigan Library is a grand
idea. Do you know that Sallie Bingham’s
Kentucky Foundation for Women [and Duke
University] is essentially doing the same
thing, only just for unpublished women’s
manuscripts? Seems to me the whole idea of
archiving work that hasn’t been published is
a splendid one. (I say that as a former editor
of the newsletter of the MidPeninsula Free
University — The Free You — which printed
everything that was submitted, as a matter of
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policy.) In short, I love it, If there’s anything
I can do to help please let me know, I ain’t
near as eccentric as this forking typewriter
makes me out to be. Honest.
all best,
E.M.
Port Royal, KY
April 18, 1990
Dear Brautigan Library
Enclosed is my $2 donation to cover the
cost of mailing me an information packet and
writer application. As Richard would have
wanted, I suggest that no manuscripts should
be sent, but all should be hand-delivered to
the library. I do no recall any postal carriers
dropping by with extra-heavy bags in The
Abortion.
Garry Trudeau, among others, be
damned! This is a fine idea that has waited
too long in coming. What with Ronald Reagan being personally responsible for R.B.’s
death (Burning Book Bill), it seems fitting
that the dawn of the 1990s should cast its
single point of light on the Arts. I have high
hopes for the Library, and will be proud to
be a perpetual patron.
Yours in kind,
F.F.
Montpelier, VT
(Ed. note: Cartoonist Garry Trudeau
had sent a churlish letter pooh-poohing the
library idea, asking why anyone would want
to read unpublished manuscripts when there
are so many thousands of books published
every year. He also declined an invitation
to be a member of the Brautigan’s advisory
board.)
somewhere in time
one reader writes:
i write you something, something about
someone handing me a book back in 1970 and
in touching me, the pages, like soft fingers
snuggled into softer gloves, made me more
aware of life than i had been before...
i write you something, something about
words coming to me then and never stopping
not for a tiny moment, never stopping and it
was then that i first discovered that richard had
given me a muse to warm myself with for as
long as i chose to put words on paper...
i write something, something about
enjoying the poetry and then the novels
and of course the short stories. of wanting
to go fishing too at “Elmira”, of wanting to
go back, always go back, “trout fishing in
america” even though everything would be
changed.
i write you something, something about
going on the road back in 72-73 with a
small cardboard sign that i used for hitchhiking home that said on one side: trout
fishing in america and on the other side:
OZ—SOUTH.
i write you something, something about
wanting to say thank you to someone i have
never met, now i will never meet...
i write you something, something about
using a gift that i never realized i had before
i read richard’s words. he helped me then
and i want to say “thank you” now after all
these years...
i write you something, something
about new beginnings from older
ways:
ready? set? begin...
let the lawn get its revenge.
let the river run.
let rommel continue to drive on.
let sugar be put in the watermelon.
plant his books
let the pill still vs. the spring hill mine disaster.
why?
because i say it is so...
J.J.F.
THE BRAUTIGAN LIBRARY:
I’d like to thank you for the opportunity
to be involved in your library. The work I
am submitting is a new avenue for me as an
amateur writer.
I’ve written humor exclusively before
this attempt at poetry. After skimming over a
few pages you’ll find that, not only have I not
taken any english or writing courses lately,
but that my punctuation is poor enough to
merit having my butt shot in many english
speaking countries — including Canada.
My past works of humor have been
nothing more than a waste of good paper
and time. My latest work, however, holds
some promise. I would like to request another
application at this time as I’m certain of
completing this work shortly. I’ve included
the application fee and am looking forward
to hearing from you.
Thanks again,
D.B.
Flint, MI
P.S. If you like the poetry then let me say
“thanks.” If you think it stinks then...“Hey,
I was drunk”.
Dec 17, 1990
Dear Todd,
I had to put all this writing together to
be able to put behind me the hard relationships I had. As if, in a book, it could be a
separate entity and walk out of my life. It
celebrates the end of putting my feelings on
paper instead of speaking out. Maybe if other
people had similar experiences the pain will
diffuse into millions of souls. Then I can be
open to more happiness.
Your library means I don’t have to have
my experiences weighed for profit before
anyone might read them. Your library encourages people to write without trying to
conform to an invisible force. Finally, there’s
an institution with a love of people and how
hard they try to communicate. I would like
to be among your collection.
Sincerely yours,
L.C.
Thoughts From a WriterLibrarian
All these books are crying out, “read
me, read me!”
“Read me!”
And so I’ve tried. It isn’t easy — I read
much too slowly to keep up with the new arrivals. There’s no way I can read them all, or
even most. So I skim, and breeze, and relax
with the books. When my eyes get tired I
listen — maybe they’ll start speaking.
They would if they could, I know it.
I choose my reading matter arbitrarily,
looking for pearls. They say you can’t judge
a book by its cover; in the Brautigan Library,
all the covers are the same. Nobody said it
would be easy.
Can you tell a book by its title? Never.
Although Floating Space Duck was excellent.
I’ve written a book myself. When I
finished writing it my insides cheered, my
organs sang. Now it’s smartly bound, and
stands stately and proud on its shelf, next to
the mayonnaise. I took a picture of it, and
once again my innards trumpeted a chorus
of joy.
And there my book rests. My organs have
quieted, for now the book makes all the noise.
It’s crying “read me!” with all the rest.
I’ve been given the impression that the
4
Great American Novel may someday find its
way onto the Brautigan shelves. I think it’s
already there, but not as a solitary book.
It’s all the books combined, I think.
Don’t you?
—Ray Sikorski
Ray Sikorski is a volunteer librarian
at the Brautigan Library, and has a book
on one of its shelves called A Life Without
Porpoise.
FROM OUR CATALOG
The following excerpts from our catalog
were culled from information provided by
the authors.
Beverly Mai
(Kirkwood, MO)
DEVIL'S POOL
All The Rest: ALL 1990.010.A-B
Alone, due to her father's death shortly
after their arrival at this thriving Virginia
settlement, seventeen year old Kate Mulherrin is discovered by Tory plotters when she
overhears their plans to gain control by means
of an impending Indian attack. Fearing emminent capture, it is with some misgiving that
she flees in the company of tall, mysterious
Micah Randele, with whom she falls in love
during their grueling journey to the bitterly
contested wilderness of Kentucky. Rejected
by Micah, once there, and stunned by things
she learns about him, she is trapped in a
remote frontier station under constant threat
of British-instigated attack, but too proud to
admit her feelings, too destitute to refuse the
charity of strangers until such time as she
should marry somebody, anybody.
Leafie H. Martin
(Lexington, KY)
GODS GIFT LIFES GREATEST
LOVE
Spirituality: SPI 1990.007
The title says it all.
Philip Lewis Preston
(Tryon, NC)
FURLED
Adventure: ADV 1990.001
This story/memoir concerns the irony
and difficulty in learning the complex sport of
sailing. Like any demanding activity, sailing
reveals personal weaknesses and sometimes
scary relationships to a hostile universe.
Richard F. G. Grant
(Melbourne, FL)
THEORY, DESIGN & APPLICATION
OF A PHOTOCOMBUSTION REACTOR
All The Rest: ALL 1990.011
A photocombustion reactor was designed and constructed to explore the
radiation augmented chemical reaction of
hydrogen and chlorine, under continuous
burn conditions. Applications lay in the area
of exoatmospheric propulsion. Ultimately,
satellites could be propelled from the low
earth orbit of the Space Shuttle to higher,
more desired orbits, using the technology
described in this paper. In doing so, the
hydrogen-chlorine propulsion system would
result in substantial cost reductions over the
conventional hydrogen-oxygen system.
Nan-Toby Tyrrell
(Burlington, VT)
JOURNALS OF A WOMAN
Poetry: POE 1990.008
My poetry collection expresses the
universal themes of memory, loss, the joys
and pains of loving and living in an unjust
world.
Andrew Colameco
(Wolcott, VT)
EINSTEIN DOESN'T THROW DICE
Social/Political/Cultural: SOC
1990.013
Through a poetic narrative we explore
the life and mind of Peter Simmons during
a few days in April, 1985. A cynical, jaded
excommunicated physicist, Simmons is
relegated to a lonely but imaginative existence roaming the city streets and renewing
the same four library books. Through his
fantasies, or perhaps, through unusual twists
of fate, he is rollercoastered from street
person to celebrity and in and out of love.
All the while, a rich world of spirits watch,
protect and torment him, including the ghost
of Einstein.
Albert E. Helzner
(Marblehead, MA)
THE LONG RANGE EFFECT OF
ABORTION AND OTHER ESSAYS
ABOUT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE
Natural World: NAT 1990.006
This book is a scientific and philosophical look at life from a broad perspective. It
has nothing to do with the political issue
of abortion. I am taking a look at both the
long range effect of abortion and the long
range effect of life from an overall global
and universal perspective.
Susan Lyn Lummis
(Lahaska, PA)
THE DRAGON QUINTET
Love: LOV 1990.006.A-B
An honest look at female sexuality
from the female's point of view. Five short
stories written by a woman, about women,
for women. Each has the common theme of
slaying the dragon of social conditioning and
ego-misunderstandings of sex.
Jerry Garrett
(St. Louis, MO)
ANOTHER AMERICAN JOURNEY
All The Rest: ALL 1990.012
A 40-year-old man quits his job and
sets off to explore the land called America.
He encounters a variety of strangers ready
to talk. He also finds moments of American
history--both major and minor, national and
regional. Anecdotes of laughter, observation,
poignancy and surprise.
Jeffrey P. Davis
(Madison, WI)
SAID FLEET
Social/Political/Cultural: SOC
1990.014
SAID FLEET consists of twenty poems,
all, except for the last, less than twentyone lines long, addressing, among other
existents, a mallard, mousse, Gaius Julius
Caesar and Carl Jung, lemurs, love, ironmen,
anacoulothons, artichokes, archaeology and
neomythology. Said poems are annexed to
twenty one-plus page sometimes witty prose
character cameos; varied aphorisms; and a
butterfly quiz. These collected creations
are concluded by a felicitous invention.
The general theme of SAID FLEET is the
discovering of transcendance in common,
seemingly insignificant, circumstances of
everyday life.
Robert A. Rose
(San Bernardino, CA)
ABUSES OF POWER, RESTRUCTURING OUR SCHOOLS
Social/Political/Cultural: SOC
1990.015.A-B
ABUSES OF POWER explains how
those associated with schools, children to
school boards, abuse their powers. At the
same time each person and group is a victim
as well as a victimizer. Dr. Rose explores
5
how this happens and makes suggestions
for changes which would help each more
effectively perform his function and make democracy, equity, responsibility, and realized
potentials a reality, not empty buzzwords.
A. Alexander Stella
(Susquehanna, PA)
ILINX
Family: FAM 1990.005
During the course, a young man and two
young women form a triad and a triangle.
Within their relationship, they discover sensuality and the joy of life and the poignancy
of early death.
A. Alexander Stella
(Susquehanna, PA)
WAR DODGER
Social/Political/Cultural: SOC
1990.016
While a graduate at Oregon State University, Larry Ice undergoes enlightenment as
he battles drugs, disenchantment and despair.
This multi-facet novella interlayers different
periods of the protagonist's life.
A. Alexander Stella
(Susquehanna, PA)
NODES
Social/Political/Cultural: SOC
1990.017
Trapped on a bare stage, an aspiring
young actress encounters Friedrich Nietzche,
Joan of Arc, Cataline, Diotima, and a couple
of others. The denouement packs enough
power with its Twilight Zone ending to
qualify as an “anti-denouement."
Bob Singer
(Scranton, PA)
NO LUNCH IN NIRVANA
Social/Political/Cultural: SOC
1990.018
One man's perspective of what it's all
about!
Rabun L. Blaylock
(Seattle, WA)
RABUN REDUX
All The Rest: ALL 1990.013
Rabun Blaylock's search for home and
roots is frustrated by a highly mobile lifestyle and constant relocation. For over three
decades an "American nomad," Rabun has
met with personal tragedy and emotional
turmoil at virtually every turn of his agonizing
journey. They are his companions on this
(continued on page 7)
My Disneyland (continued from page 1)
a sad one, but the end never overshadows
the gift that was given. To the reader his gift
is there waiting to be grasped forever like
the fish he caught for a moment and then
unhooked to live on for future generations.
Whoever opens one of his books can hear him
and he is theirs for the moment. For a moment
is all some of us have. I think everyone needs
to have a moment of my father.
He loved to go into bookstores and see if
his books were there. It was as if it was proof
that he was alive, as if the words he wrote
punctuated the beating of his heart.
I am learning that even though he is dead,
any time I want to hear his voice I just open a
book and I can hear my wise father, the one
who made sense of so much of our lives. If
I am still on a sunny morning I can hear my
father pacing, with a cup of coffee in his hand,
laughing out loud at all that life is.
After writing this, I found the following
poem of my father’s in a book published by
inferno press editions in 1957.
Gifts
At dawn when the dew has built its tents
on the grass, will you come to my grave
and sprinkle bread crumbs
from an enchanted kitchen?
Will you remember me down there
with my eyes shattered
and my ears broken
and my tongue turned to shadows?
And will you remember that after you have gone
from my grave, birds will come
and eat the bread?
Yes, Daddy, we will remember.
— Ianthe Swensen
Ianthe Swensen is Richard Brautigan’s
only child. She lives in California.
On Sunday, April 21, 1991, the
Brautigan Library will celebrate its
first birthday! Everyone is invited
to come to this unique afternoon of
readings, stories and whimsy. Meet
the cast of characters — including
our intrepid Board of Trustees and
our gracious Volunteer Librarians. 2
to 5 pm at the Brautigan Library, 91
College Street, Burlington.
Will you remember that I went to the graves
of many people and always knew I was buried
there?
And afterwards as I walked home to where
it was warm, I did not kid myself about
a God-damn thing.
Will you remember that one day
I went to your grave and you had been dead
for many years, and no one thought
about you anymore,
except me?
Will you remember that we are fragile gifts
from a star, and we break?
Will you remember that we are pain
waiting to scream, holes
waiting to be dug, and
tears waiting to
fall?
Supporting Members are welcome
to attend the Annual Meeting of the
Brautigan Library Foundation, Inc.
The meeting will be held on June 30,
1991, at the offices of White Crow
Audio, 19 Marble Avenue, Burlington, Vermont, at 2 pm. Our Board of
Trustees appreciates and considers
all suggestions made by Supporting
Members. If you are not able to attend
the meeting, you may submit your
suggestions to the Board of Trustees in
writing at: P. O. Box 521, Burlington,
VT 05402. Please be sure your letter
reaches us by June 15, 1991.
...
6
Technology... (continued from page 1)
people without mathematical minds. At the
same time, Apple introduced a unique programming language called HyperTalk. The
extraordinary thing about HyperTalk is that,
unlike other programming languages, it reads
almost like plain English. HyperTalk and
its companion program, HyperCard, have
opened up the world of computer programming to many individuals without any formal
training in computers. The significance of
this event is in what these non-programmers
will bring with them: experiences that professional programmers just haven’t had.
At the Brautigan Library we have developed an elaborate system of HyperCard
software which automates and organizes
virtually everything from printing title pages
to sending newsletters. The intent of this automation is not to remove human interaction,
but instead to amplify it. At the click of a
button on the computer screen, we can create
the catalog list as you see it in this newsletter,
for example. In fact, the newsletter itself is
created completely on the Macintosh — right
down to the laser-printed mechanical that
goes to the printer.
I think there could be some truth to the
notion that the Brautigan Library might not
have been able to exist in the sixties — at least
not in a practical sense. As an all-volunteer
organization with limited resources, we are
indeed indebted to nineties technology for
making it physically possible to do what we
do, and to do it elegantly. The application
of technology need not stand in the way of
creativity if it is used thoughtfully. The key
is in knowing what your mission is before
applying it.
— Todd Lockwood
Todd Lockwood is founder and executive
director of the Brautigan Library.
CATALOG (continued from page 5)
journey, as is a kind of accelerating entropy
at the very core of his existence.
Robert Lee
(San Bruno, CA)
LESSONS
Love: LOV 1990.007.A-B
LESSONS recounts the ten year friendship between Edward Greer, instructor of
English at City College of San Francisco, and
his former student Richard. Their platonic
love often seemed to mirror the relationship
enjoyed by two of their favorite characters
of English literature: Sebastian and Charles
in Brideshead Revisited. Instead of alcohol
which carried Sebastian away from Charles,
Edward was taken away from Richard by
the AIDS virus. Their tales of love and
longing, pain and perseverance are the essence of life.
Albert E. Helzner
(Marblehead, MA)
SOME CHALLENGING ESSAYS
FOR YOU TO THINK ABOUT
Natural World: NAT 1990.007
This book is a collection of essays that
are intended to get you to see a different
perspective to many common events that
take place in your life.
John H. Sullivan
(Falls Church, VA)
V...- LETTERS FROM LONDON
Family: FAM 1990.006
V...- LETTERS FROM LONDON is a
compilation of letters I wrote, and received,
in England (mostly London) while I was
stationed there with the U.S. 8th Army Air
Force during the World War II period of April
1943 to November 1945. The Letters, edited
and commented on by me, my family and I
saved, reflecting the British and American
home fronts, and the experiences of myself,
my Infantry and Air Force buddies scattered
throughout the globe.
Mark H. Masse
(Rocky River, OH)
THE TOUGH GET GOING
Family: FAM 1990.007
THE TOUGH GET GOING is a novel
set in metropolitan New York during the late
1960's (the season of Woodstock, Vietnam
and the amazin' Mets.) The book tells the
story of sixteen-year-old Nick More, who is
growing up in a tough, ethnically-polarized
town. To achieve his aspirations, Nick must
prove himself in an adolescent world of con-
flict and change. THE TOUGH GET GOING
is a realistic coming-of-age novel that deals
with broken dreams, family problems and a
sudden, difficult relocation as Nick moves
in his senior year from his native New York
to southern Ohio.
Jeff May
(Ballwin, MO)
CYNTHIA AND THE BLUE CAT'S
LAST MEOW
Love: LOV 1990.008
In CYNTHIA AND THE BLUE CAT'S
LAST MEOW, the young narrator enters an
unusual, anthropomorphic natural setting
that appears perfect. Gradually, he sees, but
cannot readily accept, his own tormented
soul, the demons gnawing at his heart, hidden beneath the natural beauty. This story
is about the unleashing and dissolution of
those demons and his maturing perception of
Cynthia. It is also about her guidance and the
resulting changes that occur within her.
If you'd like to communicate with one
of our authors, simply send us your sealed,
postage-paid letter with the author's name
on the outside. We will gladly forward your
inquiry to the author's address. Copies of
manuscripts can only be supplied by the
author. However, many authors are pleased
to loan copies of their work to interested
readers.
We have recently received word of
the publication of a new triannual review
of poetry and art called KUMQUAT
MERINGUE. Dedicated to the memory
of Richard Brautigan, this publication
will specialize in far-flung poetry.
Editor Christian Nelson is interested in
reviewing submissions for KUMQUAT
MERINGUE. For more information,
write c/o Paragraphics, P.O. Box 5144,
Rockford, IL 61125.
The 23
Editor: Pamela Polston
Contributing writers: Todd Lockwood,
Will Marquess, Pamela Polston, Dwight
Garner, Ray Sikorski, Ianthe Swensen.
ATTENTION WRITERS! To receive
our writer’s package, including complete
information about the library and an
application to submit work, please send
$2 (to cover our postage and printing) to:
The Brautigan Library, P. O. Box 521,
Burlington, VT 05402.
The Brautigan Library is a Vermont
nonprofit corporation. It is governed by a
Board of Trustees made up of prominent
literary and media professionals from the
State of Vermont. Our Advisory Board
includes writers, poets and other creative
people from across America. We are
supported by fees paid by writers to submit
their works to the library, and also by the
generous donations of our Supporting
Members. We receive no support in the
way of local or state taxes.
You can become a Supporting Member
of the Brautigan Library with a donation
of $25 or more. Memberships may be
renewed annually. All members will
receive a one-year subscription to this
newsletter. For more information, write
to us at: The Brautigan Library, P. O. Box
521, Burlington, VT 05402
You can visit the Brautigan Library!
We’re located in the beautiful city of
Burlington, Vermont, on the shores of Lake
Champlain. Burlington is a university
town with a young, dynamic populous.
(At election time, our voter turnout is
about twice the national average.) It’s a
beautiful place to visit, though cold some
of the time. All the better for reading!
You’ll find us tucked in an alley at 91
College Street — just off the downtown
area. At the present time we’re open on
Saturdays and Sundays only. Please call
us at 802-658-4775 for a recorded message
with information about our hours.
Richard Brautigan's novel, The Abortion:
An Historical Romance 1966, is currently
out of print, although most used-book
dealers can find copies. We suggest trying
Gotham Book Mart in New York City
(212) 719-4448. Ask for Flip Ahrens.
7
Library Plans Richard
Brautigan Display
While the idea didn't initially occur to
our Board of Trustees, the Brautigan Library
may well become the site of a Richard
Brautigan museum. Over the past year the
library has received numerous mementos
from close friends and avid fans of Mr.
Brautigan. For example, last summer we
received an extraordinary collection of rare
Brautigan books and periodicals from author
Bill Novak. The delicate periodicals were
subsequently sent on to the Bancroft Library
at the University of California at Berkeley
— the official repository for Mr. Brautigan's
manuscripts and letters.
However, books and other objects of
interest could find a home at the Brautigan
Library in the future. Mr. Brautigan's glasses
and his typewriter are among the items we
plan to display as soon as funds can be raised
to purchase a suitable display case.
“We know it would mean a lot to anyone
familiar with Richard Brautigan's writing,"
says executive director Todd Lockwood.
“Just to see his glasses is a moving experi-
ence. The shape of them is burned into minds
around the world."
While the library is pleased to take on
this new role, the trustees are being cautious
to insure that the library's primary function
—to catalog and display unpublished writing— will not be overshadowed.
“We'd like to have a small display case
in the corner," adds Lockwood. “It may not
be noticed by everyone who comes in, but
to some it will mean quite a lot."
If you'd like to help us with a donation toward the purchase of a museumquality display case, we would greatly
appreciate your support. (The 2 x 2 x
5-foot-high case we are interested in costs
around $1,500.) Any donor of $250 or
more will be acknowledged on a permanent plaque on the display case. Please
contact us at the address below for more
information.
THE BRAUTIGAN LIBRARY
P. O. Box 521
Burlington, Vermont 05402
America's only library of unpublished writing.
IS2
8
Who We Are
The Brautigan Library Foundation, Inc.
Board of Trustees:
Todd Lockwood, Library Founder
Pamela Polston, Writer/Editor
Will Marquess, Author/Teacher
Jack Hurley, Entrepreneur
Robert Cham, Consulting Engineer
Ken Caffrey, Jr., Poet/Writer
David & Phoebe Beilman, Architects
Allan Kaufman, Media Consultant
Stephen P. Kiernan, Writer/Editor
David Sunshine, Attorney
Advisory Board:
Robert Creeley, Poet
W. P. Kinsella, Author
Thomas McGuane, Author
William Novak, Author
Fred G. Sullivan, Film Director/Actor
Jerry Greenfield, Ben & Jerry’s Homemade
Allan Nicholls, “Saturday Night Live”
Susan Green, Burlington City Arts
John Anderson, Architect
Robert Shure, Radio Fiction Writer
Ianthe Brautigan Swensen