The 23
A publication of the Brautigan Library
Volume 1, Number 4
A Very Public Library
September 1991
From a Writer
We asked Brautigan Library contributor Andy Colameco, resident of Wolcott,
Vermont, to pen something for this newsletter. He kindly contributed the following
interview with, uh, someone, as well as the
preamble of thanks. (Thank you, Andy.) He’s
been with us right from the beginning, and
is still writing.
A Little Statement
Four years ago I completed a work of
fiction, Einstein Doesn’t Throw Dice. Last
summer I submitted it to the Brautigan
Library. I had had several other ideas and
even false starts for other works, but found
it difficult to invest the time and energy to
complete them. The existence of the library
and the delicate but honest support of some
of its librarians, trustees and, especially, Todd
has motivated me to push on. Now two new
works, Theories of Father and The Relativity
Retreat, are part of the collection.
I am very grateful to all who have
worked to create and nurture the Brautigan
Library. Thank you for your gracious acceptance of all the books in your growing
collection, and the encouragement to continue the process of writing.
— Andy Colameco
An Interview
So you write?
Yes.
What? Please speak up. We’ll try again.
Speak up. So you write?
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unpublished writing.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describing the unpublished works of 23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.
Right. I mean correct. Yes. Not correctly.
Probably not correctly. But I do.
So you admit to it. Yes. Hmmm.
Yes, I do.
OK. We’ve established that. Now. What
do you write? Fiction?
Fiction.
What kind of fiction?
The kind that isn’t really true.
Lies?
Maybe lies. Maybe stuff that has never
had a chance to be a lie. Or a truth. Maybe
just...
But it’s definitely not the truth.
Truth?
Yes, truth. You know. An accurate recording of events.
Then it is true.
How?
It is accurate. Maybe not precise. In every
detail. But it is accurate.
What’s it about?
It’s like this. Let’s imagine a camera is in
a mind. Of a person. And we can see through
the camera. And sometimes it rolls up front
and looks right through the eye. But a lot of
the time it looks around. In the mind. And
snoops around. To see what the person is
(continued on page 6)
FOUNDER’S
MESSAGE
Bridging the Reality Gap
Periodically, we ask the members
of our board of trustees to reread Richard Brautigan’s The Abortion to see if
they might glean any new insights from
Brautigan’s vision. We do this because
we want to stay in sync with the spirit
of Brautigan’s fictional library. The
reality is another story.
Reality can be so clankingly real at
times. The world of fiction is certainly
less encumbered by the mundane. Not
that creating great fiction is any holiday.
But isn’t it convenient how in fiction
we rarely hear of such prosaic accoutrements as rent, utilities and custodial
duties, to name a few. It seems the world
of reality has a few more subplots going
on.
I’ve often wondered if there was
a way to make the Brautigan Library
simply exist in people’s minds, without
the encumbrances of a physical plant
to bog things down. In a way, I suppose that’s what Richard Brautigan
did when he wrote The Abortion. His
story presented the believable notion
that this library really could exist, and
he even took into account some of the
practical problems that might arise...
but perhaps not all of the problems.
So here we are, warts and all;
paying rent, watching the thermostat,
vacuuming the floors, cleaning the
bathroom, binding books and welcoming visitors. It’s a real place with a real
roof that leaks and a family of ground
hogs living beneath our concrete floor.
Add a staff of volunteer librarians and
a volunteer coordinator and a trustee to
coordinate the coordinator, and you can
begin to see what I’m talking about.
Ours is not the first time life has
imitated art in this way. Walt Disney
created one of the best-known examples
in the early sixties with the building of
the original Disneyland. Disney had a
talent for bridging the reality gap in a
way that we hadn’t seen before. If you
drop a cigarette butt at a Disney facility,
it turns into fairy dust before you can
(continued on page 7)
The Voice of the Brautigan
By Will Marquess
If you’ve ever telephoned the Brautigan
Library (and if you haven’t, you should:
802-658-4775), you’ve heard a recording
of a genial, avuncular voice that invites you
to visit or contribute to our collection. It’s
a front-porch kind of voice — welcoming,
worldly-wise, ready to sit you down and tell
you a story. Who, you may wonder, is behind
it?
In true Brautigan style, Allan Kaufman
happened onto our tape recording (and
eventually onto our Board of Trustees)
largely by serendipity. An occasional actor
and director with many years of experience
in advertising, he was taping a commercial
at Todd Lockwood’s Burlington recording
studio just when the library was taking shape.
Something clicked; Todd thought, “This is
our voice.” The commercial Allan was recording that day never ran, but soon he was
at the microphone for the Brautigan.
Describing himself, Allan sounds like
one of the 23 authors who contributed to the
fictional library in The Abortion. “I have an
old dog, an old cat, a young girlfriend, four
grown children, and three grandchildren,” he
says. He is, by the way, an author as well. His
book, Interview with Sex, a fantasy discussion
with the character Sex, was commissioned
by a pharmaceutical company as a guide to
responsible sexual behavior. When it turned
into what Allan calls “a whole new theory of
love,” the pharmaceutical company said no
thanks. A friend published it, and Readers’
Digest printed a three-page version that even
Allan couldn’t understand.
These days, Allan makes a living out
of his home in Richmond, Vermont, as a
consultant on futures research for some of
the largest corporations in the world. And he
speaks for the Brautigan Library. Call us up
and hear for yourself.
The Sign-In Book
By Pamela Polston
Visitors to the Brautigan Library enter
a glass-paneled door, make an immediate
hairpin turn to the left, descend a short
flight of steps past the fuse box, and come
face-to-face with not only the librarian, but
the Sign-In Book. A large black and maroon
tome with gold embossed trim, its spine
reads “RECORD,” but no one ever looks
at the spine. The book is always open to a
blue-lined page with names and addresses
on it.
The librarian usually suggests that visitors sign the book, although sometimes they
do it without needing to be asked. Looking
through the names is interesting for the
diversity of penmanship styles alone, but
what is of more interest to us at the Brautigan
Library is where all those people have come
from. So we decided to take a count.
The Sign-In Book was inaugurated,
naturally, on the library’s opening day, April
21, 1990. That day, everyone wrote just their
names and not where they live, like it was a
declaration or a treaty or something. Appropriately enough, Ianthe Brautigan Swensen,
Richard Brautigan’s daughter, was the first
to put her name on the page. She lives in
California. Todd Lockwood, the library’s
founder, signed in second. After that are 58
more names.
The next time visitors came, which was
the following weekend, they added where
they were from. By July, more and more
visitors were arriving from out of state, and
some were including their street addresses
as well.
So far, we’ve had 18 visitors who either
didn’t give an address or wrote things like,
“?,” “I’ll be back,” “In transit,” or “Mud City,
Vermont.” A quartet of visitors on September
1, 1990 signed as “4 guys,” followed by “part
unknown.” They didn’t say which part.
“Mark Twain” made a visitation on May
26, 1990, but he didn’t leave an address.
So far, there have been no Elvis sightings
— or sign-ins — at the Brautigan Library.
Conceivably, Elvis was/is not a Richard
Brautigan fan.
As the months went by, we began to think
the majority of visitors to the library came
from most anywhere besides Burlington.
You know, it’s like how people who live in
New York don’t go to the Statue of Liberty.
But an actual scientific examination (that
is, I counted them, marking on paper little
“bundles” of fives) turned up surprising results. The number of visitors, as of August
25, 1991, from the Burlington area was 304.
And if you add the 96 visitors from the rest
of the state, the total — 400 — comes way
out ahead of the 262 visitors from other states
and countries.
Of course, we value all our visitors, even
if they just walked a few blocks to look at our
books. But it’s always special to get visitors
2
from afar, especially when we hear their stories. Behind every signature is a unique story.
For a lot of Brautigan aficionados, the journey
to the library is a sort of pilgrimage. We are
continually amazed at this kind of devotion
and love. Some visitors are simply curious
and bemused, and that’s alright, too.
The following is a “body count” to show
you where all our visitors have come from,
state by state (or country):
• Arizona
3
• California
16
• Colorado
4
• Connecticut
27
• Delaware
1
• Florida
9
• Georgia
1
• Illinois
3
• Indiana
4
• Iowa
2
• Kentucky
1
• Maine
8
• Maryland
2
• Massachusetts
53
• Michigan
2
• Minnesota
2
• New Hampshire
8
• New Jersey
3
• New York
60
• North Carolina
4
• Ohio
4
• Oregon
4
• Pennsylvania
18
• South Carolina
1
• Texas
3
• Utah
1
• Vermont
400
• Virginia
5
• Washington
2
• Washington, DC
2
• Wisconsin
1
• Canada
20
• England
4
• Italy
2
• Spain
1
• Sweden
1
In case you weren’t counting, that’s
30 states, the District of Columbia, and
five foreign countries. The total number of
visitors as of this writing is around 740, and
that doesn’t count the ones who may have
neglected to sign in, or repeat visitors. There
are still plenty of empty blue ledger lines in
our Sign-In Book. We wonder what stories
will accompany the signatures to come?
Letters We Have Known
In a previous newsletter we began to
reprint some of the letters we have received
at the Brautigan Library, as many of them
are as interesting and colorful as the writing
on our shelves. So much so that we keep them
in a notebook at the library for visitors to
read. For those of you who are not able to
visit in person, here is a new selection. In
keeping with our library policy, the letters are
unexpurgated and unedited. Only the names
are disguised to protect the innocent.
April 18, 1991
Dear Todd,
Can’t believe it’s been a year. Many,
many more to come. Hope the celebration
is memorable; sorry I can’t be there, but am
plotting a trip for July.
I’m still recruiting for you, but it amazes
me how many people think the Brautigan is
a great idea — and they do claim to write
— but they don’t follow up on it. I am teaching a poetry workshop at the college in Key
West and may have some interest from my
students as they progress: the (sometimes)
serene soul of the (“there’s no money in it
anyway”) poet seems to be (sometimes)
satisfied with the quiet recognition that the
Brautigan offers.
Tom McGuane on the Advisory Board:
good, great! Trudeau???
All the best and sagging shelves.
Mayonnaisely,
K.S.S.
Summerland Key, FL
P.S. Thought I’d send along a few notes I
took after reading the newsletters.
Anecdote (True)
In 1976, I was teaching English at my
old prep school. In the Spring term, I offered
a course in Contemporary Literature. One
of the books on the list was Trout Fishing
in America. It was being well received by
these Seniors who were about to go off to
the finest colleges and universities. But, on a
particularly beautiful Friday morning, there
was a great deal more interest, oozing from
both guys and gals, in Spring Weekend at the
University of Virginia than reading Richard.
The prospects of weekend scholarship were
laughable.
But, Richard’s genius saved me: allowed
me a modicum of authority, a chance to carry
on with some little nod in the direction of
respect.
With a few minutes left in the class,
I announced, to a room immediately thun-
derous with highly creative moans, groans
and whines, that there, indeed, would be a
weekend assignment. I then began to describe
the plot of “Trout Fishing in America Terrorists” (we hadn’t gotten that far). It got their
attention, but looks were quizzical. Simple:
their assignment was to, over the course of the
weekend, write “Trout Fishing in America”
in five different, prominent places without
doing any harm or damage (no house paint
on the side of the chapel, etc.). When they
were convinced that I was serious, they were
off for the weekend with a renewed respect
for education.
It was not April; it was May. They were
not sixth graders; they were Seniors. Close
enough for non-fiction, I thought.
On Monday morning, I planned on taking
a few minutes to allow some I-can-top-thatone recounting of the escapades (I already
knew the project was going to be somewhat
successful — when I entered the men’s room
of my favorite pub on Friday night, I found
myself eye-to-eye with assigned legend over
the only urinal [two co-eds responsible. I was
touched]), and there had been widespread
participation, and in a spirit I think Richard
could havehad a good chuckle over.
Back to “normal,” there’s an end to it,
I thought. Not quite.
After class, a student (Joe Allred) who
had studied with me for three years came up
to me and said, “Mr. Strong, I only did four.”
He was serious and contrite. I thanked him
for his honesty and explained that it wasn’t a
gradable assignment and not to worry about
it. Now, there was an end to it, I thought. Not
quite.
Not long after, I was a chaperon at Finals,
after graduation. When I pulled up, Joe met
me, and without prologue, presented me with
a small box that bore the dinstinctive seal of
the finest jeweler in Richmond. It contained
a silver medallion on a silver chain. The
incription...you guessed it.
Joe said, “That’s the fifth one.”
I said, “Class dismissed.”
And there’s the end to it? Not quite.
It’s been almost fifteen years and that
medallion, the only condescension to my
abhorrence to jewelry, has never left my
neck. Joe lives in Belgium. I live in Key
West. Richard lives on a shelf in my den.
We’ve never been apart since ‘76.
— K.S.S.
June 4, 1991
3
Dear Mr. Lockwood,
You have my permission to print “A
Funny Man,” by my son, Richard Jenks,
in a future issue of your newsletter. In my
original letter about his piece, I said he was
11 years old when he wrote it, but now that
I’ve thought about it, he was 9 years old
(born 4/20/57). So... I hope others enjoy it
as much as we have.
Hope to get up to Seattle and the book
fair.
Also, inclosed is a check for $50.00.
Use as you wish.
N.L.
Van Nuys, CA
A Funny Man
One day I saw a little man. He had a
little nose and big feet. I asked him what his
name was.
He said, “My name is Me.”
I said, “Do you have any money?”
“Money!” said the little man. He
open[ed] his little mouth and out came some
gold.
“You must be rich!” I said.
“I am!” said the little man. He gave me
some gold.
We went to my house. I told my
Mom.
She said, “Nonsense!”
I said, “But it’s true.”
She said I’m nuts.
I left with the little man. I left home.
I figured with the gold the little man
gives, I can get anything. I thought if I feed
him more, more gold will come out. So I did
it.
Then I got one piece of gold. I put it in
his ear and out came two pieces of gold. So I
put them in his ear and out came three pieces
of gold. I put the three pieces of gold in the
little man’s ear and out came an I.O.U.
The little man died.
The moral is, don’t be a wise guy.
Readers are invited to respond to letters printed here, send letters to the editor,
or write anything at all for the newsletter.
Mail your letters to: THE 23, c/o The Brautigan Library, P.O. Box 521, Burlington, VT
05402.
FROM OUR CATALOG
The following excerpts from our catalog
were culled from information provided by the
authors.
Dan Blaukopf
(Havertown, PA)
A CASE OF DO OR DIE AND OTHER
STORIES
All The Rest: ALL 1990.016
Stories written over 13 years. About a mystical factory worker, nursing home patients, a
married couple at a wedding, a youth who
delivers oxygen for a living, an old black
case manager who relies on folk wisdom,
a supervisor at a computer company losing
himself, a rock star trying to give up his
father's legacy, and a husband and wife who
give up their jobs to open a restaurant. Also
a children's story and stories about young
adulthood and the work world.
Dan Blaukopf
(Havertown, PA)
IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR LOVE, YOU
WON'T FIND IT ON RIVER ROAD
Love: LOV 1990.012
The black sheep of the family, left on a kibbutz
in Israel as a child, beaten in the '67 War, and
now living in the U.S., is a clinical psychologist obsessed with achieving the American
dream through computer technology. He
goes nowhere, flees to Israel, and resurrects
himself as the head of a cult.
Barbara Kingsley
(Miami, FL)
HOW TO SUCCEED AS A SUCCESSFUL WOMAN OR KEEPING A STIFF
UPPER LIP
Social/Political/Cultural: SOC 1990.020
Losing her husband and child early in WWII,
the author survived many tragedies and went
on to have successful careers in three different countries, as well as two more happy
marriages and another child.
Jeffrey Dwyer
(Putney, VT)
SURE BEATS WATCHING TRAINS
Humor: HUM 1990.007.A-B
Burned-out shoe salesman Stuart Williams
is overtaken by an alien persona, J. Edgar
Beaks, while vacationing in the Southwest.
Beaks meets up with a slickly, Dirk Tepid,
whose overwhelming ambition is to dethrone
the makers of notoriously BAD commercials.
Together, Beaks and Tepid dash to the Grand
Canyon chasing Madge, Mrs. Olson and Mr.
Whipple, as Tepid instructs Beaks in the
ways of earthly man. Eventually, a master
psychiatrist, Salvatore Krimshaw, must step
in to rescue Stuart (feeling that he is losing his
mind) from the alien clutches of Beaks.
Stephen Stathis
(Wellesley, MA)
THE CAROUSEL RIDER
Social/Political/Cultural: SOC 1990.021
This book deals with a young boy who has to
grow up without a father. His self-development is impacted by his immigrant heritage,
the carosel industry, and the American Indian
culture.
Albert E. Helzner
(Marblehead, MA)
THREE SHORT STORIES WITH UNEXPECTED ENDINGS
All The Rest: ALL 1990.017
Each of these three short stories has a surprise finale. They are intended to keep you
guessing until you reach the end.
Robert S. Poole
(Bellerville, MI)
ONTOLOGIES
All The Rest: ALL 1990.018
ONTOLOGIES is a collection of short stories
about love, work, and wandering; the stories
are ultimately about, I guess, growing up.
The tone is quiet and reflective, to serve as
a lens for characters who are outsiders and
for locales which whiz by like telephone
poles.
May Janko
(Bronx, NY)
THE ADVENTURES OF MOHAMED
AND DEE LILLE
All The Rest: ALL 1990.019
For the love of mice, this series of fantasy-adventures reveals their all too human frailties
and achievements. The protagonist, Dee Lille
Mus, strives for love and survival. She, along
with a well-intentioned human family and a
warm-hearted egocentric cat, join forces in
coping with a world that is too sophisticated
for their provincial lives. They seek their
roots, using the past for a security base as
well as a bridge to the unknown future.
Anna Louise
(Whittier, CA)
AUBURN ANGEL
All The Rest: ALL 1990.020.A-B
It was a time of different values -- a point
of view of fifty years ago, before women's
4
liberation, legal abortion, massive wellfare,
and outspoken immorality. The setting is old
New York and Miami during the start of the
'Big Band Era' and illegal gambling.
Dennis Manuel
(New York, NY)
MOTHER AND DAUGHTER
Social/Political/Cultural: SOC 1990.022
First draft of a short novel or play. It's about
every young, insecure and overly posessive
black mother and her precoscious daughter.
Apparently later “scooped" by the author of
the 1980 TV movie, Mother and Daughter,
except that my story has a black cast and
takes place in a matter of hours, as opposed
to years.
Ernest B. Cohen
(Upper Darby, PA)
R.I.F. (REDUCTION IN FORCE)
Social/Political/Cultural: SOC 1990.023
R.I.F. (REDUCTION IN FORCE) is both a
fiction, and a philosophic statement concerning the meaning of life in the modern world.
It covers about 30 years in the lives of two
people, starting with their courtship at Cornell
University, and ending with their dedication
to restructuring society. The novel comments
on technology, unemployment, Judaism (and
Jews by choice), family, community, and
society. The Family-Community Movement
(and its Jewish branch, Hehillat Mishpakhot)
is an attempt to implement the philosophy of
R.I.F. in our present American society.
C.B. Follett
(Sausalito, CA)
BENEATH THE HONK OF GEESE
Poetry: POE 1990.009
This collection of poems shows an admiration of and intrigue with nature, a fear of
our ecological future, the ups and downs of
relationships and family, memories of girlhood, and the pain and challenge of loss.
Melvin Spivak
(Santa Cruz, CA)
FANTASIES II
Social/Political/Cultural: SOC 1990.024
FANTASIES II is my second short story collection, the other is Fantasies (Mojave Press,
7118 Canby Avenue, Reseda, CA 91335).
These are collections of science-fantasies,
social fiction, and mystery about mythical
worlds, human suffering, and religious
experience.
Albert E. Helzner
(Marblehead, MA)
OCTOBER 6, 1984 TO OCTOBER 6, 1985
OR ONE YEAR TO LIFE
Natural World: NAT 1990.010
What is today's date? No matter what date
it is, I want you to make an appointment
with yourself to go to the maternity wing
of a hospital one year from today and see
a new born baby. When you see that child,
tell it what transpired before it came into
the world, starting on this date for the one
year period before it was born. This is what
I have done here.
Elaine Froehlich
(Johnstown, PA)
in impatient stillness
Love: LOV 1990.013
A spineless book about a spineless love affair
written from 3 perspectives and cut together
to form a discontinuous text. Thoughts,
conversations and a narrative not necessarily
conjunctive in time converge on the page to
create the story.
Maria M. Ottwaska Tei
(St. Louis, MO)
STORIES & ESSAYS
All The Rest: ALL 1990.021
The general theme of these texts is an attempt
to show how difficult writing is. Secondly, the
actual themes dealt with in the various pieces
portray a woman's life. Thirdly, the point of
alternately using an essay, then a short story,
is to hopefully show the difference between
one and the other genre, yet to boldly place
them in one book. And why not? I am saying
here that perhaps in the Brautigan Library
this kind of daring has a place. Last, but
not least, is the general philosophy running
through the work: who are we all? And so,
the student tried to write.
John A. Angstrom
(Beverly, MA)
RORY STORIES, VOLUME I
Humor: HUM 1990.008.A-B
These tales are the humorous adventures of
a talking Shetland sheepdog named Rory
O'More. The locale is the greater Boston
area, with particular concentration in Beverly,
where the narrator lives. Two additional
volumes have been written, and a fourth is
presently in the final stages of completion.
Sheila Holtz
(Philadelphia, PA)
SIGNALLING THROUGH FLAMES
Poetry: POE 1990.010
Poems of innocence; poems of experience.
Explored here are dream, vision, relationship and transformation. This collection
reflects an inner journey which unfolds in
time, though not necessarily in chronology.
The poet travels through firey realms and
telegraphs back her report of this crucible
“like [a] victim burnt at the stake, signalling
through flames." (Quote from epigraph by
Antonin Artaud.)
Debra Linsemeyer
(Michigan City, IN)
THE DEBRA LINSEMEYER POETRY
COLLECTION
Poetry: POE 1990.011
No synopsis provided.
A. Alexander Stella
(Susquehanna, PA)
SPLISH
All The Rest: ALL 1990.022
A university drama instructor struggles
to do right by his pre-teen daughter. His
obsession for the “niece" of a philosophy
professor plunges the drama instructor into
a world of philosophy, poot-nam horror, and
juvenile nudity.
David Castleman
(Mill Valley, CA)
I STAMMER IT TO ANGELS.
Poetry: POE 1990.012
Since the dawning of reality we have been
in crisis beset with delusions and lies, and
almost as much energy has been used to
dispel the cobwebs of dishonesty as to prevent their removal. Much energy has been
used in humanity's attempt to remain on the
surface of existence, and to recognize nothing beyond, nothing more. These essays
and these poems are part of an attempt to
delineate that something beyond, something
more than life on the surface.
Sydney A. Kneebone
(North Huntingdon, PA)
REVOLUTIONS OF THE BRAIN, SONGS
OF SHIT
Poetry: POE 1990.013
Both collections are an attempt to express the
thoughts and feelings of fifty years of life.
Albert E. Helzner
(Marblehead, MA)
THE WORLD IS WRONG
Natural World: NAT 1990.011
Nicolas Copernicus proved the world was
(continued on page 8)
5
W.P. Kinsella Visits
Brautigan West
Author and Brautigan Library Advisor
Bill Kinsella made a stop at the Brautigan
Library exhibit at the Seattle's Bumbershoot
arts festival. Kinsella is the author of Shoeless Joe on which the film Field of Dreams
was based.
WRITER
(continued from page 1)
thinking. Or remembering. Or fantasizing.
So it’s not real.
What’s “it?”
The book.
Oh, no. It’s real. It’s really real. I have
copies. To prove it. It is real, alright.
Published?
No. Not really.
You mean it’s not even published?
That’s right. It’s just...well...photocopied.
Photocopied? That’s nothing.
No, it’s something.
Yes, but it’s not really anything. Unless
it’s published.
It’s something.
OK, it’s something, but it’s not literature.
That’s probably true. It’s just a book.
Not literature. Or anything like that. Just a
book.
How many have you photocopied?
Three or four copies of each.
Each?
Yes. There are three.
How long does it take to write one?
Six, maybe eight hundred hours. A
thousand. I can’t say.
A thousand hours! Each?
Each.
At minimum wage you could have made
thousands. Thousands! You should have been
flipping burgers at Mickey D’s.
Maybe.
And you wouldn’t be where you are
today.
Probably not.
So where are the photocopies?
Mostly in my house. I use them as
doorstops. Hot plates. And to hold an old
window open above the kitchen sink.
And the rest?
The rest?
Yes, the other copies.
They’re in a library. Of sorts. The Brautigan Library.
A library? For photocopies of lies?
If you will. A library for strays. If you
won’t.
A library for rejects?
For anything. They have an open admission policy. Of sorts. If you want to move
in, you can.
You mean the books.
Yes. They are all welcomed. Everyone.
Sounds like riff-raff. Sounds like inviting
just anyone to a party.
That’s it! Just anyone. Any book.
So it’s like a shelter for the homeless.
The unfortunates. If you will.
I probably won’t. Thank you.
So why do you do it?
What?
Write. Why do you do it? If you’re just
photocopying. Not publishing.
Because I’m afraid.
Of what?
Of losing time. I’m afraid of losing
time.
What do you mean?
Time. I don’t want to lose any more. So
I write. To hold it back. It’s a small amount.
I gain. I know. Like taking cups full from
the ocean.
Cups of what?
Time. To discover what it is I’ve been
doing. All this time. Just to stop. To turn
around. Quickly. Step sideways. And watch
who I was catch up to who I am. Now. Just
to stop. It’s quite amazing.
Just to stop?
Yes. To save up a little time. And then
use it to stop. And watch things happen.
Watch things go streaming. Or drifting by. In
all directions. All dimensions. Because time
has stopped. For a few moments. Things look
quite different. That’s what the little library
does. Stops. And catches a few. If it weren’t
for the little library, I wouldn’t be doing so
much of this type of thing.
I don’t think I understand.
Neither do I.
What does this have to do with writing?
Maybe nothing. If you will. I won’t.
The Brautigan Scores At
Bumbershoot
A bit of soggy weather didn't keep readers away from the Brautigan Library's exhibit
at Seattle's annual Labor Day arts festival.
About 100,000 people per day roved the
festival grounds sampling every imaginable
variety of food, music and art. The library's
exhibit was set up at the book fair pavilion,
in a special room we shared with an exhibit
on banned books. Many writers came by to
wish us well and to peek through the collection. Several West Coast authors with works
in the Brautigan collection had their pictures
taken with their books.
Shipping the library to Seattle posed
some interesting logistical problems for our
6
staff. All told, 155 volumes were shipped,
leaving a modest selection behind in Vermont so we wouldn't have to close our
doors completely. Since the display room
in Seattle was not equipped with shelving,
we had to ship some light-weight shelving
as well. The entire library, less chairs and
mayonnaise, was sent in 17 boxes. Upon
arriving in the West, we had to procure 30
jars of mayonnaise from a local supermarket
to serve as the now-famous Brautigan bookends. After the event, the mayonnaise was
donated to a local food shelf. The library's
trip was financed by the City of Seattle.
Library Receives Gifts From
Private Foundations
In response to a request in our March
1991 newsletter, the Brautigan Library
has received generous gifts from the J.W.
Kieckhefer Foundation and the Margaret T.
Morris Foundation for the purchase of a museum case. The case will be used to display
various articles loaned to us by the Richard
Brautigan Estate. These items include Mr.
Brautigan's glasses and his typewriter.
Brautigan Library
Continues To Receive Media
Attention
Just when we thought things were beginning to settle down, the Brautigan has hit
the airwaves and newspapers with another
round of stories. It started this May with a
front-page article in the Wall Street Journal. Around the same time, CBC television
(Canada) sent a crew to Burlington to do
a piece for their evening news. CBC later
shared their tape with CNN, who broadcast
the story around the world. Then in June,
Todd Lockwood, founder of the library, appeared on CBS News Nightwatch for a 15
minute interview with Betsy Aaron. More
recently, the library has been featured in an
Associated Press newspaper article which has
been carried by hundreds of local newspapers
across America.
BRIDGING THE REALITY GAP
(continued from page 1)
say “Pluto.” Even the maintenance
staff comes from another reality. Not
just their clothes, but the entire persona.
No doubt, these are things Walt spent a
great deal of time thinking about. To
his credit, the effect can penetrate the
most jaded of adults.
The Brautigan Library has thrown
some new bridges across the reality gap
with the introduction of a fantasy place
which actually functions in reality.
Unlike Disneyland, our library really
does have functional ties to the real
world. We really do accept unpublished
writings from all over America, and
there really are readers who visit our
library and enjoy its offerings. Indeed,
the Brautigan is a very real place. But
at the same time, we are no more than
a whim of a writer’s pen, a fantasy.
We’re walking a fine line, dancing in
the twilight zone.
The key to our library’s longevity
will be our ability to stay anchored in the
real world. (The fantasy side, if treated
with respect, will probably last forever.)
Our survival is dependent upon two
very real ingredients: volunteers and
supporting members. Currently, there
are over thirty volunteers working to
keep the Brautigan’s doors open. These
include librarians, trustees, coordinators and others. Some of these fine
people donate several hours a month
— others as much as twenty hours a
week. The library couldn’t exist without them.
And, of course, there are things
that we must necessarily pay for to
keep the library afloat. Our supporting
members currently provide about 80%
of the funds necessary to keep us going. Supporting members from all over
North America have come forward to
show their support. It’s a sign that we
are doing something that people feel is
right. It is their backing — moral and
financial — that keeps our fires burning
at the Brautigan.
—Todd Lockwood
Todd Lockwood is Founder and
Executive Director of the Brautigan
Library.
Library Seeks Funds To
Purchase Shelving
The Brautigan Library is seeking contributions for the purchase of
institutional-quality shelving to meet
anticipated growth in its collection. The
library plans to adopt a library-standard
shelving system which could easily be
relocated in the event of a building expansion. Our target budget for phase 1
of our shelving program is $10,000.
For more information regarding our capital improvement needs, please contact
Todd Lockwood, Executive Director,
The Brautigan Library, P.O. Box 521,
Burlington, VT 05402.
Notice to librarians:
As most of you probably know by
now, we have a new volunteer coordinator for the Brautigan Library. Her name
is Louise Twardy, and her phone number
is 985-3465. Post this number in a handy
place. If you get a phone message from
her, please call her back as soon as possible (whether or not you’re available to
work), so that her sometimes frustrating
job can go more smoothly.
If you are scheduled to work and
have to make a change, please call her
with enough time to get a replacement.
We realize emergencies occasionally
happen and you have to cancel at the last
minute. When this happens, sometimes
we can’t find anyone at all to staff the
library, but you should do your best to at
least let Louise know. If she’s not home
when you call, leave a message with Will
Marquess or the machine at 865-2179.
We really appreciate your donated
time and responsibility! We are grateful
for Louise, too, and hope she’ll be able
to coordinate our librarian schedule as
easily as possible. It couldn’t happen
without her and all of you!
7
The 23
Editor: Pamela Polston
Contributing writers: Andy Colameco,
Todd Lockwood, Will Marquess, Pamela
Polston
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.
CATALOG
(continued from page 5)
wrong. In these essays, I am trying to show
that there are still many present day “truths"
that are false.
Fred T. Sojka & Joseph Carberry
(Greenwich, CT)
A SUCKER'S DREAM
Street Life: STR 1990.003
This is the story of Ray Cochran, a small
time hood, who has spent most of his adult
life in and out of jails. He has lived off the
streets by making deals and running after
hours clubs. This time being in prison has
had a sobering effect on Ray, he is getting
older and going no place. When he gets
out of jail he is determined to find a way
out for good.
Albert E. Helzner
(Marblehead, MA)
LIFE ON EARTH BEFORE YOU WERE
BORN
Natural World: NAT 1990.012
To understand the world you live in, you must
look at your lifetime from the point of view
of those who are yet to be born. You must
constantly keep in mind that everything that
happens is taking place before the arrival of
others who will appear on this Earth later.
Whatever you do during your lifetime has a
long range effect on what they will see and
what will take place during their lifetime.
A. Alexander Stella
(Susquehanna, PA)
CINEMA INSPIRATION
Social/Political/Cultural: SOC 1990.025
A potpourri of theme and style: the principal
is a movie script about a love affair between
a fundamentalist Christian televangelist and
a “new age" religionist. That's HOT RABBITS. MOTHER STAR is a treatment about
a teenage boy who mistakenly believes he's
an extra-terrestrial alien.
G.V. Trieschmann
(Tucson, AZ)
HUMANIZING ARCHITECTURE
Social/Political/Cultural: SOC 1990.026
This is written in annotation for dynamic
visual demonstration of how modern Western
building came to be and how it has led to
THE BRAUTIGAN LIBRARY
P. O. Box 521
Burlington, Vermont 05402
America's only library of unpublished writing.
ISS4
8
the “Savings and Loan Crisis" in the United
States, “property crisis" in Australia, and
general discontent over building in Great
Britain as expressed by Charles, Prince of
Wales, in A VISION OF BRITAIN.
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.