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Kevin Ring's review of The Edna Webster Collection
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English
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Review of The Edna Webster Collection of Undiscovered Writings

by Kevin Ring

The convoluted story of this early volume of the writing of the late Richard Brautigan goes back to the mists of time, to Brautigan's youth. He was 21 and living in Eugene in Oregon, he was on his way to San Francisco, to become a writer, find his fame and fortune. Brautigan was unpublished and unknown, Edna Webster was the mother of his first girlfriend and he is reported to have said to her, "When I am rich and famous this will be your social security." It is not recorded what the name of Richard's girlfriend was, she remains simply Edna Webster's daughter, possibly the forthcoming biography of Brautigan will shed light on her. The writings lay in a drawer in Edna Webster's house until recent times when she began to think of her social security and approached publishers. Brautigan's wishes for her came to pass. These are very early writings, derivative yet bearing the hallmarks that set Brautigan out as a writer with an outrageously brilliant imagination and the capacity to create alternate worlds. In his introductory essay Keith Abbott hints at the renewed interest in Brautigan after he faded with the withered blooms of the late 1960s and descended into an early death by his own hand. His books are again in print, with a few exceptions, they are very much keys to the almost underground history of the hippie era, telling tales other than peace and love. Brautigan was often an outsider and he appeals to outsiders, whether they occupy that position by choice or accident. A book for dreamers and those who still follow their dreams.


Fatea Magazine
Online Source: http://www.fatea.freeserve.co.uk/books/brautigan.htm(external link)



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