PRESENTATION OUTLINE
The Library in the book is based off The Presidio Branch of the San Francisco Public Library, Renovated in March 2011.
Born in 1935 in Tacoma, Washington
• Famous works include Trout Fishing in America and his collection of poetry, The Pill versus The Springhill Mine Disaster.
• Involved in two alleged abortions.
• Took his own life in 1984.
Would Brautigan consider himself a failure in and of himself? Why?
REPRESENTATIONS OF FAILURE IN THE ABORTION
The Narrator
Some names that appear throughout the text: Vida, Mrs. Charles Fine Adams, Chuck, S.M Justice, Charles Green, Barbara Jones, Foster, Dr. Garcia, Thomas Funnell, etc…
Brautigan clearly has no trouble thinking of names for his characters, and yet, the narrator and main character remains nameless. What purpose does the narrator being nameless serve? Could we assume that Brautigan did this purposely or accidently? Is failing to be named a bad thing?
“I couldn’t see her face but I could see that it was a woman and her form looked quite at home. My heart and my stomach started doing funny things in my body… ‘That’s right,’ Foster said. ‘She said the way that I was handling the library was a disgrace and I was a slob and she would take it over now: thank you.’” (221-222).
Thoughts on this scene? The narrator is no longer responsible for the library… is this a failure on his part?
Vida
“‘This book is about my body,’ she said. ‘I hate it. It’s too big for me. It’s somebody else’s body. It’s not mine.’” (43).
“There was more confusion and distraction among the men in the terminal. One man actually fell down. ‘ I think you’ve affected his inner ear,’ I said. ‘Poor man,’ Vida said.” (145)
“Vida’s working at a topless place over in North Beach, so she’ll have some money to go back to school next fall. She’s going to give English another try.” (225).
What can be said about these quotes? Do you notice a trend in Vida’s behavior and how she views her body?
“And you have to be friendly, too. That’s important. To make the person and the book feel wanted because that’s the main purpose of the library and to gather pleasantly together the unwanted, the lyrical and haunted volumes of American writing.” (96).
What is your view on the connection between the library and failure? Is there a connection? Explain.
The Brautigan Library follows the vision of 20th Century American writer Richard Brautigan by providing a home for “the unwanted, the lyrical and haunted volumes of American writing” of all varieties without passing judgement as to content or technique.
The Brautigan Library is a permanent, interactive exhibit housed at The Clark County Historical Museum, 1511 Main Street, Vancouver, Washington, the former 1909 Andrew Carnegie library building, Vancouver’s first public library.
Manuscripts in The Brautigan Library are organized according to The Mayonnaise System, the first book cataloging system since the Dewey Decimal Classification system was developed 1876. The Mayonnaise System consists of thirteen categories: Family, Natural World, Spirituality, Love, Humor, Future, Adventure, Street Life, War and Peace, Social/Political/Cultural, Meaning of Life, Poetry, and All the Rest
The signature event associated with The Brautigan Library is National Unpublished Writers’ Day (NUWD). Held the last Sunday of every January.
Hosted by The Clark County Historical Museum in Vancouver, Washington, in partnership with the Writing Center at Washington State University Vancouver and The Creative Media & Digital Culture program, also at Washington State University Vancouver, the event features a series of “creative stations” and workshops around the Museum, each offering different opportunities to learn or experience a wide array of information, theory, and practice associated with writing broadly defined. NUWD is free and open to anyone interested.
