A Confederate General from Big Sur by Richard Brautigan

While I'm thinking about Books, I must tell you about "A Confederate General from Big Sur" which I read in the space of one journey up the A9 just before Christmas (it is only 150 pages, but still represents amazing value!). I bought it a few months ago because it was a Rebel Inc. book which (apart from Ask the Dust) I like a lot, and once I eventually got around to opening it I was enchanted. Richard Brautigan's first book to be published features short chapters and abstract ideas made and melded to form beautifully poetical prose. The back cover describes the story thus,

Jesse and Lee share a house owned by a very nice Chinese dentist, where it rains in the hall. They move to cabins on the cliffs at Big Sur where the deafening croaks of frogs can be temporarily silenced by the cry, 'Campbell's Soup'. Ultimately, we learn how the frogs are permanently silenced ... and dreams disperse around a fire into 186,000 endings per second.

In anticipating flower power and the ideals of the Sixties, Brautigan's debut novel was at least ten years before its time and remains a weird and brilliant classic.

and for once back cover text is accurate in it's claim.

I liked that not much really happens in this book. Sure, thing happen, but nothing of much significance. People sat around and chatted and smoked and went for journeys and just had a nice old time of it. And for convenience they did it in a pretty funny fashion.

Posted by Paul in Recommended Books Entertainment at January 18, 2005 03:28 AM | 1 Comments