The Edna Webster Collection of Undiscovered Writing by Richard Brautigan

The Edna Web­ster Col­lec­tion of Undis­cov­ered Writ­ing by Richard Brauti­gan came in the mail yes­ter­day. This is a col­lec­tion of Brauti­gan’s writ­ing from when he was young [21 or so] and unpub­lished. It sat in a safe deposit box for years until Edna Web­ster, the moth­er of his first girl­friend, con­tact­ed a pub­lish­er.

I’m glad I picked it up. I read it in about an hour while sun­ning myself in the park yes­ter­day. Some of the work in the col­lec­tion was amaz­ing, some was sol­id, and some was still a bit imma­ture, so it was good to see some sem­i­nal Brauti­gan and the hints for what was to come. In some sense it is eas­i­er for me to con­nect with these poems, because Mr. Brauti­gan is still fresh and his glum­ness seems only pass­ing. This is in stark con­trast to his lat­er work where it is the humor that is only pass­ing, or is only gal­lows humor.

One more book and I think I’ll have just about every­thing he’s writ­ten.