Customer Reviews

The Edna Webster Collection of Undiscovered Writings

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This collection of "Undiscovered Writings" is a gift given to those who love poetry and literature. The poetry in this book is delightfully quirky, surreal and sad in the way it describes both strange and common instances of fantasy and life. Brautigan has never been more consistent with his poetic message. This book is a step or two above his other poetic masterpiece "Rommel Drives On Deep Into Egypt."

So why "A Qualified 5"? Because the way the book is put together is disruptive to the poetry reader. With all due respect to the amount of undiscovered writing now available to the public, which I am very thankful, the cluttered way the poems are placed on the page result in disrupting the flow of reading the poems themselves. How about one poem a page? Those poems deserve to be presented in a creative space to reflect the creative place they were written in.

The Edna Webster collection gives readers, old, new, & those who might have lost touch, a glimpse of the earliest Brautigan. While possibly not his best work (But whose juvenalia is? Keats excepted), most all of the elements that we identify with Brautigan are here--humor, whimsy, overarching and immutable sadness. The only major weakness is a singularly ugly cover that seems to be an attempt to replicate the early, funky Four Seasons covers, but designed by someone who'd never actually seen one. Not to worry, however: while you're reading the book--and quite probably being charmed by the text--you can't see the cover. Mayonnaise. --Kevin Jones

You either like Brautigan or you write thousands of words why you don't like his works! Obviously, I like him. About 60% of this work can stand next to his later writings, the rest is a poet trying to find his voice and technique. This work is enjoyble to read as literature and as an historical document.

With all due respect to other reviewers' gripes about having poems start and stop willy nilly regardless of page placement, I like these that way. The layout is not a distraction; it just fits the feel of having to work marginally harder at discovering treasure, even while sifting through some kid stuff that RB himself mightn't have cared to frame. It goes along with the unpolished beauty of this book. Anyway, it's a rare poet who can make you laugh out loud.

When Brautigan was 21, before he moved to San Francisco to find fame, he gave a stack of poems and stories to Edna Webster, the mother of his girlfriend. This is it. They're not Brautigan's best. They were just his first. Many of them are actually quite bad. That said, there are a few gems in here. You're more likely to find a brilliant line here or there than an entirely brilliant poem. But as a Brautigan fan, it's interesting to see him finding his voice even at such a young age. If you're looking for consistently good poetry, or good Brautigan poetry, you should look elsewhere. If, however, you're like me and have read every Brautigan you can find and are as interested in the man as his writing, this is an interesting read.

As to the paging controversy, I have to say that undiscovered or not, these poems would read better if they were each given their own page. If nothing else, so I can feel like the poem's over and I can think about it before the next one's there, ready to be read. This layout just seems sloppy to me. But to each his own.

a couple of these poems almost had me in tears and a couple of these had me yelling yes yes. brautigan makes you orgasm in this book.

obviously his earliest writings aren't going to be his best, but his character shines through in this collection. the poem about grace, "did you ever want to be a rose?" made me cry. it's a little collection in which brautigan looks for a way to express his feelings, and it made me love him that much more.

This book offers amazing insight into the life and perspective of an amazing author. Many of his unpublished works in this book rival his published, 'refined' work. This book is essential reading if you value and appreciate the work of Brautigan.

What's great about this book is that about two-thirds of the poems and short prose works are very enjoyable, or are a promise of better things to come, or provide insight into Brautigan's mind and his adolescent experiences. What's not so great is that the rest is mediocre juvenalia which Brautigan might be embarrased to see in print. The other weakness of the book is that the works are just run together on the pages, with even some of the shortest pieces overlapping from page to page. It would have been far beter to have selected more judiciously and then printed only one work per page. The irony here is that Brautigan's other books follow such a format. Brautigan and his earlier editors showed some respect for his work and his readers that the current editors do not. Richard, you deserved better.

I found it very interesting to read Brautigan's early writings. Even at a young age, before the whole San Fransisco thing, he had a way of saying things and creating images. These writings give insite into what Braugtigan's writings turned into.