2009 marks the 25th anniversary of the death of American writer
Richard Brautigan, whose best known works include his 1967 novel,
Trout Fishing in America, his collection of poetry,
The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster (1968), and his collection of stories,
Revenge of the Lawn (1971).
Marking the anniversary of one of his favourite writers, Brighton-based comics creator
Paul O'Connell is one of several contributors to the leatest issue of the quarterly Australian fiction magazine
Torpedo, whose latest offering is a special Brautigan themed issue.
Co-edited, and with a foreword, by Brautigans daughter Ianthe Brautigan, the special issue features Brautigan inspired fiction from 30 writers, a section of Richard Brautigans own writing plus a specially designed envelope containing eight full colour A5 double-sided prints featuring artwork based on his stories, one of which prints is a comic strip by Paul using Richard Brautigan's own text, called 'The Library'.
In Brautigan's novel
The Abortion: A Historical Romance 1966, the narrator is the sole employee of a library that collects unpublished and unpublishable books. It's sole criteria is that books must be delivered in person. "A chapter in the novel which I adapted into comic strip form
describes a typical day in the life of the library," Paul told
downthetubes, "and the many kinds of
characters who stop by to leave their charming, idosyncratic and bizarre manuscripts and books."
"It's a real privilege to be included in this special edition."
Apparently, the idea for the kind of library featured in the novel proved
so popular that it inspired more than a couple of actual real life libraries based upon the same principle.
Other contributors to the magazine include
Brian Evenson,
Ryan Boudinot,
Dan Pope and
Caren Beilin, an outro by Radiohead illustrator
Stanley Donwood and a cover by Los Angeles-based illustrator
Kristian Olson.
• Torpedo is available now to buy from the Falcon vs Monkey website• Brautigan Bibliography and ArchiveA bio-bibliographical archive for Richard Brautigan, his life, and writings
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