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Revenge of the Lawn: Stories 1962-1970
Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso
174 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
About the author
Richard Brautigan
148 books2,087 followersRichard Brautigan was an American novelist, poet, and short-story writer. Born in Tacoma, Washington, he moved to San Francisco in the 1950s and began publishing poetry in 1957. He started writing novels in 1961 and is probably best known for his early work Trout Fishing in America. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1984.
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August 23, 2024
Simplicity can be both poetic and beautiful…
What is human life? Human life is just a soap bubble: we are blown, we are beautifully iridescent, we soar awhile then we burst. And on a cosmic scale any human destiny is no more important than a destiny of a soap bubble.
Even soap bubbles can have their star moments…
My grandmother, in her own way, shines like a beacon down the stormy American past. She was a bootlegger in a little county up in the state of Washington. She was also a handsome woman, close to six feet tall who carried 190 pounds in the grand operatic manner of the early 1900s. And her specialty was bourbon, a little raw but a welcomed refreshment in those Volstead Act days.
She of course was no female Al Capone, but her bootlegging feats were the cornucopia of legend in her neck of the woods, as they say. She had the county in her pocket for years. The sheriff used to call her up every morning and give her the weather report and tell her how the chickens were laying.
What is human life? Human life is just a soap bubble: we are blown, we are beautifully iridescent, we soar awhile then we burst. And on a cosmic scale any human destiny is no more important than a destiny of a soap bubble.
There were children playing a game with bubbles at the place I had chosen to leave the park. They had a jar of magic bubble stuff and little rods with metal rings to cast the bubbles away with, to join them with the air.
Instead of leaving the park, I stood and watched the bubbles leave the park. They had a very high mortality pulse. I saw them again and again suddenly die above the sidewalk and the street: their rainbow profiles ceasing to exist.
I wondered what was happening and then looked closer to see that they were colliding with insects in the air. What a lovely idea! and then one of the bubbles was hit by the Number 30 Stockton bus.
Wham! like the collision between an inspired trumpet and a great concerto, and showed all those other bubbles how to go out in the grand style.
Even soap bubbles can have their star moments…
August 12, 2024
ALLA FINE DELLE PAROLE C’È SEMPRE QUALCUNO CHE MUORE
Dalle parti di Bolinas.
Prima di spararsi, quarantanovenne, a Bolinas, venerdì 14 settembre 1984, Richard Brautigan regolò le luci di casa con un timer, per farle accendere e spegnere di modo che i suoi vicini lo credessero ancora vivo.
Era depresso e mezzo eremita, per cui il trucchetto funzionò: il suo corpo fu scoperto settimane dopo la morte, il manoscritto che stava rivedendo, con le note a matita blu, era già mezzo mangiato dai vermi.
Bolinas è sull’oceano Pacifico, un po’ più a nord di San Francisco. Un posto dove non si va esattamente per socializzare – un posto dove un vecchio hippie malridotto e alcolizzato come Brautigan riusciva probabilmente a mimetizzarsi meglio.
Questa raccolta è un’invenzione dell’editore italiano: i racconti vengono da due diverse raccolte, da noi mai pubblicate nella loro interezza, in parte da Revenge of the Lawn e in parte da The Tokio-Montana Express.
Dalle parti di Bolinas.
Come è noto, quella parte consistente degli Uniti Stati d’America, il Nord Ovest, ha una spiccata attrazione per lo zen applicato non solo all’arte della manutenzione della motocicletta.
Qui come indicato dal titolo sono presenti 102 pezzi che forse veri e propri racconti non sono, ma sono soprattutto schizzi, spunti, quadretti, abbozzi, haiku in prosa di vita quotidiana. C’è la provincia americana che conosciamo come e meglio della nostra, tanto il cinema a stelle e strisce ce l’ha proposta. C’è il Giappone. Ci sono piccoli episodi di vita quotidiana, ricordi, conversazioni, cose e fatti e persone apparentemente insignificanti, e invece offrono l’occasione per riflessioni e immagini e segreti.
Dalle parti di Bolinas.
Ma il racconto più bello che Brautigan scrisse è assente da questa raccolta italiana, forse perché è proprio un racconto. Ed è uno dei racconti più perfetti che sia mai stato scritto – non per niente Raymond Carver, che di racconti si intendeva quasi come nessun altro, lo inserì in American Short Story Masterpieces, un’antologia di racconti da lui curata insieme a Tom Jenks. S’intitola “1/3, 1/3, 1/3” e lo consiglio a tutti i grandi e i piccini, ma anche a quelli nella lunga età di mezzo perché sono poche poche pagine belle intelligenti e divertenti.
Dalle parti di Bolinas.
Adesso rimane solo la sua prosa, la prosa screpolata e grumosa con l’umore triste e nero e il disincanto di chi scrolla le spalle pensando ‘fa lo stess’, i pleonasmi e i curiosi errori grammaticali, le metafore bislacche che o fanno centro o finiscono così fuori bersaglio da sembrare freddure malriuscite. Così lo commemora Charles D’Ambrosio.
Mi viene da fare una riflessione, forse non meno strampalata delle metafore di Brautigan: per apprezzarlo bisogna essere o molto giovani o molto adulti, poco cresciuti o molto cresciuti – tra i due estremi, c’è un lungo periodo della vita, decenni, durante i quali è facile che la scrittura di Brautigan risulti addirittura irritante.
Dalle parti di Bolinas.
Storia completa di Germania e Giappone
Qualche anno fa (seconda guerra mondiale) vivevo in un motel vicino a una fabbrica di carne in scatola, che è un modo più simpatico per dire mattatoio. Laggiù ammazzavano i maiali, ora dopo ora, giorno dopo giorno, settimana dopo settimana, mese dopo mese, finché la primavera non diventava estate e l'estate autunno. Gli tagliavano la gola. Poi si sentiva un lamento straziante, come se l'aria di un’opera lirica venisse cantata dentro un bidone della spazzatura. Certe volte ho pensato che ammazzare quei maiali avesse qualcosa a che fare con la vittoria della guerra. Forse perché ogni altra cosa aveva a che fare con la vittoria della guerra. Per la prima o le prime due settimane che abitavamo nel motel la cosa mi disturbò moltissimo. Tutte quelle urla erano dure da sopportare, ma poi cominciai ad abituarmi, e quel rumore divenne uguale a qualunque altro suono: un uccellino che cinguettasse tra gli alberi, la sirena di mezzogiorno, la radio, i camion in viaggio, la voce umana o la chiamata per il pranzo, ecc.
Puoi tornare a giocare dopo pranzo. Quando i maiali non urlavano, si sentiva il silenzio, ed era come se si fosse rotta una macchina.
Dalle parti di Bolinas.
Per chi avesse voglia, qui il racconto di Brautigan "1/3, 1/3, 1/3"
https://www.shortstoryproject.com/sto...
Dalle parti di Bolinas.
Prima di spararsi, quarantanovenne, a Bolinas, venerdì 14 settembre 1984, Richard Brautigan regolò le luci di casa con un timer, per farle accendere e spegnere di modo che i suoi vicini lo credessero ancora vivo.
Era depresso e mezzo eremita, per cui il trucchetto funzionò: il suo corpo fu scoperto settimane dopo la morte, il manoscritto che stava rivedendo, con le note a matita blu, era già mezzo mangiato dai vermi.
Bolinas è sull’oceano Pacifico, un po’ più a nord di San Francisco. Un posto dove non si va esattamente per socializzare – un posto dove un vecchio hippie malridotto e alcolizzato come Brautigan riusciva probabilmente a mimetizzarsi meglio.
Questa raccolta è un’invenzione dell’editore italiano: i racconti vengono da due diverse raccolte, da noi mai pubblicate nella loro interezza, in parte da Revenge of the Lawn e in parte da The Tokio-Montana Express.
Dalle parti di Bolinas.
Come è noto, quella parte consistente degli Uniti Stati d’America, il Nord Ovest, ha una spiccata attrazione per lo zen applicato non solo all’arte della manutenzione della motocicletta.
Qui come indicato dal titolo sono presenti 102 pezzi che forse veri e propri racconti non sono, ma sono soprattutto schizzi, spunti, quadretti, abbozzi, haiku in prosa di vita quotidiana. C’è la provincia americana che conosciamo come e meglio della nostra, tanto il cinema a stelle e strisce ce l’ha proposta. C’è il Giappone. Ci sono piccoli episodi di vita quotidiana, ricordi, conversazioni, cose e fatti e persone apparentemente insignificanti, e invece offrono l’occasione per riflessioni e immagini e segreti.
Dalle parti di Bolinas.
Ma il racconto più bello che Brautigan scrisse è assente da questa raccolta italiana, forse perché è proprio un racconto. Ed è uno dei racconti più perfetti che sia mai stato scritto – non per niente Raymond Carver, che di racconti si intendeva quasi come nessun altro, lo inserì in American Short Story Masterpieces, un’antologia di racconti da lui curata insieme a Tom Jenks. S’intitola “1/3, 1/3, 1/3” e lo consiglio a tutti i grandi e i piccini, ma anche a quelli nella lunga età di mezzo perché sono poche poche pagine belle intelligenti e divertenti.
Dalle parti di Bolinas.
Adesso rimane solo la sua prosa, la prosa screpolata e grumosa con l’umore triste e nero e il disincanto di chi scrolla le spalle pensando ‘fa lo stess’, i pleonasmi e i curiosi errori grammaticali, le metafore bislacche che o fanno centro o finiscono così fuori bersaglio da sembrare freddure malriuscite. Così lo commemora Charles D’Ambrosio.
Mi viene da fare una riflessione, forse non meno strampalata delle metafore di Brautigan: per apprezzarlo bisogna essere o molto giovani o molto adulti, poco cresciuti o molto cresciuti – tra i due estremi, c’è un lungo periodo della vita, decenni, durante i quali è facile che la scrittura di Brautigan risulti addirittura irritante.
Dalle parti di Bolinas.
Storia completa di Germania e Giappone
Qualche anno fa (seconda guerra mondiale) vivevo in un motel vicino a una fabbrica di carne in scatola, che è un modo più simpatico per dire mattatoio. Laggiù ammazzavano i maiali, ora dopo ora, giorno dopo giorno, settimana dopo settimana, mese dopo mese, finché la primavera non diventava estate e l'estate autunno. Gli tagliavano la gola. Poi si sentiva un lamento straziante, come se l'aria di un’opera lirica venisse cantata dentro un bidone della spazzatura. Certe volte ho pensato che ammazzare quei maiali avesse qualcosa a che fare con la vittoria della guerra. Forse perché ogni altra cosa aveva a che fare con la vittoria della guerra. Per la prima o le prime due settimane che abitavamo nel motel la cosa mi disturbò moltissimo. Tutte quelle urla erano dure da sopportare, ma poi cominciai ad abituarmi, e quel rumore divenne uguale a qualunque altro suono: un uccellino che cinguettasse tra gli alberi, la sirena di mezzogiorno, la radio, i camion in viaggio, la voce umana o la chiamata per il pranzo, ecc.
Puoi tornare a giocare dopo pranzo. Quando i maiali non urlavano, si sentiva il silenzio, ed era come se si fosse rotta una macchina.
Dalle parti di Bolinas.
Per chi avesse voglia, qui il racconto di Brautigan "1/3, 1/3, 1/3"
https://www.shortstoryproject.com/sto...
August 30, 2022
62 stories crammed into 180 pages can obviously only mean one thing: they are short alright.
Even as short as this -
It’s very hard to live in a studio apartment in San Jose with a man who’s learning to play the violin. That’s what she told the police when she handed them the empty revolver.
Well, this is an exception, but nothing runs longer that about 7 pages, with a load of them being just 1 or 2. I'm not going to sit here and start comparing to the likes of Carver, Hemingway or Salinger because these are not really stories like the aforementioned above, but I tell you what, in regards to writing short pieces, he can damn well join them at the table; and maybe even kick them out the way (Uncle Hemingway would likely be tanked up). This was a damn fine book that was an absolute pleasure to read. I'm not even sure just how to define Richard Brautigan - beat magical-realist? hippie zen outsider? nutjob? Whatever. It just goes to show what one can do in such a limited space of time and leave the reader with a smile similar to the lady on the cover. (Not sure if that was his wife?)
He strings words and joyful sentences together so well, captures brilliantly a multitude of voices (with the feeling that Brautigan is always in there somewhere, hovering around) and off-the-wall occurrences, is lavish when it comes to a sense of humour, breezy and fresh like a cool wind rolling in off the pacific (with just a hint of pot in the air too). I don't care if he can feel somewhat berserk, or overly ambitious and whimsy at times, I just love the fact he appears to be a radical rule-breaker, is someone who isn't coy, and most of all, because I truly felt within these pages, that he had such a big heart.
I was very impressed with a collection of poetry the other day, and now I can add this gem which was even better! I read the whole thing in just over a day (by the time I'd microwaved my breakfast: I prefer warm milk to cold on cereal, I easily managed to read a couple of stories!), but it's the sort of book that would be great to just zip in and out of too once in a while.
March 25, 2019
براتیگان مثل شیمبورسکا با حیرت به جهان نگاه میکنه،مثل یک کودک که چشمهاشو باز میکنه و نگاه میکنه و نگاه میکنه...
کتاب دوستداشتنی و عجیبی بود و ترجمه هم عالیه.
کتاب دوستداشتنی و عجیبی بود و ترجمه هم عالیه.
September 15, 2007
I found this book on a dusty shelf and took every word down like water. This book was just as thirsty as I was. Let have a drink together I said!
December 31, 2016
I'm late to Brautigan, but I plan to stay at his party for a very long time now that I'm here.
Aside from the longer title story and a few others, the 62 pieces here are more like poems or quick charcoal sketches than stories. No, charcoal isn't right. You can't capture so much mood and mist with charcoal. More like watercolor or pastel sketches then. Some are sad, some are witty, some are nostalgic, some are as beautiful as haikus. Most are all of these things at the same time. My favorites were some of the shortest ones that read like wisps of smoke or sips of beer.
If you're an artist or a poet (or even just a sensitive art or poetry lover), you'll probably love Richard Brautigan. I'd also recommend him to fans of Haruki Murakami and/or Donald Barthelme.
Five stars and on my Favorites List.
Aside from the longer title story and a few others, the 62 pieces here are more like poems or quick charcoal sketches than stories. No, charcoal isn't right. You can't capture so much mood and mist with charcoal. More like watercolor or pastel sketches then. Some are sad, some are witty, some are nostalgic, some are as beautiful as haikus. Most are all of these things at the same time. My favorites were some of the shortest ones that read like wisps of smoke or sips of beer.
If you're an artist or a poet (or even just a sensitive art or poetry lover), you'll probably love Richard Brautigan. I'd also recommend him to fans of Haruki Murakami and/or Donald Barthelme.
Five stars and on my Favorites List.
August 20, 2017
Revenge of the Lawn: Stories 1962-1970, Richard Brautigan
Revenge of the Lawn: Stories 1962-1970 is a collection of 62 short stories written by the American author Richard Brautigan from 1962 to 1970. Like most of Brautigan's works, the stories are whimsical, simply themed, and often surreal. Many of the stories were originally published elsewhere. The book also contains two missing chapters from his work Trout Fishing in America, "Rembrandt Creek" and "Carthage Sink".
تاریخ نخستین خوانش:نوزدهم ماه نوامبر سال 2006 میلادی
عنوان: اتوبوس پیر و داستانهای دیگر؛ ریچارد براتیگان (براتیگن)؛ مترجم: علیرضا طاهری عراقی؛ تهران، نشر مرکز، 1384، در پنج و 193 ص؛ شابک: 9789643058067؛ موضوع: داستانهای کوتاه از نویسندگان امریکایی قرن 20 م
با عنوان: «انتقام چمن»؛ مترجم: علیرضا طاهری عراقی؛ تهران، تلخون، 1382، در 85 ص، شابک: 9649429670؛ نیز منتشر شده
داستان اتوبوس پیر طنز تلخی دارد؛ نسخه اصلی جمعا 62 داستان کوتاه است؛ اینهم شروع داستان: پستخانه های شرق اوریگون: «شرق اوریگون میراندیم، پاییز بود و تفنگها روی صندلی عقب، فشنگها توی جعبهی شوفر یا داشبورد یا هر چه میخواهید اسمش را بگذارید.». ص 101
شروع داستان کوتاهی در باره ی زندگی معاصر در کالیفرنیا: «تا دلتان بخواهد داستان هست که شروع اش مبتکرانه و نو است. اما این یکی از آنها نیست. فکر کنم تنها راهی که میشود داستانی درباره ی زندگی معاصر در کالیفرنیا را شروع کرد، همان کاری است که جَک لندن در شروع «گرگ دریا» کرده است.» (شروع «داستان کوتاهی درباره ی زندگی معاصر در کالیفرنیا»، ص 31)؛ ا. شربیانی
Revenge of the Lawn: Stories 1962-1970 is a collection of 62 short stories written by the American author Richard Brautigan from 1962 to 1970. Like most of Brautigan's works, the stories are whimsical, simply themed, and often surreal. Many of the stories were originally published elsewhere. The book also contains two missing chapters from his work Trout Fishing in America, "Rembrandt Creek" and "Carthage Sink".
تاریخ نخستین خوانش:نوزدهم ماه نوامبر سال 2006 میلادی
عنوان: اتوبوس پیر و داستانهای دیگر؛ ریچارد براتیگان (براتیگن)؛ مترجم: علیرضا طاهری عراقی؛ تهران، نشر مرکز، 1384، در پنج و 193 ص؛ شابک: 9789643058067؛ موضوع: داستانهای کوتاه از نویسندگان امریکایی قرن 20 م
با عنوان: «انتقام چمن»؛ مترجم: علیرضا طاهری عراقی؛ تهران، تلخون، 1382، در 85 ص، شابک: 9649429670؛ نیز منتشر شده
داستان اتوبوس پیر طنز تلخی دارد؛ نسخه اصلی جمعا 62 داستان کوتاه است؛ اینهم شروع داستان: پستخانه های شرق اوریگون: «شرق اوریگون میراندیم، پاییز بود و تفنگها روی صندلی عقب، فشنگها توی جعبهی شوفر یا داشبورد یا هر چه میخواهید اسمش را بگذارید.». ص 101
شروع داستان کوتاهی در باره ی زندگی معاصر در کالیفرنیا: «تا دلتان بخواهد داستان هست که شروع اش مبتکرانه و نو است. اما این یکی از آنها نیست. فکر کنم تنها راهی که میشود داستانی درباره ی زندگی معاصر در کالیفرنیا را شروع کرد، همان کاری است که جَک لندن در شروع «گرگ دریا» کرده است.» (شروع «داستان کوتاهی درباره ی زندگی معاصر در کالیفرنیا»، ص 31)؛ ا. شربیانی
January 28, 2024
Angry chickens by the old pond
When I was a kid growing up in a small town north of Boston, I used to take care of a neighbor's chickens. It was only when the family went to the Cape for vacations. I had to let the chickens out of their coop in the morning. They always seemed glad to see daylight. Though they were hungry, they never got used to me. They'd run around clucking and squawking, wishing I'd disappear and leave them to their chicken business. When I threw food on the ground, they really got wild. They'd run around like crazy. I had to collect the eggs, take them up onto the neighbors' back porch and put them in a basket. The chicken coop stood just before a patch of weeds and brush by a old pond where turtles lived and I could catch tadpoles. I grew up. Then it was the Sixties and I started to read Richard Brautigan. I loved that guy's writing. And you know ? I still love it. He must be one of America's great twentieth century writers, but forgotten. I haven't forgotten him. He's all around, just like chicken. Maybe writing today is more like supermarket frozen chicken, but Brautigan has that feeling of early summer mornings when you hadn't been spoiled by too much living. His work is poignant, funny, sad, and beautiful. You can fill in your own adjectives if you read books like REVENGE OF THE LAWN. I strongly recommend that you do. A lot of his stories are pieces of genius. Describing them only destroys them. You have to read them, each a little haiku of its own. A haiku on a hundred bucks a month. Having a lot of money isn't everything. Just take a good look at life. Chickens are as good a place to start as anywhere. Brautigan killed himself and that was the world's loss. I still miss having more Brautigan stories. I've read them all several times.
When I was a kid growing up in a small town north of Boston, I used to take care of a neighbor's chickens. It was only when the family went to the Cape for vacations. I had to let the chickens out of their coop in the morning. They always seemed glad to see daylight. Though they were hungry, they never got used to me. They'd run around clucking and squawking, wishing I'd disappear and leave them to their chicken business. When I threw food on the ground, they really got wild. They'd run around like crazy. I had to collect the eggs, take them up onto the neighbors' back porch and put them in a basket. The chicken coop stood just before a patch of weeds and brush by a old pond where turtles lived and I could catch tadpoles. I grew up. Then it was the Sixties and I started to read Richard Brautigan. I loved that guy's writing. And you know ? I still love it. He must be one of America's great twentieth century writers, but forgotten. I haven't forgotten him. He's all around, just like chicken. Maybe writing today is more like supermarket frozen chicken, but Brautigan has that feeling of early summer mornings when you hadn't been spoiled by too much living. His work is poignant, funny, sad, and beautiful. You can fill in your own adjectives if you read books like REVENGE OF THE LAWN. I strongly recommend that you do. A lot of his stories are pieces of genius. Describing them only destroys them. You have to read them, each a little haiku of its own. A haiku on a hundred bucks a month. Having a lot of money isn't everything. Just take a good look at life. Chickens are as good a place to start as anywhere. Brautigan killed himself and that was the world's loss. I still miss having more Brautigan stories. I've read them all several times.
March 8, 2020
تا به حال داستانهای براتیگان رو نخونده بودم.
ولی قبل از هرچیز میخوام درباره این بگم که توی این کتاب چی وجود داره.
توی این کتاب داستان وجود نداره. شاید یکی دوتا باشه البته. شایدم انگشتشمار. به هرحال نباید انتظار داستان، در معنای کلاسیکاش رو داشت. بیشتر، با موقعیتهایی طرفیم که خیلی خوب فضاسازی شدن، یک اتفاق معمولی توشون رخ میده یا راوی فکرهایی با خودش میکنه و بعد تموم میشه. عموما دو تا سه صفحه طولشون هست.
نقاط قوتش هم همین فضاسازیها و سادهگویی در عین عمیق بودنه. در کنار اینها نثر براتیگان به نظرم به شدت آشنازداست. تشبیهاتش واقعا فوقالعاده و جدیدن. موقعیتها هم گاهی دچار این آشنازدایی میشن و مخاطب رو به هیجان میآرن.
خوندن این داستانها پره از شگفتی و حس خوب.
یه جای دیگه نوشته بودم برام مثل مستی میمونه. از این حیث که زیباییها رو طوری میبینم که قبلا نمیدیدم. نسیم، سایهها، جنگل، رودخونه، زیبایی. انگار با براتیگان وارد دنیاش میشم، وارد جنگل و طبیعت و خاطراتش. همونقدر که خاطرات برای خودش قدیمی و رنگ و لعابدار هستن، تونسته همون فضا و همون عاطفه و صمیمیت رو وارد نوشته و موقعیت کنه و مخاطب رو با خودش همراه کنه.
مثل عکسهای قدیمی و پولاروید، که نورها توش برق میزنن و صدای هم همهی بچهها و خاطرات با دیدنش شنیده میشه.
صمیمیت. توی این نوشتهها من خیلی صمیمیت میدیدم. و مهربونی و شوق به زندگی. توجه به چیزهای معمولیِ زندگی، مثل آفتاب و طبیعت و عشق.
همهی اینها، این مجموعه رو برای من تبدیل کردن به یه ظرف بزرگ از چیزهای خوشمزه که دونهدونه میانداختم بالا. شاید برای همین هم بود که خوندن کتاب این همه طول کشید. چیزی نیست که بشینین پاش و از اول تا آخرش رو بخونین. البته که به دلیل حجم کمش راحت میشه این برخورد رو باهاش داشت. ولی وقتی آدم کمکم میخونه و وارد فضاها میشه و خیالپردازی میکنه، اون وقت میفهمه که براتیگان داشته چیکار میکرده.
ناراحتم که دنیا کاری با این آدمی به این حد عاشق زندگی و حساس به زندگی کرده، که در نهایت ناچار شده تفنگ شکاری رو بذاره روی سرش و خداحافظی کنه.
ولی قبل از هرچیز میخوام درباره این بگم که توی این کتاب چی وجود داره.
توی این کتاب داستان وجود نداره. شاید یکی دوتا باشه البته. شایدم انگشتشمار. به هرحال نباید انتظار داستان، در معنای کلاسیکاش رو داشت. بیشتر، با موقعیتهایی طرفیم که خیلی خوب فضاسازی شدن، یک اتفاق معمولی توشون رخ میده یا راوی فکرهایی با خودش میکنه و بعد تموم میشه. عموما دو تا سه صفحه طولشون هست.
نقاط قوتش هم همین فضاسازیها و سادهگویی در عین عمیق بودنه. در کنار اینها نثر براتیگان به نظرم به شدت آشنازداست. تشبیهاتش واقعا فوقالعاده و جدیدن. موقعیتها هم گاهی دچار این آشنازدایی میشن و مخاطب رو به هیجان میآرن.
خوندن این داستانها پره از شگفتی و حس خوب.
یه جای دیگه نوشته بودم برام مثل مستی میمونه. از این حیث که زیباییها رو طوری میبینم که قبلا نمیدیدم. نسیم، سایهها، جنگل، رودخونه، زیبایی. انگار با براتیگان وارد دنیاش میشم، وارد جنگل و طبیعت و خاطراتش. همونقدر که خاطرات برای خودش قدیمی و رنگ و لعابدار هستن، تونسته همون فضا و همون عاطفه و صمیمیت رو وارد نوشته و موقعیت کنه و مخاطب رو با خودش همراه کنه.
مثل عکسهای قدیمی و پولاروید، که نورها توش برق میزنن و صدای هم همهی بچهها و خاطرات با دیدنش شنیده میشه.
صمیمیت. توی این نوشتهها من خیلی صمیمیت میدیدم. و مهربونی و شوق به زندگی. توجه به چیزهای معمولیِ زندگی، مثل آفتاب و طبیعت و عشق.
همهی اینها، این مجموعه رو برای من تبدیل کردن به یه ظرف بزرگ از چیزهای خوشمزه که دونهدونه میانداختم بالا. شاید برای همین هم بود که خوندن کتاب این همه طول کشید. چیزی نیست که بشینین پاش و از اول تا آخرش رو بخونین. البته که به دلیل حجم کمش راحت میشه این برخورد رو باهاش داشت. ولی وقتی آدم کمکم میخونه و وارد فضاها میشه و خیالپردازی میکنه، اون وقت میفهمه که براتیگان داشته چیکار میکرده.
ناراحتم که دنیا کاری با این آدمی به این حد عاشق زندگی و حساس به زندگی کرده، که در نهایت ناچار شده تفنگ شکاری رو بذاره روی سرش و خداحافظی کنه.
January 17, 2020
بیشترشون قسمتی از یه داستان بودن تا داستانکوتاه، شخصیتی صحنهای چیزی. ولی از چیزی که فکر میکردم بیشتر لذت بردم. تصویرسازیهای بدیع، شخصیتپردازی بهیادموندنی و سادگی براتیگان. میشه گیر داد به داستانها ولی نمیخوام گیر بدم. میشه سه داد به کتاب ولی نمیخوام سه بدم.
May 12, 2022
Set largely in Tacoma and San Francisco in the 1960's, here are 62 short, wonderful stories perfectly delineating the weird and wonderful world of Richard Brautigan.
Poignant and hysterical, eclectic and offbeat; through a rabble of characters, Revenge of the Lawn depicts the complexity of human relationships and the raw emotions entangled within them. Every one of these stories is a bitsy universe teeming with ordinary life.
In 'Homage to the San Francisco YMCA', a man replaces all the plumbing in his house for poetry, with disastrous results. 'The Old Bus' is uncannily relatable, flawlessly capturing the humdrum and the mundane: "There is a certain happiness sighted when your bus comes along. It is of course a small specialised form of happiness and will never be a great thing".
It wouldn't be Brautigan without the surreal and bizarre, and 'The Need For Gardens' is testament to this, in which a group of people attempt to bury a lion in a hole obviously too small over 50 times in two years.
Brautigan has a unique gift with words. In 'I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone', he ellaborately attributes the love of a girl to a film he saw in which electricity was brought to remote farmers for the first time.
He is elegant and evocative, carrying an overwhelming sense of poignancy. In '44.40', nostalgia is rife: 'he would sit out on the front porch sometimes in the summer and stare past the rose bushes in the front yard to the street beyond where life calendered its days without him as if he had never existed our there at all'.
The beauty of Brautigan is that he is bold, fearless and unafraid to be imperfect, and as a result we're awarded with unabridged authenticity. This collection is ideal for someone who has yet to read any of his work. Equally, it's a reference to pick up and put down, revisit and re-explore for those already familiar.
Poignant and hysterical, eclectic and offbeat; through a rabble of characters, Revenge of the Lawn depicts the complexity of human relationships and the raw emotions entangled within them. Every one of these stories is a bitsy universe teeming with ordinary life.
In 'Homage to the San Francisco YMCA', a man replaces all the plumbing in his house for poetry, with disastrous results. 'The Old Bus' is uncannily relatable, flawlessly capturing the humdrum and the mundane: "There is a certain happiness sighted when your bus comes along. It is of course a small specialised form of happiness and will never be a great thing".
It wouldn't be Brautigan without the surreal and bizarre, and 'The Need For Gardens' is testament to this, in which a group of people attempt to bury a lion in a hole obviously too small over 50 times in two years.
Brautigan has a unique gift with words. In 'I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone', he ellaborately attributes the love of a girl to a film he saw in which electricity was brought to remote farmers for the first time.
He is elegant and evocative, carrying an overwhelming sense of poignancy. In '44.40', nostalgia is rife: 'he would sit out on the front porch sometimes in the summer and stare past the rose bushes in the front yard to the street beyond where life calendered its days without him as if he had never existed our there at all'.
The beauty of Brautigan is that he is bold, fearless and unafraid to be imperfect, and as a result we're awarded with unabridged authenticity. This collection is ideal for someone who has yet to read any of his work. Equally, it's a reference to pick up and put down, revisit and re-explore for those already familiar.
July 26, 2016
A compilation of works that are more flash fiction than short stories, Brautigan's unique voice is displayed in 62 pieces set in San Francisco and the Pacific Northwest. Too many of the stories feel like the first brush strokes of a bigger work - abandoned and stacked like the detritus of a forgotten childhood an attic to be discovered and published 50 years later. Here's what I mean: one of the stories, "The Gathering of a Californian", is four paragraphs long - 1/2 of page - and it reads like the opening words of a Great American Novel. Here's the first paragraph:
Like most Californians, I come from sompelace else and was gathered to the purpose of California like a metal-eating flower gathers the sunshine, the rain, and then to the freeway beckons its petals and lets the cars drive in, millions of cars into but a single flower, the scent choked with congestion and room for millions more.
150 words later, it ends. It's not by accident that my favorite pieces from the collection are stories that stretch to several pages. Were some of these just ideas that Brautigan had for future longer works - like Woody Allen's stack of matchbook covers with ideas for movies - or were they always intended to exist as they are?
Fans of Barthelme and Keret will find a lot to love in any Brautigan work, and those longer stories here (the title story and "The Post Offices of Eastern Oregon" are my favorites) are brethren to those authors' works. My three star rating of this collection isn't a reflection on the author's craft as it is my reaction to the jarring nature of too many stories ended before I had the chance to suck the marrow from them.
May 6, 2017
باید بیطرف نوشت و باید گفت که داستان های شاهکار/فاجعهی «انتقام چمن» مهمترین ویژگی خودشون رو القای نبض زنده و تب نوشتار میدونن و کارکرد مناسبی هم در این زمینه دارن. شتابزدهنویسی و یا القای روایت جسته گریخته، سرسری و پر سرعت خواستهی نویسندهست.
ولی خیلی جاها سرعت قربانی میگیره، و قربانی: جذابیت متن و کرانمندی روایته. نیهیلیسم پساجنگ یک چیزه و تهی بودن قلب روایت (با یا بیبهانه) چیز دیگه.
طنز قوی، ضرباهنگ مناسب، بهت پوچی، نقد جامعه و قدرت، زبان شاعرانه-رومانتیستی.
اینها نکات برجستهی داستانهای مختلف «انقام چمن» هستند. هر جا که از تعداد بیشتری از این تکیهگاههای روایی استفاده شده داستان بهتری شکل گرفته. و به طور معکوس، داستانهایی که صرفا یه نکتهی بامزه، یه خیال شاعرانه، یه ریتم پر دستانداز خاص ارائه دادهن، اصلا و ابدا خوندنی نیستن و حتی آدم رو از خوندن بقیهی کتاب مایوس میکنن.
کتاب باارزش ولی پر افت و خیزیه.
ترجمه خیلی خوبه. خیلی.
ولی خیلی جاها سرعت قربانی میگیره، و قربانی: جذابیت متن و کرانمندی روایته. نیهیلیسم پساجنگ یک چیزه و تهی بودن قلب روایت (با یا بیبهانه) چیز دیگه.
طنز قوی، ضرباهنگ مناسب، بهت پوچی، نقد جامعه و قدرت، زبان شاعرانه-رومانتیستی.
اینها نکات برجستهی داستانهای مختلف «انقام چمن» هستند. هر جا که از تعداد بیشتری از این تکیهگاههای روایی استفاده شده داستان بهتری شکل گرفته. و به طور معکوس، داستانهایی که صرفا یه نکتهی بامزه، یه خیال شاعرانه، یه ریتم پر دستانداز خاص ارائه دادهن، اصلا و ابدا خوندنی نیستن و حتی آدم رو از خوندن بقیهی کتاب مایوس میکنن.
کتاب باارزش ولی پر افت و خیزیه.
ترجمه خیلی خوبه. خیلی.
December 2, 2022
Ignore the blurb on the back of this book. This is not the first collection of Brautigan short stories. Rather, these short pieces are actually prose poetry and remind me of nothing more than Baudelaire’s Paris Spleen. Brautigan’s poignant, whimsical, sometimes bawdy pieces capture San Francisco and the Pacific Northwest as Paris Spleen did Paris. Brautigan - the Beatnik Baudelaire.
These pieces can whiplash you between emotions, utterly changing the tone in the final line. The Betrayed Kingdom reads like a funny, bawdy story until the final sentence turns it into an ode to loneliness. Revenge of the Lawn appears as a humorous farce about the struggles of Brautigan’s bootlegger Grandmother’s ne’er-do-well boyfriend, then the final sentence focuses your attention on a shockingly neglected childhood. At other times Brautigan just wows you with whimsy, as in Homage to the San Francisco YMCA, where a man loves poetry so much that he replaces his plumbing with it - John Donne for the pipes, Shakespeare for the bathtub, Michael McClure for the water heater, and the minor poets for the toilet.
These are pieces that subtly sneak up on you and surprise you with their emotional power. I consider it an undervalued masterpiece of American poetry.
These pieces can whiplash you between emotions, utterly changing the tone in the final line. The Betrayed Kingdom reads like a funny, bawdy story until the final sentence turns it into an ode to loneliness. Revenge of the Lawn appears as a humorous farce about the struggles of Brautigan’s bootlegger Grandmother’s ne’er-do-well boyfriend, then the final sentence focuses your attention on a shockingly neglected childhood. At other times Brautigan just wows you with whimsy, as in Homage to the San Francisco YMCA, where a man loves poetry so much that he replaces his plumbing with it - John Donne for the pipes, Shakespeare for the bathtub, Michael McClure for the water heater, and the minor poets for the toilet.
These are pieces that subtly sneak up on you and surprise you with their emotional power. I consider it an undervalued masterpiece of American poetry.
June 20, 2013
Brautigan died of a “self-inflicted gunshot wound” at the age of 49 in 1984. Up until that moment, he was one of my favorite living authors. I was distressed.
He was brought up in poverty and suffered abuse. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and clinical depression in his early 20s and was treated with shock therapy. He was an alcoholic. Trout Fishing in America was published in 1967 and made him famous.
He had one daughter, Ianthe Elizabeth Brautigan, born in 1960. Her one book You Can’t Catch Death: A Daughter’s Memoir was published in 2000. People say the usual things about a book that latches onto the fame of a parent: ’She inherited the talent of her father’ and ‘Too bad she didn’t write any more books.’ People wanted to know about her father and she had a story to tell.
I don’t find any deep meaning in a Brautigan short story. I think they are just puzzles without solutions and you have to enjoy the process. Clearly he had an inventive imagination. Of course, there is some autobiographical content in his stories and poetry. Brautigan wrote a book that got a lot of attention and that made anything else he wrote before or after shine a bit more in the spotlight. It would be easy to say that he is not a great writer and that, as is said, he had the good fortune to be the right person at the right time. “Literary critics labeled him the writer most representative of the emerging countercultural youth-movement of the late 1960s.” By the end of the 1970s his popularity was declining. He rode his wave for seventeen years.
The last review I wrote about a book of short stories was fun because I picked a sentence out of each story to represent the story. It might not have been so interesting to read but I can assure you that it was fun to do. Picking a sentence or two out of each Brautigan story will not be hard. He writes so many good stand-alone sentences. But sometimes it is hard to tell what it has to do with the story.In this case, the title of the story might be just as interesting as the sentence from the story. But you can decide that for yourself. Remember, you don’t have to read any of this or you could just read a few. The author is dead so will not criticize you at all no matter what you think.
That’s probably enough of Revenge of the Lawn to set you to reminiscing about Brautigan or thinking about whether you want to get acquainted. If you are going to read one thing by him, Trout Fishing in American is the one. That’s probably the easiest book to get as well.
The binding of the book was breaking down as I was reading it. I figure I can flip through it one or two more times before the pages start to fall out. That happens to a lot of the Brautigan books when they get old. You should not read this book from cover to cover. It is meant to be read a few random stories at a sitting. A good bathroom book. Sorry, Richard, that’s what you have become thirty years after your death.
If you are too young to have any memory of the Brautigan era and you sit down to read this like a normal book, page by page, you may only give it two stars. If you do the random reading in little bits, I think you will give it at least three stars. I am giving Revenge of the Lawn four stars in nostalgic memory of what it used to be and what it still brings back. In a hundred years Brautigan will be forgotten. And that’s OK.
At the end of the book there were a few good stories. I’m glad I made it to the back before the pages come out.
The entry about Brautigan in Wikipedia is worth reading; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_...
He was brought up in poverty and suffered abuse. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and clinical depression in his early 20s and was treated with shock therapy. He was an alcoholic. Trout Fishing in America was published in 1967 and made him famous.
He had one daughter, Ianthe Elizabeth Brautigan, born in 1960. Her one book You Can’t Catch Death: A Daughter’s Memoir was published in 2000. People say the usual things about a book that latches onto the fame of a parent: ’She inherited the talent of her father’ and ‘Too bad she didn’t write any more books.’ People wanted to know about her father and she had a story to tell.
I don’t find any deep meaning in a Brautigan short story. I think they are just puzzles without solutions and you have to enjoy the process. Clearly he had an inventive imagination. Of course, there is some autobiographical content in his stories and poetry. Brautigan wrote a book that got a lot of attention and that made anything else he wrote before or after shine a bit more in the spotlight. It would be easy to say that he is not a great writer and that, as is said, he had the good fortune to be the right person at the right time. “Literary critics labeled him the writer most representative of the emerging countercultural youth-movement of the late 1960s.” By the end of the 1970s his popularity was declining. He rode his wave for seventeen years.
The last review I wrote about a book of short stories was fun because I picked a sentence out of each story to represent the story. It might not have been so interesting to read but I can assure you that it was fun to do. Picking a sentence or two out of each Brautigan story will not be hard. He writes so many good stand-alone sentences. But sometimes it is hard to tell what it has to do with the story.In this case, the title of the story might be just as interesting as the sentence from the story. But you can decide that for yourself. Remember, you don’t have to read any of this or you could just read a few. The author is dead so will not criticize you at all no matter what you think.
REVENGE OF THE LAWN There was a pear tree in the front yard which was heavily eroded by the rain from years of not having any lawn.
1692 COTTON MATHER NEWSREEL I lifted up the garbage can lid to the next garbage can but there wasn’t any witch’s garbage in that can either.
THE GATHERING OF A CALIFORNIAN Like most Californians, I come from someplace else and was gathered to the purpose of California like a metal-eating flower gathers the sunshine, the rain, and then to the freeway beckons its petals, and lets the cars drive in, millions of cars into but a single flower, the scent choked with congestion and room for millions more.
A SHORT STORY ABOUT CONTEMPORARY LIFE IN CALIFORNIA I think the only way to start a story about contemporary life in California is to do it the way Jack London started The Sea Wolf.
PACIFIC RADIO FIRE As the radio gently burned away, the flames began to affect the songs that we were listening to.
THE LOST CHAPTERS OF TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA: “REMBRANDT CREEK” AND “CARTHAGE SINK” I’ve decided to return to the winter that I was twenty-six years old, living on Greenwich Street in San Francisco, married, had an infant daughter and wrote these two chapters toward a vision of America and then lost them.
THE WEATHER IN SAN FRANCISCO “No,” she said.” I don’t want any hamburger, and I don’t think it’s going to rain.”
COMPLICATED BANKING PROBLEMS Then she reaches into the folds of her coat and removes the shadow of a refrigerator filled with sour mild and year-old carrots.
THE SCARLATTI TILT “It’s very hard to live in a studio apartment in San Jose with a man who’s learning to play the violin.”
THE WILD BIRDS OF HEAVEN A clerk came over and sold the set to him by saying, “Hi, there.”
ERNEST HEMMINGWAY’S TYPIST You just hand her the copy and like a miracle you have attractive, correct spelling and punctuation that is so beautiful that it brings tears to your eyes and paragraphs that look like Greek temples and she even finishes sentences for you.
HOMAGE TO THE SAN FRANCISCO YMCA He decided to take the plumbing out of his house and completely replace it with poetry, and so he did.
THE PRETTY OFFICE There was not even a trace of them, and in their wake were six very pretty girls: blonds and brunettes and on and on and into the various pretty faces and bodies, into the exciting feminine of this and that, into form-fitting smart clothes.
A NEED FOR GARDENS . . . having been buried at least fifty times during the last two years, the lion had gotten used to being buried in the back yard.
THE OLD BUS Everyone else on the bus, about nineteen of them, were men and women in their sixties, seventies and eighties, and I only in my twenties.
THOREAU RUBBER BAND The coffee needs taking care of right now and that is what she is doing for the benefit of all the generations of coffee drinkers to come.
That’s probably enough of Revenge of the Lawn to set you to reminiscing about Brautigan or thinking about whether you want to get acquainted. If you are going to read one thing by him, Trout Fishing in American is the one. That’s probably the easiest book to get as well.
The binding of the book was breaking down as I was reading it. I figure I can flip through it one or two more times before the pages start to fall out. That happens to a lot of the Brautigan books when they get old. You should not read this book from cover to cover. It is meant to be read a few random stories at a sitting. A good bathroom book. Sorry, Richard, that’s what you have become thirty years after your death.
If you are too young to have any memory of the Brautigan era and you sit down to read this like a normal book, page by page, you may only give it two stars. If you do the random reading in little bits, I think you will give it at least three stars. I am giving Revenge of the Lawn four stars in nostalgic memory of what it used to be and what it still brings back. In a hundred years Brautigan will be forgotten. And that’s OK.
At the end of the book there were a few good stories. I’m glad I made it to the back before the pages come out.
The entry about Brautigan in Wikipedia is worth reading; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_...
April 15, 2010
in lieu of any review, let me just present the text of one of my favorite stories from this collection.
"PACIFIC RADIO FIRE"
The largest ocean in the world starts or ends at Monterey, California. It depends on what language you are speaking. My friend's wife had just left him. She walked right out the door and didn't even say good-bye. We went and got two fifths of port and headed for the Pacific.
It's an old song that's been played on all the jukeboxes in America. The song has been around so long that it's been recorded on the very dust of America and it has settled on everything and changed chairs and cars and toys and lamps and windows into billions of phonographs to play that song back into the ear of our broken heart.
We sat down on a small corner-like beach surrounded by big granite rocks and the hugeness of the Pacific Ocean with all its vocabularies.
We were listening to rock and roll on his transistor radio and somberly drinking port. We were both in despair. I didn't know what he was going to do with the rest of his life either.
I took another sip of port. The Beach Boys were singing a song about California girls on the radio. They liked them.
His eyes were wet wounded rags.
Like some kind of strange vacuum cleaner I tried to console him. I recited the same old litanies that you say to people when you try to help their broken hearts, but words can't help at all.
It's just the sound of another human voice that makes the only difference. There's nothing you're ever going to say that's going to make anybody happy when they're feeling shitty about losing somebody that they love.
Finally he set fire to the radio. He piled some paper around it. He struck a match to the paper. We sat there watching it. I had never seen anybody set fire to a radio before.
As the radio gently burned away, the flames began to affect the songs that we were listening to. A record that was #1 on the Top-40 suddenly dropped to #13 inside of itself. A song that was #9 became #27 in the middle of a chorus about loving somebody. They tumbled in popularity like broken birds. Then it was too late for all of them.
"PACIFIC RADIO FIRE"
The largest ocean in the world starts or ends at Monterey, California. It depends on what language you are speaking. My friend's wife had just left him. She walked right out the door and didn't even say good-bye. We went and got two fifths of port and headed for the Pacific.
It's an old song that's been played on all the jukeboxes in America. The song has been around so long that it's been recorded on the very dust of America and it has settled on everything and changed chairs and cars and toys and lamps and windows into billions of phonographs to play that song back into the ear of our broken heart.
We sat down on a small corner-like beach surrounded by big granite rocks and the hugeness of the Pacific Ocean with all its vocabularies.
We were listening to rock and roll on his transistor radio and somberly drinking port. We were both in despair. I didn't know what he was going to do with the rest of his life either.
I took another sip of port. The Beach Boys were singing a song about California girls on the radio. They liked them.
His eyes were wet wounded rags.
Like some kind of strange vacuum cleaner I tried to console him. I recited the same old litanies that you say to people when you try to help their broken hearts, but words can't help at all.
It's just the sound of another human voice that makes the only difference. There's nothing you're ever going to say that's going to make anybody happy when they're feeling shitty about losing somebody that they love.
Finally he set fire to the radio. He piled some paper around it. He struck a match to the paper. We sat there watching it. I had never seen anybody set fire to a radio before.
As the radio gently burned away, the flames began to affect the songs that we were listening to. A record that was #1 on the Top-40 suddenly dropped to #13 inside of itself. A song that was #9 became #27 in the middle of a chorus about loving somebody. They tumbled in popularity like broken birds. Then it was too late for all of them.
July 10, 2015
انتقام چمن نام مجموعه داستان معروف ریچارد براتیگان میباشد که شامل 62 داستان بسیار کوتاه است. این کتاب در فارسی با نام اتوبوس پیر که اسم یکی دیگر از داستانهای همین کتاب می باشد ترجمه و انتشار یافته.
در بین داستانهای کوتاه موجود در این کتاب دو داستان سینک کارتاژ و نهر رامبراند در حقیقت بخشهای گم شده از کتاب پرفروش براتیگان «صید قزلآلا در آمریکا» میباشد. که در ترجمه فارسی این کتاب نام فصلهای گمشده صید قزلآلا در آمریکا بصورت یک داستان به چاپ رسیده است. داستانهای کوتاه این مجموعه همانند سایر آثار براتیگان، دارای مضمونی ساده و در عین حال مرموز و گاهاً سوررئال میباشند.
تصمیم براتیگان در آغاز کار این مجموعه نوشتن یک رمان درباره مادربزرگش بود. خاطره دوران کودکی براتیگان از مسموم و کشته شدن سگ خانه مادربزرگش توسط همسایه منبع الهام وی برای این رمان بود. او درنظر داشت تا رمانی پیرامون انتقام گیری مادربزرگش از همسایه بنویسد، ولی با گذشت زمان این ذهنیت اولیه تغییر یافت و رمان جان خود را به مجموعه داستانهای کوتاه داد و همچنین نام داستان اولیه از آن سگهای بزرگ امریکائی به انتقام چمن تغییر یافت.
طرح روی جلد نسخه اصلی کتاب عکسی از شری الیزابت وتر است (دوست چندین ساله براتیگان) که به تنهایی پشت یک میز نشسته و یک کیک روبروی وی است و به قسمتی از داستان اشاره دارد که پدربزرگ براتیگان در حال نگاه کردن به مادر وی در حال پختن کیک شکلاتی است.
www.ketabism.ir
در بین داستانهای کوتاه موجود در این کتاب دو داستان سینک کارتاژ و نهر رامبراند در حقیقت بخشهای گم شده از کتاب پرفروش براتیگان «صید قزلآلا در آمریکا» میباشد. که در ترجمه فارسی این کتاب نام فصلهای گمشده صید قزلآلا در آمریکا بصورت یک داستان به چاپ رسیده است. داستانهای کوتاه این مجموعه همانند سایر آثار براتیگان، دارای مضمونی ساده و در عین حال مرموز و گاهاً سوررئال میباشند.
تصمیم براتیگان در آغاز کار این مجموعه نوشتن یک رمان درباره مادربزرگش بود. خاطره دوران کودکی براتیگان از مسموم و کشته شدن سگ خانه مادربزرگش توسط همسایه منبع الهام وی برای این رمان بود. او درنظر داشت تا رمانی پیرامون انتقام گیری مادربزرگش از همسایه بنویسد، ولی با گذشت زمان این ذهنیت اولیه تغییر یافت و رمان جان خود را به مجموعه داستانهای کوتاه داد و همچنین نام داستان اولیه از آن سگهای بزرگ امریکائی به انتقام چمن تغییر یافت.
طرح روی جلد نسخه اصلی کتاب عکسی از شری الیزابت وتر است (دوست چندین ساله براتیگان) که به تنهایی پشت یک میز نشسته و یک کیک روبروی وی است و به قسمتی از داستان اشاره دارد که پدربزرگ براتیگان در حال نگاه کردن به مادر وی در حال پختن کیک شکلاتی است.
www.ketabism.ir
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 30, 2010
اهالي ادبيات يا آنطور كه خودشان مي گويند :ادبياتچي ها ، حتمن برايتگان را مي شناسند و خيلي هم راجع به اين نويسنده آمريكايي حرف مي زده اند و مي زنند البته طيف ديگري هم هستند كه راجع به او حرف مي زنند كه همان مثلن روشنفكران ريغووی مو قشنگ و در مورد خانومها خانومهاي كچل مانتو قشنگ هستند كه بگذريم اما چرا اين هر دو دسته را نام بردم و با اينكارم جان خودم را به خطر انداختم
من وقتي مي خواهم با نويسند ه اي آشنا شوم اول خوب اطلاعات جمع مي كنم راجع به معروفترين و بهترین كارش و مي روم درست سراغ همان بهترین كار طرف در مورد براتيگان همه مي گفتند بهترين كارش كه شاهكار است : صيد قزل آلا در آمريكا ، است و من هم خواندمش و با كمال اعتماد به نفس مي گويم به نظرم هيچ شاهكارييتي در اين رمان نديدم يك رمان معمولی که پر از توصیف مکان ها و پر از اسم رودخانه هاي آمريكاست و در آن اشياءدقيق توصيف مي شوند و البته از انصاف هم نگذریم که گاهی توصیفات یبسیار جالبی دارد مثلن توصیف آـن توالتی که سازنده اش 9745 تووش ریده بود ولی من یک شاهکار تاثیر گذار ندیدم فقط یک رمان تقریبن خوب دیدم ، البته شايد ترجمه پيام يزدانجو نتوانسته همه ي آنچه را در زبان مبدا بوده منتقل كند كه با توجه به اينكه مي گويند نثر براتيگان خيلي خاص است بعيد نيست اما آنچه من ديدم هرگز در حد و اندازه هاي يك شاهكار نبود و تا اينكه مجموعه داستان كوتاه اتوبوس پير را خريدم و همانجا توي كتاب فروشي بدر شروع كردم به خواندن يكي از داستان ها به نام : قهوه
معركه بود . از دستش ندهيد
و البته اگر اتوبوس پیر را خواندید و با من همعقیده بودید که براتیگان خواندنی است آن وقت بروید سراغ شاهکارش (البته از نظر من ) یعنی : در قند هندوانه با ترجمه مهدی نوید یک رمان اعجاب انگیز و خلاقانه
.
من وقتي مي خواهم با نويسند ه اي آشنا شوم اول خوب اطلاعات جمع مي كنم راجع به معروفترين و بهترین كارش و مي روم درست سراغ همان بهترین كار طرف در مورد براتيگان همه مي گفتند بهترين كارش كه شاهكار است : صيد قزل آلا در آمريكا ، است و من هم خواندمش و با كمال اعتماد به نفس مي گويم به نظرم هيچ شاهكارييتي در اين رمان نديدم يك رمان معمولی که پر از توصیف مکان ها و پر از اسم رودخانه هاي آمريكاست و در آن اشياءدقيق توصيف مي شوند و البته از انصاف هم نگذریم که گاهی توصیفات یبسیار جالبی دارد مثلن توصیف آـن توالتی که سازنده اش 9745 تووش ریده بود ولی من یک شاهکار تاثیر گذار ندیدم فقط یک رمان تقریبن خوب دیدم ، البته شايد ترجمه پيام يزدانجو نتوانسته همه ي آنچه را در زبان مبدا بوده منتقل كند كه با توجه به اينكه مي گويند نثر براتيگان خيلي خاص است بعيد نيست اما آنچه من ديدم هرگز در حد و اندازه هاي يك شاهكار نبود و تا اينكه مجموعه داستان كوتاه اتوبوس پير را خريدم و همانجا توي كتاب فروشي بدر شروع كردم به خواندن يكي از داستان ها به نام : قهوه
معركه بود . از دستش ندهيد
و البته اگر اتوبوس پیر را خواندید و با من همعقیده بودید که براتیگان خواندنی است آن وقت بروید سراغ شاهکارش (البته از نظر من ) یعنی : در قند هندوانه با ترجمه مهدی نوید یک رمان اعجاب انگیز و خلاقانه
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August 12, 2020
When in Washington ... you read Richard Brautigan?
I guess so. It certainly seemed to be when I stepped into my umpteenth bookstore in the state to find yet more copies of the late author's books on the shelves.
Other than in the Pacific Northwest, I don't think I've ever seen a Brautigan book on the shelf in any bookshop ever.
At least, none that come to mind.
But the bookshops of the PNW feature him somewhat prominently.
All of which caused me to ask who Richard Brautigan even is.
Seriously. Have you ever heard of him?
I hadn't.
But now, having stepped into several bookshops in the PNW, I have.
I like to read local, so I got this collection of short stories.
They're alright. I'm giving the collection three stars, but really they're two-star stories with four-star titles.
As a result, it gets three stars. You've gotta respect a good title.
Or 62 of them, in this case.
Yes, 62 stories. That's a lot! But it doesn't add up to a lot of pages really, because the majority of these stories are just two or three pages in length. One is even a single sentence.
While writing this review, I flipped through the collection to try and find the stories I liked.
There weren't many of them, just a handful (yes, out of 62). Most of them I've already forgotten.
But the problem is that these titles often provide no indication of what the stories are about.
That's why I like them.
The titles I mean. It's almost as though Brautigan chose a title he liked and then wrote the story around it.
Brautigan writes in a very uncomplicated, folksy way.
He writes exactly how his author's photo looks.
Funny words that fill clever sentences that make up unremarkable stories.
Maybe the novels are better.
I guess so. It certainly seemed to be when I stepped into my umpteenth bookstore in the state to find yet more copies of the late author's books on the shelves.
Other than in the Pacific Northwest, I don't think I've ever seen a Brautigan book on the shelf in any bookshop ever.
At least, none that come to mind.
But the bookshops of the PNW feature him somewhat prominently.
All of which caused me to ask who Richard Brautigan even is.
Seriously. Have you ever heard of him?
I hadn't.
But now, having stepped into several bookshops in the PNW, I have.
I like to read local, so I got this collection of short stories.
They're alright. I'm giving the collection three stars, but really they're two-star stories with four-star titles.
As a result, it gets three stars. You've gotta respect a good title.
Or 62 of them, in this case.
Yes, 62 stories. That's a lot! But it doesn't add up to a lot of pages really, because the majority of these stories are just two or three pages in length. One is even a single sentence.
While writing this review, I flipped through the collection to try and find the stories I liked.
There weren't many of them, just a handful (yes, out of 62). Most of them I've already forgotten.
But the problem is that these titles often provide no indication of what the stories are about.
That's why I like them.
The titles I mean. It's almost as though Brautigan chose a title he liked and then wrote the story around it.
Brautigan writes in a very uncomplicated, folksy way.
He writes exactly how his author's photo looks.
Funny words that fill clever sentences that make up unremarkable stories.
Maybe the novels are better.
April 20, 2020
I read this a while ago and can still remember enjoying it a fair bit, as I've relished reading all of Brautigan's books so far. It is only a slim volume of stories, but has over sixty of them contained within the covers, which seems like some sort of magic trick, and its because they are mostly very short indeed! Some of these stories are only a mere paragraph long, some are half a page, a few whoppers come in at a whole page, or even slightly over that amount!! For this reason alone already, it is a very different kind of collection and it does take a few of the stories to get used to his incredibly rapid, story delivery rate, and then you're flying along with him. Bukowski used to write some pretty short tales as well, but Brautigan really takes it to a new level of minimal, but I think it really works well and they don't come across as insubstantial, as you take them for what they are. It is amazing how he can actually fit a story into some of the tiny paragraph length tales, but he does it, and you sometimes look back at the page you just read, and wonder how he did indeed do it sometimes! Some of these micro-yarns are surreal, some are quirky, a few are weird and there are a couple of moving ones here and there as well, so a good mix really...
There isn't that much more you can say about this book, as it just has to be read to be believed in a way, and as there are so many little tales, I'm sure I'll read it again one day, as I've forgotten a lot of them, and so will be able to discover them anew when I revisit it...certainly a good starting place for people new to Brautigan.
October 1, 2010
A sweet collection of short tales that are surreal, comical and dark, often at the same time. Richard Brautigan might be read as an opposition to great American literature, which is of course packed with great, intelectual and complex text, which critics and scholars spend their life analysing. Brautigan's stories are most unusual and humorous and simply weird; he's not that interested in creating an impact on any sort of culture or style, but simply wants to evoke certain emotions in the reader. Granted, you won't remember many of the stories from this volume after finishing it - there are 62 of them ,after all - but some images are unforgettable, like a group of people trying to bury a lion or the woman who needs to chick a ride to Berkeley. Even readers who prefer traditionally plotted tales will find themselves connected to these little gems, and in the end what matters is precisely that connection.
December 9, 2018
Brautigan is one of my favorite writers. The way he describes the world is so odd at times that I find it a joy to read. He began his career as a poet, and in a way his stories have more in common with poetry than the more usual narrative fiction.
This collection contains flash fiction, and short stories that very often feel like prose poems. It’s not my favorite Brautigan book, but it is still a very good collection. One of my favorite story in this book is called “Complicated Banking Problem” and is quite typical of the kind of stories in it. There is a good reading of it on YouTube, you can listen to it here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CWtoBBp...
I’m going to have to read this book again some day.
This collection contains flash fiction, and short stories that very often feel like prose poems. It’s not my favorite Brautigan book, but it is still a very good collection. One of my favorite story in this book is called “Complicated Banking Problem” and is quite typical of the kind of stories in it. There is a good reading of it on YouTube, you can listen to it here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CWtoBBp...
I’m going to have to read this book again some day.
September 17, 2017
«میگویند وقتی بهار میآید جوانها هوس عشق و عاشقی میکنند، اما اگر حسابی وقت آزاد داشته باشند شاید هوس یک فنجان قهوه هم بکنند.»
*
«دلیلی نداشت باور کنم که زندگی چیزی بیش از این است.»
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حس میکنم براتیگان نیمهی مکمل کرواک است. هر دو از یک سبک زندگی حرف میزنند، ولی حساسیتهای متفاوتی روی جزئیات دارند و همین هم هر دو را جذاب میکند!
ضمنا ترجمهی کتاب بسیار خوب و روان است!
*
«دلیلی نداشت باور کنم که زندگی چیزی بیش از این است.»
*
حس میکنم براتیگان نیمهی مکمل کرواک است. هر دو از یک سبک زندگی حرف میزنند، ولی حساسیتهای متفاوتی روی جزئیات دارند و همین هم هر دو را جذاب میکند!
ضمنا ترجمهی کتاب بسیار خوب و روان است!
April 25, 2023
Revenge of the Lawn by Richard Brautigan
The children of Tacoma, Washington, went to war in December 1941. It seemed like the thing to do, following in the footsteps of their parents and other grown-ups who acted as if they knew what was happening.
“Remember Pearl Harbor!” they said.
“You bet!” we said.
I was a child, then, though now I look like somebody else. We were at war in Tacoma. Children can kill imaginary enemies just as well as adults can kill real enemies. It went on for years. During World War II, I personally killed 352,892 enemy soldiers without wounding one. Children need a lot less hospitals in war than grown-ups do.
from the Ghost Children of Tacoma
Brautigan has a style all his own. I find his imagery to be remarkable in most all of his works of poetry and in a fair amount of his prose.
There are 62 short stories in this collection. Really they are vignettes because most are only one to four pages in length. Here are my favorites. Most are 5 stars because of the imagery and nostalgia.
1. Revenge of the Lawn
2. 1/3, 1/3, 1/3
3. The Gathering of a Californian
4. Pacific Radio Fire
5. Coffee
6. The Lost Chapters of Trout Fishing in America
7. The Old Bus
8. The Ghost Children of Tacoma
9. Blackberry Motorist
10. A Short History of Oregon
11. The Literary Life in California/1964
12. Memory of a Girl
13. Greyhound Tragedy
14. Sand Castles
15. The World War I Los Angeles Airplane
So yeah I dig his writing. It is weird at times and sometimes sex obsessed but more often than not it is brilliant.
4.5 stars
The children of Tacoma, Washington, went to war in December 1941. It seemed like the thing to do, following in the footsteps of their parents and other grown-ups who acted as if they knew what was happening.
“Remember Pearl Harbor!” they said.
“You bet!” we said.
I was a child, then, though now I look like somebody else. We were at war in Tacoma. Children can kill imaginary enemies just as well as adults can kill real enemies. It went on for years. During World War II, I personally killed 352,892 enemy soldiers without wounding one. Children need a lot less hospitals in war than grown-ups do.
from the Ghost Children of Tacoma
Brautigan has a style all his own. I find his imagery to be remarkable in most all of his works of poetry and in a fair amount of his prose.
There are 62 short stories in this collection. Really they are vignettes because most are only one to four pages in length. Here are my favorites. Most are 5 stars because of the imagery and nostalgia.
1. Revenge of the Lawn
2. 1/3, 1/3, 1/3
3. The Gathering of a Californian
4. Pacific Radio Fire
5. Coffee
6. The Lost Chapters of Trout Fishing in America
7. The Old Bus
8. The Ghost Children of Tacoma
9. Blackberry Motorist
10. A Short History of Oregon
11. The Literary Life in California/1964
12. Memory of a Girl
13. Greyhound Tragedy
14. Sand Castles
15. The World War I Los Angeles Airplane
So yeah I dig his writing. It is weird at times and sometimes sex obsessed but more often than not it is brilliant.
4.5 stars
December 24, 2021
I’m not positive, but Revenge of the Lawn might be my most-read book. Untold times… I lost count long ago. But this latest read was as a quick antidote to the overwhelmingly negative presence that is William H. Gass’s The Tunnel, which I spent most of November rereading (I love it to death, but it’s exhausting.) I needed something… I don’t know, more whimsical, airy, light, simple, in the aftermath of Kohler’s bitter monolith. But I still needed prose magic, I wasn’t willing to skimp in that department. What to do?
***Richard Brautigan has entered the chat.***
But in all seriousness, this book really holds up. Several of the best of these stories are among my personal favorite stories of all time. The title story, “Lint,” “Pacific Radio Fire,” “A Short Story about Contemporary Life in California,” “Memory of a Girl,” “The Scarlatti Tilt,” “A Complete History of Germany and Japan,” “The Post Offices of Eastern Oregon…” so many standouts it would be exhausting to list them, so I won’t. No matter how many times I’ve dug the soils of these stories, it never stops giving up gold.
Please take my advice and read this book if you haven’t already. Brautigan is woefully underrated and neglected, but it’s stuff like this that makes him one of my personal favorite writers and this collection is a great way to get acquainted with his unique voice.
***Richard Brautigan has entered the chat.***
But in all seriousness, this book really holds up. Several of the best of these stories are among my personal favorite stories of all time. The title story, “Lint,” “Pacific Radio Fire,” “A Short Story about Contemporary Life in California,” “Memory of a Girl,” “The Scarlatti Tilt,” “A Complete History of Germany and Japan,” “The Post Offices of Eastern Oregon…” so many standouts it would be exhausting to list them, so I won’t. No matter how many times I’ve dug the soils of these stories, it never stops giving up gold.
Please take my advice and read this book if you haven’t already. Brautigan is woefully underrated and neglected, but it’s stuff like this that makes him one of my personal favorite writers and this collection is a great way to get acquainted with his unique voice.
April 10, 2017
I loved these witty, perceptive, and frequently startling little slices of life. Particularly enjoyed the way Brautigan was always able to surprise me with an unexpected simile, an odd turn of phrase that always created a startling beauty, a bare truth that slapped me back awake from the world's endless dreary, stupefying rattle and hum. Precious little gulps of water in a world starved for something cool and clear. You should read them. Really.
Side note to my fellow San Franciscans: my SF is long gone. Was both bitter and sweet, sweet and sour, to read and see in my mind's eye Brautigan's SF and know that mine buried his only to be buried by theirs. It happens. Don't ever age so as to avoid nostalgia. Embrace other people's nostalgia in order to vaccinate yourself from becoming a fogy.
I don't know. None of the above. Maybe.
Side note to my fellow San Franciscans: my SF is long gone. Was both bitter and sweet, sweet and sour, to read and see in my mind's eye Brautigan's SF and know that mine buried his only to be buried by theirs. It happens. Don't ever age so as to avoid nostalgia. Embrace other people's nostalgia in order to vaccinate yourself from becoming a fogy.
I don't know. None of the above. Maybe.
June 8, 2019
شبیه داستانهایی نبود که تا الان خونده باشم. شاید حتی سخت بشه به نوشتههای براتیگان گفت داستان، اما به هر حال دلچسب بود. بعضی تصویرسازیاش واقعا عجیب و قوی بودن. مثلا آخر داستان انتقام چمن اینطور تموم میشه که مردی وایساده کنار یه درخت گلابی بزرگ که تازه قطعش کرده و درخت پره از گلابیهای کال و اون داره نفت میریزه رو درخت تا آتیشش بزنه...
کتاب پره از این جور توصیفا و پره از اتفاقای عجیب و غریب که آدم رو یاد سورئالیسم و اینطور چیزا نمیندازه. برعکس آدم به نظرش میرسه یه پسر بچهی شیطون و کنجکاو و با تخیل قوی اینا رو نوشته. ساده،در عین حال عجیب. واقعی، در عین حال نهچندانواقعی!
اگر دنبال یه مجموعه داستان درست و حسابی و چفت و بست دار با فاکتورهای داستانی مثل اوج و پیرنگ و فلانید سراغ این کتاب نیاید. اما اگر میخواید چند ساعت خیال ببافید یا حتی بخندید یا احساسات ساده یا غلیظتون قلقلک داده بشه، این کتاب چیز خوبیه
کتاب پره از این جور توصیفا و پره از اتفاقای عجیب و غریب که آدم رو یاد سورئالیسم و اینطور چیزا نمیندازه. برعکس آدم به نظرش میرسه یه پسر بچهی شیطون و کنجکاو و با تخیل قوی اینا رو نوشته. ساده،در عین حال عجیب. واقعی، در عین حال نهچندانواقعی!
اگر دنبال یه مجموعه داستان درست و حسابی و چفت و بست دار با فاکتورهای داستانی مثل اوج و پیرنگ و فلانید سراغ این کتاب نیاید. اما اگر میخواید چند ساعت خیال ببافید یا حتی بخندید یا احساسات ساده یا غلیظتون قلقلک داده بشه، این کتاب چیز خوبیه
April 28, 2019
Without doubt the greatest collection of stories I've read. He was an absolute genius.
November 11, 2021
بیشتر شبیه دفتر خاطرات ریچارد براتیگان بود،که خیلی قشنگ نوشته شده،داشتم به این فکر می کردم که ای کاش منم بتونم اینقدر خوب خاطره بنویسم که کتاب تمام شد.
December 3, 2014
Great selection of funny, sad, weird and quirky short stories from a beat generation writer who should be as well known as Jack Kerouac.
Brautigan makes me confident that anyone can write a short story given you have a few original ideas and a few spare hours at night to chip away at it.
I especially love the short story about his daughter hearing him tell and retell a story about himself from his childhood over and over and over again and she never gets sick of it. This was even more enjoyable than Trout Fishing in America I think because there was such an eclectic variety of ideas. After reading this book I can tell Brautigan loved women but also loved doing things by himself for example he talks about going off into the Oregon countryside to go deer hunting in the rain or looking for trout in various waterholes until before he realizes it, it is dusk and he has to go home. There is something beautiful and innocent about his writing. Am thinking of reading the huge biography on Brautigan sometime next year. Highly recommended for anyone who likes to read something out-of-the-ordinary and a bit zaney.
Brautigan makes me confident that anyone can write a short story given you have a few original ideas and a few spare hours at night to chip away at it.
I especially love the short story about his daughter hearing him tell and retell a story about himself from his childhood over and over and over again and she never gets sick of it. This was even more enjoyable than Trout Fishing in America I think because there was such an eclectic variety of ideas. After reading this book I can tell Brautigan loved women but also loved doing things by himself for example he talks about going off into the Oregon countryside to go deer hunting in the rain or looking for trout in various waterholes until before he realizes it, it is dusk and he has to go home. There is something beautiful and innocent about his writing. Am thinking of reading the huge biography on Brautigan sometime next year. Highly recommended for anyone who likes to read something out-of-the-ordinary and a bit zaney.
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