The Endless Walk Of Richard Brautigan© Robert Edward Bell
Aug 1, 2003
The Endless Walk Of Richard Brautigan
There are shadows surrounding the lives for
those of us left or willing to face the dawnings
of another precipice left by the glimmering
brightened hues left after another morning has
passed, letting these colors like some eternal
summer stream downwards upon the soul like a
river into eternity. Through this departing
twilight few travelers, least of all may it be
said writers, dare to venture; for the number
of those returning from these distant shores,
roaming into unknown territories, past the damp
darkening forests named eternity often fall into
the hallways of memory forever. Death awaits as
a guide to this hidden doorway of light hiding
amongst this land of shadow and form. Richard
Brautigan was a writer who was not unfamiliar
with these lands carrying distant cliffs; whose
edges often frighten the best of writers away
from their dangerous peaks and crevices. He was
not stranger to these distant crevices, remote
outreaches of the mind, the hallowed sacred
grounds where the last footsteps of a man must
reach before he rests coming to the end of this
journey of life. That death permeates the writings of Richard Brautigan is no secret, for it seemed to be a major theme in his works. Even
his few novels, where he diverted from his normal
preoccupation with the morbid themes of death,
decay, and an utterance for the beauty for lost
thngs. The book begins with a letter written in the
first person narrative. He is writing to an annonymous person N. He tells of a telephone
call that he receives informing him on the death of one of his dearest and closest friends. He makes several references to eating watermelon with his friend, some of them mixed with several
auspicous passages referring to nature. Could this be a reference
to Watermelon Sugar, or an earlier novel ? Who
knows ? Is the watermelon sugar an allegory Is
the watermelon an allegory serving as an opposite
to the imagery of death that consistently fill
the works of Richard Brautigan. He interrupts
his friend in the middle of intercourse with a
lover to eat watermelon and contemplate the
tragic death of their friend. In this case,
Brautigan seems to be dealing with the seriousness
of death with the guise of humor that made him
so popular with a generation and then concludes
the passage with, "I had gone to my friend's house to
talk about it when I interrupted her
lovemaking. The watermelon was just some
kind of funny excuse to talk about my
grief and try to get some perspective on
the fact that I can never call you again
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