The Endless Walk Of Richard Brautigan
enters the narrative, and when the image created by Brautigan speaks inside the prose. As Brautigan describes the discovery of a shoe in the middle of a busy intersection, he begins the first page of his novel, but even in this first paragraph, the realities become blurred, as he races from one idea to the next, filling the reader with more and more imagery until his point is made. In this case, his humor comes across, and he gives us a picture of the beauty of the world contained in the smallest of everyday human experiences.
"I saw a brand-new woman's shoe lying in the middle of a quiet Honolulu intersection. It was a brown shoe that sparkled like a leather diamond. There was no apparent reason for the shoe to be lying there such as it playing a part among the leftover remnants of an automobile accident and there were no signs that a parade had passed that way, so the story behind the shoe will never be known." (2)
He continues with this passage displaying his humor in full form.
"Did I mention of course I didn't, that the shoe had no partner ? The shoe was alone, solitary, almost haunting. Why is it that when people see one shoe, they almost feel uncomfortable if a second is not about ? They look for it. Where is the other shoe ? It must be around here someplace. With this auspicious beginning, I'll continue describing one person's journey, a sort of free-fall calender map, that starts out what seems like years ago, but has actually been just a few months physical time." (3)
As can be seen, the lines blur as the narrator describes his hop-skotch travel around the country. Berkley, Montana, Maui. The names pass by the reader so fast, that the places become mixed up in a jumble of names, dates, and places, until it is hard to determine where this narrator has actually visited. Close to Brautigan's life ? You bet. So close, that it seems that Brautigan may have put a lot of his own personal self, emotions, and ego into this short last work of minimalistic prose. The story proves haunting not only in the themes that he expouses on the written page, but in some of the conclusions that Brautigan eventually concludes. One of these can be seen in the reflective quote placed at the beginning of the book by his daughter.
"Iphigenia: A new home you make for me, Father
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