Richard Brautigan, A Confederate General From Big Sur

Jill E. Anderson (Middle Tennessee State University)

Ed. by Christopher Hugh Gair, University of Glasgow
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1964

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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First published by Grove Press in 1964 and written after the more famous

Trout Fishing in America

A Confederate General from Big Sur

is sometimes described as Richard Brautigan’s most “traditional” novel. Claimed by both the Beats and the Counterculture, Brautigan and his work bridge many of the themes explored by the two movements: disillusionment with and rejection of mainstream bourgeois American culture, opposition to the industrial war complex, embrace of wanderlust, self-imposed poverty, and a lifestyle centered around the arts and independence, distortion of elements of reality, and incorporation of spiritual explorations. As a 1971 review of

A Confederate General

explains,

As usual, Brautigan is celebrating the American dream at a point where the stallions of hope have long

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1686 words

Citation: Anderson, Jill E.. "A Confederate General From Big Sur". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 March 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=32020, accessed 21 November 2024.]

Richard Brautigan, A Confederate General From Big Sur

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