Brautigan, Richard

Sombrero Fallout: A Japanese Novel

New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1976. First Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Richard Brautigan. As the work’s front flap copy unceremoniously announces, “A strand of Japanese hair, an ice-cold sombrero, and a small-town librarian with no ears—Richard Brautigan has written another novel.” Further described as “the story of a man who has lost his Japanese lover…it is also the story of a small town that loses its sense of proportion. The lover dreams cat-purr dreams of her dead father and her childhood while the hero agonizes over tuna fish sandwiches and the possibility of a simple seven-digit phone call.” So reads just one segment from the (aforementioned and above-quoted) flap copy of West Coast Beat, Richard Brautigan’s (1935-1984) seventh book-length work of prose fiction, “Sombrero Fallout: A Japanese Novel.” Like other works by Brautigan from his (steadily prolific) mid-late period, “Sombrero Fallout” begins with (what seems, on first readerly glance) a nonsensically fractured, fragmented premise. However, it is from these fragmented roots—his readers are frequently delighted to find—that Brautigan weaves his wreaths-in-prose. In Brautigan’s inventive, capable hands, wild-grown plots like these transform into masterpieces of plot and character development that (his readers are frequently bewildered to find) would have been basically impossible, were he to begin with more conventional plot structures. This is a trick easier discovered than described—and, for lack of better words, Brautigan must be read to be believed. Hardcover in unclipped dust-jacket: First Edition, although not explicated as such on copyright page; First Printing, as indicated by number sequence, thereon. This copy is additionally signed by the doomed Beat novelist on title page above (and slightly to the right of) his printed name. Brautigan signature, in bold, black pen ink, reads: “Richard Brautigan.” Book in very fine condition with only minute shelf-wear to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine. Dust-jacket in fine condition with only modestly more pronounced shelf-wear, bumping & tiny exhibits of chipping to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; mild-to-modest diffuse rubbing to front, back covers of same. Very Fine / Fine. [Item #5176]

Price: $600.00