Over the Rainbow? Hardly: Collected Short Seizures

by Chandler Brossard, Steven Moore (Editor)

Fiction. Though best known as the author of two of the earliest Beat novels (WHO WALK IN DARKNESS and THE BOLD SABATEURS), Chandler Brossard (1922-93) displayed his exuberant imagination best in the shorter works he wroteduring the second half of his life, all of which are collected here. Ranging from a surrealistic anti-Vietnam War novella to a folksy walking tour of a Kafkaesque Amerika, these seven works form a perfect introduction to one of the most daring writers of postwar America.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

344 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Chandler Brossard was an American novelist, writer, editor, and teacher. He wrote or edited a total of 17 books. With a challenging style and outsider characters, Brossard had limited critical success in the United States. His novels were more appreciated in France and Great Britain.

His early works have been described as "landmarks of the postwar American novel."

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading a few of Chandler Brossard’s early pulp works this was my first venture into the later, more absurd, period. Over The Rainbow? Hardly is a collection of Brossard’s shorter works from the 1970s and 1980s. For this reason it is a bit of a mixed bag which offers great insight into the scope and ability of Brossard but also offers a very uneven reading experience.

This collection starts quite strong with A Chimney Sweep Comes Clean, a collection of short vignettes that take place in early 1970s England. In the introduction Steven Moore compares this to Richard Brautigan’s Trout Fishing In America. While I definitely caught a Brautigan sense to a few lines, I found this work to be more so in between the likes of Gravity’s Rainbow and Austin Powers. In this sense I’d say it's closest to the works of Robert Anton Wilson but with better literary prowess. I did find these sections the closest feeling I’ve had to reading the absurd asides of Gravity’s Rainbow since reading it. Each section subverts expectations and keeps you on your feet. An exhibition of sexual exploits, this work serves at as an interesting look into what kinds of kink acts most fascinated Brossard.

This first work was probably my favorite of the collection and unfortunately it is a bit of a downward slope from here on out. The next selection, Dirty Books for Little Folks, is my second favorite. A reworking of classic fairytales, these stories are akin to a Shrek porn parody. More exploration into the kinks most intriguing to Brossard. While some stories fell flat and the bit did start to get old by the end, it was ultimately a really interesting and creative work to engage with.

All of the following collections are pretty middle of the road for me. There are flashes of greatness here and there when it comes to certain wordplay or concepts but overall these collections really didn’t do it for me. I think most of my opinion on these is that they all lack a sense of narrative. While the first two collections balance the prose with the narrative in a highly enthralling way, these latter collections feel aimless or at the very least directionless.

They all offer different perspectives of Brossard’s capabilities which was a great insight into what he is capable of as an author but in terms of standing up to the former half of this book, it left a lot to be desired.

I will say I did enjoy the last selection, Shifty Sacred Songs, the most of the latter works. This collection is a meditation on various concepts and it offers Brossard a chance to explore these ideas and play with the prose in a way that is interesting, just not heavily weighted when it shifts from one concept to the next.

Having read the Corona\Samizdat edition, it omits the story Raging Joys, Sublime Violations which was originally published in this collection. I will have to acquire this work as I have heard great things and I think it will offer more of what I’m looking for and enjoy from Brossard.

Ultimately, I would most closely compare this work to John Barth’s Lost in the Funhouse, a collection I also felt middle of the road on. The highs in that collection are some of the best stories I’ve ever read but there is also just as much I felt indifferent on. I would consider Over The Rainbow? Hardly in a similar vein. I wish there was more I felt favorable on but I think the next step is just to take on his larger works, with expectation that all of these skills will be on display in a more cohesive manner.

[Nathan "N.R." Gaddis]

A lot of riffing and noodling. But the anti=war novella Raging Joys, Sublime Violations is worth the price of that proverbial admissions. Also to watch for is the smutty Dirty Books for Little Folks ; the kind of thing like Coover and Carter that spells out what those Fairy Tails are really about. "A Chimney Sweep Comes Clean" is also quite nice. But the latter handful of pieces are mostly that afore=mention'd 'riffing and noodling'.

This volume collects all of Brossard's late work, excepting the novel As the Wolf Howls at My Door. Peak career for this guy I'm going to suspect is the splendidly offensive Wake up. We're almost there. Early stuff I'll be checking out too.


_________
Jeff Bursey review ::
http://www.jeffbursey.com/downloads/B...
[well, because no one else has read it]

[Rick Harsch]

Tomorrow Raging Joys, Sublime Violations leaps like a napalm-skinned frog from this book into its own scalding covers as a corona\samizdat pocket book available from Slovenia at 10€ plus 3.96€ postage and if you don't like it then you can pay 9€ plus postage. Back to the Nam and all the namskulls who brought the world that best of all movies of all time!

[Jeff Bursey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A full review is here:

http://www.jeffbursey.com/downloads/B...

[draxtor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why is the corona\samizdat edition not listed on goodreads?
here it is = https://coronasamizdat.com/index.php?... get it for 10 bucks !!

it is sooo good and i read from it in second life = https://youtube.com/live/5qsCFY5btLg?...