The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966
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| The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966 | |
 Front cover of The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966. |
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| Author | Richard Brautigan |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Simon and Schuster |
| Publication date | March 23, 1971 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 226 pages (hardcover) |
| ISBN | ISBN 978-0-671-20872-1) (hardcover) |
| Preceded by | The Revenge of the Lawn (1970) |
| Followed by | The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western (1974) |
The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966 is a novel by Richard Brautigan first published in 1971 by Simon and Schuster. In subsequent printings the title is often shortened to simply The Abortion.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
The Abortion is a genre novel parody[1] concerning the librarian of a very unusual California library which accepts books in any form and from anyone who wishes to drop one off at the library—children submit tales told in crayon about their toys; teenagers tell tales of angst and old people drop by with their memoirs—described as "the unwanted, the lyrical and haunted volumes of American writing" in the novel.[2] Summoned by a silver bell at all hours, submissions are catalogued at the librarian's discretion; not by the Dewey Decimal system, but by placement on whichever magically dust-free shelf would best, in the author's judgment, serve best as the book's home.[3]
One day a young girl named Vida appears at the library's door. Although shy and awkward acting, she is described as the most beautiful woman in the world that American admen "would have made into a national park if they would have gotten their hands on her."[2] Vida falls in love with the reclusive librarian and soon becomes pregnant, necessitating a trip to Tijuana, Mexico to secure an abortion.
[edit] Characters in The Abortion
- Narrator: The main character is an unnamed narrator who works at a library. He works and lives in a library that has only unpublished manuscripts and got the job from the previous librarian who quit because he hated children. The narrator has not left the library in five years and works and sleeps there. He meets a 20 year old woman named Vida, an attractive but awkward-acting woman who falls in love with the librarian. When Vida becomes pregnant, they travel to Tijuana, Mexico, to secure an abortion.
- Vida: Vida is the supporting character in the story. She meets the narrator in the library when she brings in a poetry collection about her body. She says she hates her body and hates that men keep looking at her. She falls in love with the narrator and they become intimate. Nine weeks later, Vida discovers she is pregnant.
[edit] The Brautigan Library
In an homage to Richard Brautigan, The Abortion's concept was put into practice in the form of the Brautigan Library. Housed in a section of the larger Fletcher Free Library in Burlington, Vermont, the library accepts only unpublished manuscripts and had a catalogue of 325 works as of 2004.[4]
According to the News from the Fletcher Free Library, the Brautigan Library has been moved to San Francisco Public Library.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ eNotes.com LLC (2006). Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Richard Brautigan 1935-1984. Retrieved October 17, 2006.
- ^ a b "The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966" by Joseph Butwin.Saturday Review 12 June 1971. Electronic abstract at Brautigan Bibliography and Archive. Retrieved November 4, 2006.
- ^ AHA Books (1995 - 2005). Put your Book in the Brautigan Virtual Library. Retrieved November 4, 2006.
- ^ The New York Times Company (2004). Boston Globe article: Unusual library may get new chapter by Kevin O'Kelly. Retrieved November 4, 2006.
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