Deception of Appearance

Both “Hollow City” and “Tripmaster Monkey” deal with aspects of life in San Francisco that can not be easily detected by the causal observer. The thoughts of Kingston’s character of Wittman Ah-Singh, although having grown up in the bay area and attended Cal, seems to have difficulty negotiating the space that he inhabits as Chinese-American. There is a sense that he feels his own identity is one of hybridity, indicated by Kingston’s use of icons and references that are both “essentially” Chinese and “essentially” American. The character of Wittman questions the way he feels that he represents himself, versus the way others may perceive him--and therefore create their own conceptions of him. The creation and production of Wittman’s play at the end of the story illustrate how truly essential perspective’s such as Wittman’s are; representations of life that outside of what is quotidian, and the way in which perspective is able to shape reality.
There is a sense that outward appearance is often not representative of what goes on internally. The thoughts and actions of Wittman are often, as we are able to read, not what he is thinking. In “Hollow City” this idea is applied to physical space. Gentrification within the city of San Francisco created an “assault on the poor” in the form of urban renewal projects. Solnit implies that the “progression” of San Francisco in the form of taller buildings and a bastion of the frontier left the city devoid of the culture of the lives that lived there, and works to create and maintain a disparity between rich and poor. To some observers, the creation of large buildings and urban space is seen as a progression from an city to influential metropolis, in addition to the numerous jobs created by the expansion. To others, the same buildings could represent the loss of a community that had once been theirs, and displacement by the invisible hands of something larger and much more powerful then they; in the name of an abstract ‘greater good.’

Trout.

Richard Brautigan’s Trout Fishing in America is a work of both poetry and prose which contains no central plot. Reading the first and last parts, which are a series of short anecdotal-type stories immediately reminded me of Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions. First, the character ‘Trout Fishing in America’ was reminiscent of the Vonnegut character Kilgore Trout, who appeared throughout many of Vonnegut’s story, often interacting with the author, much like Trout Fishing in America’s interactions with the characters in Brautigan’s stories. Additionally, the way that the stories were mostly disjointed, but connected by common threads- such as the usage of ‘Trout Fishing in America to mean not only the act itself as well as the book’s title, but a hotel name, and the character within the book. Additionally Brautigan, like Vonnegut, has his own brand of magical realism, which seems to borrow from Brautigan’s own reality of the San Franciscan diaspora and insert fictional elements which work to create singular small pieces that eventually larger, abstract picture. Although there is no discernible plot amongst the prose, after reading it I felt that I had a sense of the depth of Brautigan’s creativity. Some of the entries (which is what I’ve been calling them) seemed as if they were sober, (sometimes almost somber) recounts of events that had actually transpired in the author’s life, other entries were silly and playful (i.e.- the many mentions of mayonnaise), and in other entries, it was difficult for me to get any sense of the references or allusions he may have been making, assuming there were any there to be understood. In any case, the range of emotions displayed within the prose was wide. This manner of writing also made me think of Prof. Wilson’s description of the ‘contado’ as something that permeates many aspects of culture. Even in the entries that didn’t resonate with me as much, it was clear how far-reaching the influence of San Francisco and its environs could be.
I really enjoyed Brautigan’s poetry. It possessed the complexity of ideas presented with finesse. Some of his poems made me laugh, such as “The Flowerburgers Part 4” (pg 55), while others gave me pause, making me reflect on the relevance of his words to my own life, such as “It’s Raining In Love” (pg 61). I did not feel, as was commented once in lecture, that Brautigan’s poetry was misogynistic or sexist, on the contrary, I felt that Brautigan’s writings were real, accurately portrayed instances of the array of substance behind thought and action. Like the prose, there were some poems which seemed less tied to Brautigan’s own experiences and more on observation, but the poems I found I liked best where the ones where he seemed to be writing from his personal life. They were revealing, but relatable. It’s incredible how such simple words can epitomize an event that seems so individually unique.
The arrangement of the stories within the book puzzled me. It was as if the poetry was sandwiched between the prose. In the second section of prose, there seemed to be slightly more of a continuity between the entries, some of them being no more than 10 lines. I wondered if maybe the poetry was supposed to serve as a bridge between the time prose that preceded it, although Book 3’s set of entries were set apart from Book 2’s. Additionally, I wondered what was the significance of the repeated mentioning of Charles Baudelaire- I understand that he was one of the fathers of the beat poetry movement, but it seems that it would take more than influence to merit such heavy inclusion in Brautigan’s book. Overall, I really enjoyed Trout Fishing In America, its uniqueness was able to create meaning for me in such a way that most literature cannot.