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,…
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Citation: Anderson, Jill E.. "A Confederate General From Big Sur". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 March 2012 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=32020, accessed 08 October 2024.]