donato: James Wright, when he was prompted into his major stylistic shift by some accurate, negative criticism, said that he now wished to say something 'humanly important' rather than just 'showing off with language'. What do you think of that?

rob: That seems like one of those ignorant phrases, by someone who doesn't quite grasp the importance of the movement of language. True, it's clever for the architect to build a house without a roof, but it's not entirely useful when it rains. We're writers, after all. What we're saying, in the end, is only as impressive as how we say it, whether gender issues, social, personal, political. Who's to say that "showing off with language", which can be read as trying to work within an alternate point-of-view, isn't humanly important? Language as political/social change. Remember when Richard Pryor took back the word "nigger"? The strength of one word, & the context that surrounded it. Both french & english Canadian feminist writers were all over it in the 1960's, taking the language & making it their own, whether Daphne Marlatt, Nicole Brossard, et al. I'd say that was pretty important.

donato: Richard Brautigan has obviously had a huge influence on your writing. Do you consider him your major mentor?

rob: I've learned much from a number of writing sources, not just the obvious Brautigan ring. (I picked up another copy, coincidentally, of A Confederate General From Big Sur today, because mine at home doesn't have an author photo...) Really, there's more Newlove in The Richard Brautigan Ahhhhhhhhhhh than anyone. George Bowering, Artie Gold, Frank O'Hara. I've got a long poem I've been working on for nearly two years as a direct result of rereading Robert Kroetsch & Barry McKinnon, called 'hazelnut'. I've got another poetry ms of short, sharp lyrics after D.G. Jones influences, among others more peripheral, & hidden, called 'paper hotel'. I love the depth of grief & surreal ease in Brautigan's work, the simple & sometimes brutal language, the near & far innocence. Someday I'll even finish my book of one hundred short, surreal chapters called 'A short fake novel about Richard Brautigan'. I'm hoping the family won't sue, even though it's more a response to the author & his work, whom I know, than tothe man, who I didn't. Hopefully, I'll be finished it sometime during 2002, but who knows. It depends on what other projects jump up.

donato: The thought of a rob mclennan/Brautigan fiction is really fascinating. Could you tell us a little more about your novel-in-progress?

rob: There's not much to tell, so far. I just wanted a forum to play with the form of his fiction, after touching on his poetry forms in The Conan Doyle Historical Romances section of Notes on drowning, & his emotional forms in The Richard Brautigan Ahhhhhhhhhhh. It's also a sly tribute to previous works by folk such as Jack Spicer, Arthur Craven, etcetera. But, even so, since the question & my answer, I've started (perhaps) what might be a collection of shorter short stories, titled so far, the 13th parked car. It seems to me, I only do reading tours now to buy books, & start new projects.

donato: One of the staples of Brautigan's sensibility is a sense of regret over the changes brought by the twentieth century. Your frequent use of 'pop-art' materials, such as references to tv and comic books, makes me wonder if you share that sense of regret.