Vollman redux

[Christopher Brayshaw]

I'm a bit surprised that all this recent discussion of WV hasn't brought 
up his nonfiction work -- in particular, THE RAINBOW STORIES, and, AN 
AFGHANISTAN PICTURE SHOW, which remain for me his best works to date, far 
more involved and well-written than much of his recent fiction.  I re-read 
THE RAINBOW STORIES last summer, on a bus through Atlantic Canada (rain, 
steamed-over windows, Robert Frank faces in adjoining seats) and was 
surprised how well the book's quasi-documentary threads held up to 
sustained rereading.  In particular, a section called "The Indigo 
Engineers," in which WV drops in on Survival Research Labs, is a 
fascinating piece of reportage -- one of the best pieces of nonfiction 
I've read in the recent past.

There is also a deeply misogynistic and disturbing nonfiction piece which 
chronicles WV whoring his way across Southeast Asia, which ran several 
years ago in Esquire (can't remember date, but issue cover features 
Winona Ryder).  Parts of this essay may have been incorporated into WV's 
latest nonfiction offering, though the excerpt in *Esquire* was so 
disturbing that I've had no real desire to pick up the hardback.  If 
anyone else does, watch for the sequence at the San Francisco VD clinic 
-- very much like a WSB "Dr. Benway" sequence, in reverse.

Happy Pagan Winter Festival to all on the p-list.

Cheers,
Chris Brayshaw