A new reading club will focus exclusively on an early ‘70s classic that put Powell River on the international literary map.
The Eden Express by Mark Vonnegut chronicles the author’s attempts to establish a communal farm on 80 acres at Powell Lake and his subsequent mental breakdown. The author, son of the late novelist Kurt Vonnegut, broke new ground with his eloquent description of his own psychic unraveling, which fortunately proved to be short-lived. After giving up on Powell River, Mark Vonnegut returned to his native Massachusetts and became a pediatrician.
The book’s richness derives not only from Vonnegut’s first-person account of what it’s like to drift into uncharted psychological waters (the book is typically shelved with psychology texts; such is its power of description) but from its opening chapters, which capture the hope and values that inspired many Age-of-Aquarius types to flee to the wilds of British Columbia in search of utopia.
MacLeod Cushing, who is organising the reading club, says its purpose is to read the book as a group and discuss its enduring value.
“The Eden Express was important when it came out in 1975 and it is just as important today because of its timeless descriptions of youthful idealism and mental illness. We can be proud that Powell River is immortalised in these pages.”
Cushing says he hopes The Eden Express Reading Club will generate enough interest to persuade Mark Vonnegut to revisit old haunts in and around Powell River.
“If enough people become interested, we will contact Mr. Vonnegut and invite him to do a reading in Powell River. Perhaps he would enjoy seeing a few familiar faces from 35 years ago. He edited a recent posthumous collection of his father’s work, and he’s been spotted on the reading circuit.”