?Brother Dumb is the memoir of a reclusive American literary icon. Brother Dumb is a how-to manual for meaningful critical engagement with the real world. Brother Dumb is a celebration of innocence, youth, and altruism. Brother Dumb is a true story of self-imposed exile. . . . Brother Dumb is also a work of fiction. Brother Dumb begins in the mid-40s, but spans decades, delving deep into the five tortured relationships that have shaped one writer’s psycho-sexual history ? but it also details his bitter literary decline and withdrawal from public life. Brother Dumb is a misanthrope. His withdrawal from the world is as famous, or infamous, as his writing ? something that he takes great pains to explain is not a desperate cry for attention. Attention is the last thing Brother Dumb wants. So why publish this memoir? Why expose himself to a world of stupid, lecherous, greedy, evil, and calculating people? Because he can’t not write. And because, somewhere out there, a kindred soul might actually be reading. . . .
