Keith Abbott

Keith Abbott is an American author of short stories, poetry, non-fiction screenplays and novels. Several of his books have been translated into German and French. Abbott is also an accomplished calligrapher and a lay monk in the Soto Zen lineage.

Biography

Keith Abbott grew up in Tacoma, Washington, the youngest of four children. ACTIVE in three sports, he attended Western Washington State on an athletic scholarship but transferred to the University of Washington in 1963 to major in philosophy and logic. He dropped out of college in 1965 and moved to Monterey, California. He married in 1966, and a year later had a daughter. The Abbott family lived in Church Stretton, England until 1969. Abbott earned a BA from San Francisco State, and he continued his studies at Western Washington State and earned an MA in English in 1972. From 1972 to 1994, the Abbott family lived in California. From 1994 to 2012, they lived in Colorado, and Abbott taught as a professor at Naropa University in the Writing & Poetics and Visual Arts departments.

Literary style

Abbott writes characters from the American Northwest that range from working-class, middle-class, and upper-middle-class people. He often portrays the emotional vectors and throughlines of his characters with dialogue, while his use of point of view tracks their habitual, intentional, and impulsive motivations. The heart of his stories are comedic, and he treats his subjects with compassion. As his characters struggle with class warfare, a bleak humor is often employed. His novels display techniques influenced by picaresque 18th-century British novelists, experimental American novelists and South American magical realists. His memoir of Richard Brautigan, Downstream from Trout Fishing in America, demonstrates empathetic yet critical styles of approaches.

Zen and Tai Chi

At the University of Washington, Abbott participated in a graduate seminar with Dr. Vincent K. Shih, which introduced him to Chinese philosophy and Mahayana Buddhism. Upon moving to California, Abbott continued to study Zen and Taoism. From 1989 to 2005, he added Tai Chi meditation to his sitting meditation practice. He studied with Ben Pang Lo in the Bay Area and with Bataan and Jane Faigo in Boulder, Colorado. His standing Qi Gong practice began with Kenneth S. Cohen and continued with Lenzie Williams, who authorized Abbott to teach some of the meditation methods. Abbott studied Zen Koans with John Daido Loori and Joan Halifax, Kaz Tanahashi, and Kobun Chino. His Zen calligraphy teachers have been Shen Hui-wei, Eiichi Okamota, Wang Jin-Haui, Harrison Xinshi Tu, and Kobun Chino Roshi. Abbott co-taught three contemplative Brush Calligraphy course with Kobun Chino, who held the World Wisdom Chair at Naropa University. In June 2002, Abbott was ordained as a lay Soto Zen monk in the Soto lineage and given his formal Buddhist name of Mugaku No Chokku Do by Kobun Chino Otogawa. During the ceremony Kobun stipulated that Abbott is to be called Kumasen, “Bear Sage” in the Haikubai Zendo in Boulder and elsewhere.

Bibliography

Fiction And Nonfiction
Richard Brautigan: The Edna Webster Collection Houghton Mifflin, 1999. Introduction.
Downstream, an excerpt. The Beat Scene Press, 1999. Memoir excerpt.
The French Girl. Rodent Press, 1996. Stories.
Skin and Bone. Tangram, 1992. Story.
The Last Part Of The First Thing Coming. Grey Spider, 1991. Story.
Downstream From Trout Fishing From America: a memoir of Richard Brautigan. Capra Press, 1989. Reprint Astrophil Press. 2009.
:Un rêveur à Babylone. L’Incertain, 1992. French EDition.

Un rêveur à Babylone. Domaine Etranger, 1991.

Racer. German Edition. Maroverlag 1993. Novel.
:Reprint. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 2006. Mordecai of Monterey. City Miner, 1985. Novel.
The First Thing Coming. Coffee House, 1987. Stories.
:Totale Überraschung. Ein Roman In Kurzgeschichten. Palmnenpresse, 1993. Harum Scarum. (Coffee House, 1984) Stories.
:ibid German edition. Maroverlag, 1989. Rhino Ritz. Blue Wind Press, 1979. Novel.
:ibid German edition. Palmnenpresse, 1993. Gush. Blue Wind Press, 1975. Novel.
Hero Pills. Blue Suede Shoes, 1974. Stories.
The Best Deal I Ever Made. Blue Suede Shoes, 1972. Story.

Poetry
Poetry For Sale, Mountain Forest Rivers, 2008.
Random Rocks. Bamboo Leaf Studio, 2007.
Next Door to Samsara. Fell Swoop, 2004.
All Ears. Empty Head, 2004.
Ballads. Blue Suede Shoes, 2004.
Twisty Chunks. Kavayantra, 1997.
Flashes. Kavayantra, 1996.
Good News Bad News. Doris Green Editions, 1984.
Word Nests. Privately printed, 1979.
What You Know With No Name For It. Cranium, 1976.
The Book of Rimbaud. New Rivers, 1977.
Erase Words. Blue Wind, 1975. Expanded edition.
12 Shot. Z Press, 1975.
Red Lettuce. The Fault, 1974.
Erase Words. Blue Suede Shoes, 1974.
Being Alone With A Girl. Blue Suede Shoes 1974.
Treys. The Other End, Vol. 1, No. 3, 1972.
Joie de Vivre. Blue Suede Shoes, 1972.
Thin & Thin. Blue Suede Shoes, 1971.
Short Change. Snazzy Wah Press, 1970.
Moving Postures. Snazzy Wah Press, 1970.
Putty. Cranium Press, 1970.
Dumptruck. Cranium Press, 1967.

Anthologies
"Buddhism and American Culture" III: WRITING AS ENLIGHTENMENT Suny Press, 2011.
Richard Prince American Prayer. National Library of France, Gagosian. 2011.
The Writing Workshop Model: Is It Still Working? Donnelly, ed. Multilingual Matters, 2010.
An Author Index to Little Magazines Mimeograph Revolution. Harter, ed. Scarecrow. 2007.
Uncontained. Heath, ed. Baksun Books. 2007.
Saints of Hysteria: A Half-Century of Collaborative American Poetry. Soft Skull, 2006.
Richard Brautigan Essays on the Writing & Life. Barber, ed. MacFarland Press, 2006.
Merrill At Sixty. Prairie Rose Press, 2005.
The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics, Dodd, ed. Free Press, 2005.
Rimbaud Après Rimbaud. Jeancolas, ed. Textuel, 2004.
Thus Spake The Corpse. Vol. I, II. Codrescu ed. Black Sparrow, 1999.
American Poets Say Goodbye To The 20th Century, Codrescu, ed. Four Walls, 1998.
What Book? Gary Gach, ed. Parallax Press, 1998.
Black Ice. Amerika, ed. Altx. Website, 1998.
Biennale 96. Minganti, ed. La Biennale di Venezia, 1996.
Degenerative Prose, Amerika & Sukenick, ed. Black Ice, 1995.
Beat Generation. Minganti, ed. Communa di Cesena, 1994.
Rosarot and Katzenjammer. Luchterhand, 1992.
Out of This World. Waldman, ed. Harmony/Crown, 1991.
Hands, Joining. Poet Calligraphers. Green, ed. Brooding Heron Press, 1988.
Black Box, Anthology of American & German Writers, Maroverlag, 1988.
Concert at Chopin's House, Polish/American Writing, Minczeski, ed. New Rivers, 1988.
Up Late. Codrescu, ed. 4 Walls 8 Windows, 1987.
The Best of California. Hayes, ed. Capra, 1986.
Men Talk. Fried & Singer ed. Pacific House Books, 1985.
Parkplatz Fur Johnny Weismuller. American Writing on Hollywood, Machwerk Verlag, 1984.
Das Rowohlt Abenteuer Lesebuch. Travel Writing, Rowohlt, 1984.
Sweet Little Sixteen. Growing Up In America. Schoenich, ed. Rowohlt, 1983.
City Country Miners. Helm, ed. City Miner, 1982.
Broadway. Schuyler & Violi, ed. Magpie, 1981.
Nuovo Romanzo Americano. La Polla, ed. Carte Segrete, 1980.
Califea. California Writers. Reed, ed. Wingbow, 1979.
The Little Magazine in America. Newman & Kinzie, ed. Pushcart Press 1978.
The Big House. Ailanthus, 1979.
Omens From The Flight of Birds. Vincent, ed. Momo's Press, 1977.
The Story So Far. Coach House, 1975.
Another World. Waldman, ed. Bobbs-Merrill, 1972.
Under 30. Newman, ed. Indiana Univ. Press, 1969.
Cannery Row Anthology. Nolan, ed. Polygon Press, 1966.

References

Elephant Journal - February 2009
European Beat Studies Network
Poets & Writers Magazine