Brautigan, Richard

Brautigan, Richard

▪ American author
in full  Richard Gary Brautigan  
born January 30, 1933, Tacoma, Washington, U.S.
died , before October 25, 1984, Bolinas, California

      American writer of pastoral, whimsical, often surreal works popular among readers in the counterculture of the 1960s and '70s.

      Brautigan had an unhappy childhood. He reported that his mother once abandoned him and his sister for several days at a hotel. In high school he exhibited antisocial behaviour and was arrested for breaking a police station window. Shortly afterward he was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, and he received electroshock therapy. After leaving the hospital, he moved to San Francisco, where he was befriended by writers such as Robert Duncan (Duncan, Robert) and Lawrence Ferlinghetti (Ferlinghetti, Lawrence).

      Brautigan's humorous first novel, A Confederate General from Big Sur (1964), deals in part with the agreement between the narrator and a drifter to believe in a Confederate general who is not to be found in the history books. His second novel, Trout Fishing in America (1967), a commentary on the state of nature in contemporary America, sold two million copies, and its title was adopted as the name of several American communes.

      Brautigan's novels are usually short and feature passive protagonists whose innocence shields them from the moral consequences of their actions. They struck a chord with the period's dropouts from the mainstream who were known as hippies and flower children. His later novels include In Watermelon Sugar and The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster (both 1968), The Abortion: An Historical Romance, 1966 (1971), The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western (1974), Dreaming of Babylon: A Private Eye Novel, 1942 (1977), The Tokyo-Montana Express (1979), and So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away (1982). Brautigan also published a short-story collection, Revenge of the Lawn: Stories, 1962–1970 (1971), and several poetry collections. His death was an apparent suicide brought on by divorce, drinking, and depression.

Additional Reading
Biographies and memoirs include Edward Halsey Foster, Richard Brautigan (1983); Keith Abbott, Downstream from Trout Fishing in America: A Memoir of Richard Brautigan (1989); and Ianthe Brautigan, You Can't Catch Death (2000), by his daughter. Also useful is John F. Barber, Richard Brautigan: An Annotated Bibliography (1990). Marc Chénetier, Richard Brautigan (1983), is a critical work by a French academic.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Brautigan, Richard — (1935–1984)    Although he knew the Beats and they him, Brautigan always insisted that he was not a part of their literary movement. Contemporary literary opinion supports this contention, seeing Brautigan, his work, and his place in American… …   Encyclopedia of Beat Literature

  • Brautigan — Richard Brautigan (* 30. Januar 1935 in Tacoma, Washington; † September 1984 in Bolinas, Kalifornien) war ein US amerikanischer Schriftsteller. Brautigan gilt als einer der Hauptvertreter des amerikanischen Westküsten Underground der 60er und… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • BRAUTIGAN (R.) — BRAUTIGAN RICHARD (1935 1984) Né en 1935 dans une famille ouvrière à Tacoma (État de Washington), Richard Brautigan mit fin à son existence un jour d’octobre 1984 à Bolinas, en Californie. C’est en Californie, déjà, qu’émerge dans les années… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Richard Brautigan — [[Image: Add caption here |220px|center|]] Activités Poète, Romancier, N …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Richard Brautigan — (* 30. Januar 1935 in Tacoma, Washington; † September 1984 in Bolinas, Kalifornien) war ein US amerikanischer Schriftsteller. Brautigan gilt als einer der Hauptvertreter des amerikanischen Westküsten Underground der 60er und 70er Jahre.… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Brautigan — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Brautigan peut se référer à : Richard Brautigan (1935 1984), un écrivain américain. Brautigan ou La vallée du Paradis (2002), une pièce de Bruno… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Brautigan — may refer to:* Richard Brautigan (1935 1984), a U.S. writer * Brautigan (play), a 2002 French play by Bruno Boëglin adapting Richard Brautigan …   Wikipedia

  • Brautigan —   [ brɔːtɪgən], Richard Gary, amerikanischer Schriftsteller, * Tacoma (Washington) 30. 1. 1935, ✝ (Selbstmord) Bolínas (Calif.) September (am 25. 10. aufgefunden) 1984; seine auf alltägliche Begebenheiten beruhenden komischen und surrealen… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Richard Tabbi — Richard F. Tabbi Richard F. Tabbi est un écrivain français né en 1967 dans le sud de la France. Sommaire 1 Biographie 2 Bibliographie 3 Musique 4 Voir aussi …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Richard F. Tabbi — Richard Tabbi est un écrivain français. Sommaire 1 Biographie 2 Bibliographie 3 Musique 4 Voir aussi …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”