Richard Brautigan was an American writer and poet 20th century, cult author of Trout Fishing in America and In Watermelon Sugar. Blending absurdism, humour, and melancholy, he became a voice of the 1960s counterculture. His work explored loneliness, love, and the absurdity of existence, inspiring generations of readers and writers alike.
✨ Trout Fishing in America became a counterculture classic, though Brautigan denied being its “prophet.” 📖 The book is a collage of vignettes, prose poems, and absurd humour rather than a conventional novel. 🌉 He lived in San Francisco, deeply tied to the bohemian “Summer of Love.” 📚 Often read poetry accompanied by rock bands, creating performance-like events. 🍉 In Watermelon Sugar is seen as his most poetic and enigmatic work. 💡 Loved genre-blending: mixing novel, essay, poetry, and surreal fragments. 📖 Achieved cult fame in Japan, hailed as a “Western Zen poet.” 🎣 Gave away fishing rods to friends, inscribed “for trout fishing in America.” 😅 Funny fact: inscribed books “with love, Richard” even to strangers. 🤔 Curious note: sold more books in France than in the US, joking “they understand me better there.”