Trout Fisherman, Revisited

Author Richard Brautigan, whose novels were compact and dreamy, was a conundrum of a man: Embraced by the '60s counterculture, he didn't return the favor, and at the end of the era, the fame built on the strength of his novel Trout Fishing in America petered out. On a parallel...

By Susan Froyd

March 29, 2012

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Author Richard Brautigan, whose novels were compact and dreamy, was a conundrum of a man: Embraced by the '60s counterculture, he didn't return the favor, and at the end of the era, the fame built on the strength of his novel Trout Fishing in America petered out. On a parallel with Jack Kerouac, the muse of another generation, Brautigan -- who shot himself in the head in 1984 (his note said, "Messy, isn't it?") -- ended life as an alcoholic, with the best years of his life well past. It's perhaps in reaction to the brevity of Brautigan's best novels and his output that his biographer, William Hjortsberg, leaves no stone unturned. Hjortsberg even inserts himself into the story in his 900-page paean, Jubilee Hitchhiker: The Life & Times of Richard Brautigan. At any rate, consider it one of the most comprehensive biographies you'll ever read.

Hjortsberg drops in tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Tattered Cover Book Store, 2526 Colfax Avenue, to discuss and sign copies of Jubilee Hitchhiker (Counterpoint, $38); for details visit www.tatteredcover.com or call 303-322-7727.
Mon., April 2, 7:30 p.m., 2012

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Susan Froyd started writing for Westword as the "Thrills" editor in 1992 and never quite left the fold. These days she still freelances for the paper in addition to walking her dogs, enjoying cheap ethnic food and reading voraciously. Sometimes she writes poetry.

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