Editing Richard Brautigan (section)

==Career==
In San Francisco, Brautigan sought to establish himself as a writer. He was known for handing out his poetry on the streets and performing at poetry clubs. In early 1956, Brautigan typed a three-page manuscript and sent it to [[Macmillan Inc.]] for publication.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brautigan.net/speciality.html |title=Richard Brautigan: Speciality Publications of His Writings |publisher=Brautigan.net |access-date=1 August 2012}}</ref> The manuscript consisted of two pages with 14 poems and a page with the dedication "for Linda". Of the poems, only "stars" and "hey" were titled. In a letter dated May 10, 1956, Macmillan rejected the manuscript, stating, "... there is no place where it will fit in". In 2005, the X-Ray Book Company published the manuscript as a [[chapbook]] titled ''Desire in a Bowl of Potatoes''.

Brautigan's first poetry book publication was ''[[The Return of the Rivers]]'' (1957),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brautigan.net/rivers.html |title=Richard Brautigan: The Return of the Rivers |publisher=Brautigan.net |date=September 11, 1957 |access-date=1 August 2012}}</ref> a single poem, followed by two collections of poetry: ''[[The Galilee Hitch-Hiker]]'' (1958) and ''[[Lay the Marble Tea]]'' (1959). During the 1960s Brautigan became involved in the burgeoning San Francisco [[Counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture scene]], often appearing as a performance poet at concerts and participating in the various activities of [[Diggers (theater)|The Diggers]]. He contributed several short pieces to be used as broadsides by the Communication Company. Brautigan was also a writer for  ''Change'', an [[Underground press|underground newspaper]] created by [[Ron Loewinsohn]].

In the summer of 1961, while camping in [[Little Redfish Lake|southern Idaho]] with his wife and daughter Ianthe, Brautigan completed the novels ''[[A Confederate General from Big Sur]]'' and ''[[Trout Fishing in America]].''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brautigan.net/trout.html|title=Richard Brautigan: Trout Fishing in America|website=brautigan.net|access-date=July 5, 2018}}</ref> ''A Confederate General from Big Sur'' was his debut novel, published in 1964, and met with little critical or commercial success. 

But when  ''Trout Fishing in America'' was published in 1967, Brautigan was catapulted to international fame. Literary critics labeled him the writer most representative of the emerging countercultural youth movement of the late 1960s, even though he was said to be contemptuous of [[hippies]].<ref name=BrautMemoirs>{{cite web|url=http://www.brautigan.net/memoirs.html#wright|title=Memoirs|work=Brautigan Bibliography and Archive|author=Barber, John F.|access-date=18 December 2007}}</ref> ''Trout Fishing in America'' has sold over 4 million copies worldwide. 

With his earnings, Brautigan bought a house in Bolinas and a ranch in Montana. He and his wife had separated when their daughter was two, and Ianthe lived mostly with him until she married.

During the 1960s Brautigan published four collections of poetry as well as another novel, ''[[In Watermelon Sugar]]'' (1968). In the spring of 1967 he was Poet-in-Residence at the [[California Institute of Technology]]. During this year, his chapbook, ''[[All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (poetry collection)|All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace]]'', was published by The Communication Company. It was printed in an edition of 1,500 copies and distributed free. 

From 1968 to 1970 Brautigan had 23 short pieces published in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine.<ref>[http://brautigan.cybernetic-meadows.net/tiki-index.php?page=Rolling%20Stone] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001091828/http://brautigan.cybernetic-meadows.net/tiki-index.php?page=Rolling%20Stone|date=October 1, 2011}}</ref> From late 1968 to February 1969, Brautigan recorded a spoken-word album for [[The Beatles]]' short-lived record-label, [[Zapple]]. The label was shut down by [[Allen Klein]] before the recording could be released. It was released in 1970 on [[Harvest Records]] as ''Listening to Richard Brautigan''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brautigan.net/recordings.html#listening|title=Recordings|work=Brautigan Bibliography and Archive|author=Barber, John F.|access-date=18 December 2007}}</ref>

In the 1970s Brautigan experimented with literary genres. He published five novels (the first of which, ''[[The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966]]'', had been written in the mid-1960s) and a collection of short stories, ''[[Revenge of the Lawn]]'' (1971). In 1974 The Cowell Press collected seven of his broadside poems into the book ''Seven Watermelon Suns''. The limited edition of ten copies included embossed color etchings by Ellen Meske.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://21guitars.com/documents/brautigan.html |title=Richard Brautigan |publisher=21guitars.com |date=January 30, 1935 |access-date=1 August 2012}}</ref> 

"When the 1960s ended, he was the [[Throw out the baby with the bath water|baby thrown out with the bath water]]," said his friend and fellow writer, [[Thomas McGuane]]. "He was a gentle, troubled, deeply odd guy." Generally dismissed by literary critics and increasingly abandoned by his readers, Brautigan found his popularity waned throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. His work remained popular in Europe, however, as well as in Japan, where Brautigan visited several times.<ref name=Braut70>{{cite web|url=http://www.brautigan.net/chronology1970.html|title=Biography: 1970s|work=Brautigan Bibliography and Archive|author=Barber, John F.|access-date=18 December 2007}}</ref> 

To some of his critics, Brautigan was naive. [[Lawrence Ferlinghetti]] said of him, "As an editor I was always waiting for Richard to grow up as a writer. It seems to me he was essentially a naïf, and I don't think he cultivated that childishness, I think it came naturally. It was like he was much more in tune with the trout in America than with people."<ref name=Manso>Manso, Peter; McClure, Michael. "Brautigan's Wake." ''Vanity Fair'', May 1985: 62–68, 112–116.</ref>

Brautigan's writings are characterized by a remarkable and humorous imagination. The permeation of inventive metaphors lent even his prose works the feeling of poetry. Evident also are themes of [[Zen]] Buddhism, such as the duality of the past and the future and the impermanence of the present.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mambrol |first=Nasrullah |date=2020-07-10 |title=Analysis of Richard Brautigan's Poems |url=https://literariness.org/2020/07/10/analysis-of-richard-brautigans-poems/ |access-date=2022-10-06 |website=Literary Theory and Criticism |language=en-US}}</ref> Brautigan's last publication before his death in 1984 was his novel ''[[So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away]]'' (1982).

''The Edna Webster Collection of Undiscovered Writings'' was published in 1999. Brautigan, then twenty-one, had given this collection of writings to Edna Webster in 1955, when he left Oregon for San Francisco.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Edna Webster collection of undiscovered writings|last=Richard.|first=Brautigan|date=1999|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|others=Webster, Edna.|isbn=0395974690|location=Boston|oclc=41412011|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/ednawebstercolle0000brau}}</ref>

In 2002, a proposed edition of Brautigan's collected poems was rejected by his estate.<ref>''Richard Brautigan: Essays on the Writings and Life'' (McFarland, 2007), p. 188.</ref> In November 2016 the French publisher Le Castor Astral published a bilingual edition entitled ''Tout ce que j'ai à déclarer: œuvre poétique complète.''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.castorastral.com/livre/cest-jai-a-declarer/|title=C'est tout ce que j'ai à déclarer|website=castorastral.com|access-date=July 5, 2018}}</ref>