Customer Reviews

Downstream from Trout Fishing in America: A Memoir of Richard Brautigan

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Keith Abbott was a friend and, as much as anyone could be, a confidant of the late neo-beat author, Richard Brautigan. This is one of surprisingly few biographical and/or critical works on this unique American writer. Lately there seems to be a mini-renaissance of interest in Brautigan's work. Internet sites, notably Jen Leibhart's, " The Brautigan Pages" will provide the interested surfer with contacts of other aficionados. This writer has received e-mail from Finland and Germany where Brautigan's work is becoming known (again?).
I know of only two other works dedicated exclusively tothis author, Terence Malley's "Richard Brautigan", a 1972 publication in Warner's "Writers for the Seventies" series and Marc Chenetier's 1983 more inclusive "Richard Brautigan".
The Abbott book is far more personal and, for thiswriter, more interesting. It is the only work that makes a serious effort at a biographical approach to this enigmatic writer.
It may be some time before Brautigan's significance as a man of letters can be agreed upon but the recent resurgence of interest suggests that he will not fall into obscurity.
By the way you can e-mail Jen Leibhart at jen@cnct.com.
So until some enterprising writer attempts a true literary biography Keith Abbott's book will fill this unjust gap in American letters.