The Novels of Richard Brautigan

The novels of Richard Brautigan are some of the most distinctive in American literature and evolved from the general themes and counterculture values of the Beat generation.  Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, founder of City Lights Press, was a friend of Brautigan and published some of his early work.  After Brautigan was read by novelist Kurt Vonnegut, the latter recommended Brautigan to Delacorte Press, which led to more conventional publishing contracts.

The novels are characterized by both playfulness as well as dark satire and pessimism.  Most are surrealistic in nature, exhibiting outrageous yet appropriate metaphors in the actual prose.  A strong thread of Zen Buddhism runs throughout most of the novels and can best be seen in Sombrero Fallout: A Japanese Novel.  The novels also demonstrate the author's affinity with nature, perhaps a result of his birth in the Pacific Northwest and his time spent in Montana.

After the novelty of Brautigan's work passed, interest in his work had declined by the 1980s.  Ferlinghetti said, "As an editor I was always waiting for Richard to grow up as a writer."  At the time of his death, it seemed as if critics, editors, and readers had abandoned Brautigan. 

Ironically, the years following his death would see an abiding interest in Brautigan's novels, which continue to be reprinted and read as of this writing in 2015.  Brautigan is often compared to Twain, Vonnegut, and Tom Robbins.  Others have called him "a Hemingway for hippies."  New generations of readers continue to discover the novels of Richard Brautigan, which challenge the way a reader should approach plot and narrative every bit as much as the works of James Joyce.

The following novels by Richard Brautigan are discussed on this site and accompanied by the basic publishing history of each work.

A Confederate General from Big Sur
Dreaming of Babylon: A Private Eye Novel 1942
The Hawkline Monster
So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away
Sombrero Fallout: A Japanese Novel
The Tokyo-Montana Express
Trout Fishing in America
An Unfortunate Woman
In Watermelon Sugar
Willard and His Bowling Trophies: A Perverse Mystery

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