trout fishing in america

Trout Fishing in America is a novella written by Richard Brautigan and published in 1967. It is technically Brautigan's first novel; he wrote it in 1961 before A Confederate General From Big Sur which was published first.

Trout Fishing In America is an abstract book without a clear central storyline. Instead, the book contains a series of anecdotes broken into chapters, with the same characters often reappearing from story to story. The phrase "Trout Fishing in America" is used in multiple ways: it is the title of the book, a character, a hotel, the act of fishing itself, a modifier (one character is named "Trout Fishing in America Shorty"), etc. Brautigan uses the theme of trout fishing as a point of departure for thinly veiled and often comical critiques of mainstream American society and culture. Several symbolic objects, such as a mayonnaise jar, a Ben Franklin statue in San Francisco's Washington Square, trout, etc. reappear throughout the book.

The cover of the book is a photograph of Richard Brautigan and a friend identified as Michaela Le Grand, whom he referred to as his "Muse." The photo was taken in San Francisco's Washington Square Park in front of the Benjamin Franklin statue.

Apollo 17 astronaut Jack Schmitt named a crater explored in the Taurus-Littrow Valley on the moon "Shorty", after the character in the book.

Arion Press published a deluxe edition of Trout Fishing in America in 2003, with a preface by Ron Loewinsohn and a color lithograph in half the edition by Wayne Thiebaud.

Allusions/references from other works

W. P. Kinsella cited it as a major influence on his 1985 book, The Alligator Report.[citation needed]

External links Entry on brautigan.net [hide] v • d • eWorks by Richard Brautigan Novels

A Confederate General From Big Sur (1964) • Trout Fishing in America (1967) • In Watermelon Sugar (1968) • The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966 (1971) • The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western (1974) • Willard and His Bowling Trophies: A Perverse Mystery (1975) • Sombrero Fallout: A Japanese Novel (1976) • Dreaming of Babylon: A Private Eye Novel 1942 (1977) • The Tokyo-Montana Express (1980) • So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away (1982) • An Unfortunate Woman: A Journey (1994) Poetry collections

The Return of the Rivers (1958) · The Galilee Hitch-Hiker (1958) · Lay The Marble Tea (1959) · The Octopus Frontier (1960) · All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (1963) · Please Plant This Book (1968) · The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster (1968) · Rommel