Richard Gary Brautigan (January 30, 1935 – c. September 16, 1984) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. He wrote throughout his life and published ten novels, two collections of short stories, and ten books of poetry. Brautigan's work has been published both in the United States and internationally throughout Europe, Japan, and China. He is best known for his novels Trout Fishing in America (1967), In Watermelon Sugar (1968), and The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966 (1971).
Brautigan was born in Tacoma, Washington, the only child of Bernard Frederick "Ben" Brautigan Jr. (July 29, 1908 – May 27, 1994), a factory worker and laborer, and Lulu Mary "Mary Lou" Keho (April 7, 1911 – September 24, 2005), a waitress. In May 1934, eight months before Richard's birth, Bernard and Mary Lou separated.
Brautigan said that he met his biological father only twice. But after Richard's death, Bernard appeared to have been unaware that Richard was his child, saying, "He's got the same last name, but why would they wait 45 to 50 years to tell me I've got a son?"
In 1938, Brautigan and his mother began living with Arthur Martin Titland. The couple had a daughter, Barbara Ann, born on May 1, 1939, in Tacoma. Brautigan said that he had a very traumatic experience when, at age nine, his mother left him and his four-year-old sister unattended in a motel room in Great Falls, Montana, for two days.
On January 20, 1943, Mary Lou married fry cook Robert Geoffrey Porterfield. The couple had a daughter named Sandra Jean, born April 1, 1945, at Salem General Hospital in Salem, Oregon. Mary Lou told Brautigan that Porterfield was his biological father, and Brautigan began using Richard Gary Porterfield as his name.
Mary Lou separated from Porterfield in 1946. She married William David Folston Sr. on June 12, 1950. The couple had a son named William David Jr., born on December 19, 1950, in Eugene. Brautigan said that Folston was a violent alcoholic, whom Richard had seen abusing his mother.
Brautigan was raised in poverty; he told his daughter stories of his mother sifting rat feces out of their supply of flour before making flour-and-water pancakes. Brautigan's family found it difficult to obtain food, and on some occasions they did not eat for days. The family lived on welfare and moved about the Pacific Northwest for nine years before settling in Eugene, Oregon, in August 1944.
Brautigan drew on his childhood in the poems and stories that he wrote from as early as the age of 12. His novel So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away (1982) is loosely based on childhood events, including an incident in which Brautigan accidentally shot the brother of a close friend in the ear, injuring him slightly.
On September 12, 1950, Brautigan enrolled at South Eugene High School. He wrote for his high school newspaper, the Eugene High School News. He also played on the school's basketball team. He was 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) tall by the time of his graduation. On December 19, 1952, Brautigan's first published poem, "The Light", appeared in the school newspaper. Brautigan graduated with honors from Eugene High School on June 9, 1953.
After graduation, he moved in with his best friend Peter Webster, and Peter's mother Edna Webster became a surrogate mother to Brautigan. According to several accounts, Brautigan stayed with the Websters for about a year before leaving for San Francisco for the first time in August 1954. He returned to Oregon several times, apparently for lack of money.
On December 14, 1955, Brautigan was arrested for throwing a rock through a police station window, supposedly to be sent to prison and fed. He was arrested for disorderly conduct and fined $25. He was committed to the Oregon State Hospital on December 24, 1955, after police noticed patterns of erratic behavior.
At the Oregon State Hospital Brautigan was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and clinical depression, and was treated with electroconvulsive therapy 12 times. While institutionalized, he began writing The God of the Martians, a manuscript of 20 very short chapters totaling 600 words. The manuscript was sent to at least two editors but was rejected by both, and remains unpublished. (A copy of the manuscript was discovered with the papers of the last of those editors, Harry Hooton, sometime after 1961.)
On February 19, 1956, Brautigan was released from the hospital and briefly lived with his mother, stepfather, and siblings in Eugene. He left for San Francisco, where he would spend most of the rest of his life except for periods in Tokyo and Montana.
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. 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), 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 scene, often appearing as a performance poet at concerts and participating in the various activities of 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 newspaper created by Ron Loewinsohn.
In the summer of 1961, while camping in southern Idaho with his wife and daughter Ianthe, Brautigan completed the novels A Confederate General from Big Sur and Trout Fishing in America. 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. 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.