Trout Fishing in America

Richard Brautigan

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Year: 2010
• eBook ISBN:
  9780547488707
• Subtopic: Literature General

A book "that has very little to do with trout fishing and a lot to do with the lamenting of a passing pastoral America . . . an instant cult classic" ( Financial Times).
Richard Brautigan was a literary idol of the 1960s and '70s who came of age during the heyday of Haight-Ashbury and whose comic genius and iconoclastic vision of American life caught the imaginations of young people everywhere. Called "the last of the Beats," his early books became required reading for the hip generation, and on its publication Trout Fishing in America became an international bestseller. An indescribable romp, the novel is best summed up in one word: mayonnaise.
 
This new edition features an introduction by poet Billy Collins, who first encountered Brautigan's work as a student in California.
 
From the introduction: "'Trout Fishing in America' is a catchphrase that morphs throughout the book into a variety of conceptual and dramatic shapes. At one point it has a physical body that bears such a resemblance to that of Lord Byron that it is brought by ship from Missolonghi to England, in 1824, where it is autopsied. 'Trout Fishing in America' is also a slogan that sixth-graders enjoy writing on the backs of first-graders. . . . In one notable exhibition of the title's variability, 'Trout Fishing in America' turns into a gourmet with a taste for walnut catsup and has Maria Callas for a girlfriend. Through such ironic play, Brautigan destabilizes any conventional idea of a book as he begins to create a world where things seem unwilling to stay in their customary places."

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• Copyright
• Frontispiece
• Introduction
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• The Cover For Trout Fishing In America
• Knock On Wood (Part One)
• Knock On Wood (Part Two)
• Red Lip
• The Kool-Aid Wino
• Another Method Of Making Walnut Catsup
• Prologue To Grider Creek
• Grider Creek
• The Ballet For Trout Fishing In America
• A Walden Pond For Winos
• Tom Martin Creek
• Trout Fishing On The Bevel
• Sea, Sea Rider
• The Last Year The Trout Came Up Hayman Creek
• Trout Death By Port Wine
• The Autopsy of Trout Fishing In America
• The Message
• Trout Fishing In America Terrorists
• Trout Fishing In America With The FBI
• Worsewick
• The Shipping Of Trout Fishing In America Shorty To Nelson Algren
• The Mayor Of The Twentieth Century
• On Paradise
• The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari
• The Salt Creek Coyotes
• The Hunchback Trout
• The Teddy Roosevelt Chingader’
• Footnote Chapter To “The Shipping Of Trout Fishing In America Shorty To Nelson Algren”
• The Pudding Master Of Stanley Basin
• Room 208, Hotel Trout Fishing In America
• The Surgeon
• A Note On The Camping Craze That Is Currently Sweeping America
• A Return To The Cover Of This Book
• The Lake Josephus Days
• Trout Fishing On The Street Of Eternity
• The Towel
• Sandbox Minus John Dillinger Equals What?
• The Last Time I Saw Trout Fishing In America
• In The California Bush
• The Last Mention Of Trout Fishing In America Shorty
• Witness For Trout Fishing In America Peace
• Footnote Chapter To “Red Lip”
• The Cleveland Wrecking Yard
• A Half-Sunday Homage To A Whole Leonardo Da Vinci
• Trout Fishing In America NIB
• Prelude To The Mayonnaise Chapter
• The Mayonnaise Chapter
• About the Author
• Connect with HMH