"In watermelon sugar the deeds were done and done again as my life is done in watermelon sugar."

Richard Brautigan's style of writing is weird, really weird. Names become verbs, nouns become characters, and persons become ideas. Nothing rubs quite right when it comes to Richard Brautigan.

The Beginning

Born on January 30th, 1935 in Tacoma, Washington, his mother moved the family to a shack in Eugene, Oregon, where Brautigan spent his childhood. 'Poor White Trash' would be an excellent phrase to cover this part of his live and seemed to affect him greatly. In later life he never spoke of his family or any friends from this time.

The hunger of a 'White Trash' existence was a constant worry. At the age of 20 he was arrested for throwing a rock through a police station window. When asked why he did this he said he wanted to go to jail so he could eat. Instead he was sent to Oregon State Hospital, where he was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic and treated with electroshock therapy.

He moved to San Francisco in 1957, and managed to publish a slim book of poetry, 'Lay The Marble Tea', in 1959.

The Middle

Some writers evolve their voices over time, but Brautigan established a single signature style that barely wavered at any point during his career. His books usually featured stark black and white cover photos of hippies in Victorian clothing gazing ironically back at the camera. His writings were as minimalist as these photos.

Brautigan wrote intensely during the early 60's, cultivating friendships with the Beat Movement and other San Francisco-based poets. He often gave away copies of his poems on the streets. His first novel, "A Confederate General in Big Sur", was published in 1965.

He liked to patch novels together out of short chapters made from odd, surreal anecdotes or observations--some only a paragraph long--that slipped back and forth between sudden expressions of emotional complexity and remarkably plain depictions of everyday life.

He became famous for his 1967 classic, "Trout Fishing In America": a deeply odd book that is guaranteed to surprise anybody who reads it today. It was written whilst summer camping with wife and child in Idaho's Stanley Basin on a portable typewriter alongside the trout streams.

He also wrote much poetry. A poem called 'All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace¹' may be his most well-known work of verse. During 1966-67, he served as the poet-in-residence at California Institute of Technology.

In 1968 "In Watermelon Sugar" and "The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster" published. The first a story about a place called iDEATH that makes lamps, planks and oil from watermelon sugar, the second a collection of poetry. "Please Plant This Book" was also published: eight seed packets, each containing seeds, with poems printed on the sides.

The End

Brautigan was well-liked by his friends and broadly popular with young readers, but he also seemed to be deeply unhappy with himself. He began drinking more and more heavily, preferring alcohol to drugs.

In 1972 or '73, Brautigan moves to Pine Creek, Montana and allegedly refuses to give interviews or lecture for the next eight years.

He continued to publish novels throughout the 70's and early 80's but his drinking became worse, his personality worsened as well, and he developed an unhealthy affection for guns.

In 1982, 'So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away' is published. A fable about a poor young boy who contemplates whether to spend his pocketful of money on bullets for his rifle, or on a hamburger. He buys the bullets and accidentally shoots and kills a young friend. Much of the book is about the fact that he wishes he had bought the hamburger instead.

This was to be his last book. His body was found on October 25th 1984 in his second home in Bolinas, California. The 49-year-old author's body—-already several weeks old--was found next to a bottle of alcohol and a .44 caliber gun. There was evidence that he died of a gunshot wound.