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by Helen Brann?
Richard Brautigan was a writer I was honored to represent as his literary agent from 1968 on. I think Richard was an American genius, a pure artist, an original voice out of the West from which he came. I believe Richard's work will last, not only because of his brilliant style so individual, spare, and alternately sharp and gentle, but because in books like Trout Fishing in America, Willard And His Bowling Trophies and The Hawkline Monster he explored the funny, phony, violent, romantic America he loved enough to see with open-eyed vision. His books, so much shorter in page length than his contemporaries' works, had real size. European publishers and Japanese publishers saw these qualities and all his titles are in print in over twelve countries, including the U.S. editions of all his work.
A personal note about Richard, because he and I became good trusting friends, and that is that he was a consummate professional in his dealings with me and his publishers. I have never had a client so deliberate and knowing about his contracts, so knowledgeable about production problems and design, so fair about what was a reasonable demand and what went over that sometimes fine line. Richard was gentle and kind to me always, funny and acute and great fun to be with whether in New York, San Francisco, or Montana. He spared me his miseries, and now I know how very much he protected me. I loved him very much, and shall miss him always.
Dictionary of Literary Biography? Yearbook: 1984
Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1985
Copyright note: My purpose in putting this material on the web is to provide Brautigan scholars and fans with ideas for further research into Richard Brautigan's work. It is used here in accordance with fair use guidelines. No attempt is made regarding commercial duplication and/or dissemination. If you are the author of this article or hold the copyright and would like me to remove your article from the Brautigan Archives, please contact me at birgit at cybernetic-meadows.net.
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