fifth strawberry

... is a star

 12 strawberries
    He was the ugly duckling
turned into a swan.
    Michael McClure

  • In 1967 Four Seasons Foundation (San Francisco) publishes »Trout Fishing In America«.
  • In 1968 Four Seasons Foundation publishes »In Watermelon Sugar«.
  • The books are sold at editions of 5.000 copies. Tendency rising ...
  • Short stories by Richard Brautigan are published in Rolling Stone, Playboy, Vogue und Esquire.
  • LIFE brings a story about Richard Brautigan.
  • The New Yorker publishing house Delacorte buys the rights for Richard Brautigan's books.
  • »Trout Fishing In America« sells 2.000.000 copies.
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Richard's own account of his first perception of his oncoming reknown was realistic and commonplace. He told me that he knew he was going to be famous the day he walked into his neighborhood Chinese grocery and saw that the teenage girl at the cash register was reading »Trout Fishing in America«.

Keith Abbott, Downstream from trout fishing in America, p. 65

 
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Finally Richard Brautigan gets his public image, because finally the media find him, the Hippie Writer. There is no escaping from this image for Richard Brautigan in America. He is the literature star of this generation, and everything that he writes sells itself automatically. Beside permanent new editions of his novels a collection of his short stories »Revenge of the Lawn: Stories 1962 - 1970« appears, as well as two poetry books: »The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Desaster« (1968) and »Rommel Drives On Deep Into Egypt« (1970).

The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Desaster

When you take your pill
it's like a mine disaster.
I think of all the people
    lost inside of you.

Richard Brautigan, The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Desaster, p. 100


According to Keith Abbott Richard Brautigan enjoys his fame, provokes it also a little bit, e.g. by his appearance on the covers of his books. However he also complains of the seamy side like importunate journalists. When he notices that his books are also sold without any PR, he simply gives no more interviews and rejects all readings.

At the beginning 70's Richard Brautigan is on the highest point of his commercial success, and then there comes the book about the Internet ...

 
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