Trout Fishing in America

infobox Book |
name = Trout Fishing in America
title_orig =
translator =


author = Richard Brautigan
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Novella, Prose poem
publisher = Delacorte Press
release_date = October 12, 1967
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 112
isbn = ISBN 0-385-28860-3 (hardback edition) & ISBN 0-395-50076-1 (paperback edition)
preceded_by = A Confederate General From Big Sur
followed_by = In Watermelon Sugar

"Trout Fishing in America" is a novella written by Richard Brautigan and published in 1967. It is technically Brautigan's first novel; he wrote it in 1961 before "A Confederate General From Big Sur" which was published first.

"Trout Fishing In America" is an abstract book without a clear central storyline. Instead, the book contains a series of anecdotes broken into chapters, with the same characters often reappearing from story to story. The phrase "Trout Fishing in America" is used in multiple ways: it is the title of the book, a character, a hotel, the act of fishing itself, a modifier (one character is named "Trout Fishing in America Shorty"), etc. Brautigan uses the theme of trout fishing as a point of departure for thinly veiled and often comical critiques of mainstream American society and culture. Several symbolic objects, such as a mayonnaise jar, a Ben Franklin statue in San Francisco's Washington Square, trout, etc. reappear throughout the book.

The cover of the book is a photograph of Richard Brautigan and a friend identified as Michaela Le Grand, whom he referred to as his "Muse." The photo was taken in San Francisco's Washington Square Park in front of the Benjamin Franklin statue.

Apollo 17 astronaut Jack Schmitt named a crater explored in the Taurus-Littrow Valley on the moon "Shorty", after the character in the book.

Allusions/references from other works

W. P. Kinsella cited it as a major influence on his 1985 book, "The Alligator Report". Fact|date=February 2007

External links

* [http://www.brautigan.net/trout.html Entry on brautigan.net]