Background

Brautigan and San Francisco poet Andrew Hoyem spent ten days at the California Institute of Technology, 17-26 January 1967, as poets-in-residence. They stayed in the guest suite at Ricketts House.

Brautigan and Hoyem sat in on classes and regularly walked about the campus, prompting remarks and photographs. Hoyem, dressed in bold-checkered jackets of three-piece suits and ties, and Brautigan, wearing his unique San Francisco-style clothes, attracted a lot of attention. Coffee with readings and literary discussions each morning at eleven and dinner each evening at a different student residence house provided Brautigan and Hoyem venues for their campaign to bring creativity to the more scientific student body at Cal Tech. These activities also helped to draw students to readings by Brautigan and Hoyem.

From the coffee sessions, Brautigan and Hoyem developed fifteen amusing quotes focusing on coffee. They called this list "Student Simulation Stations." They mimeographed this list and distributed copies around the campus.

Le Grand Farewell Appearance

Wednesday, 25 January 1967
The final event of Hoyem and Brautigan's residency, called "Le Grand Farewell Appearance," was held 11:00 AM in the Winnett Lounge. The letter-sized Communication Company promotional poster announcing this event was printed one side, black ink on goldenrod paper. Brautigan shared his newly-written poem, "At the California Institute of Technology" with those gathered.

Outcomes

Two Brautigan poems, "My Nose is Growing Old" and "November 3" were reprinted in the March 1967 issue of the school's literary magazine, Totem. Brautigan's previously unpublished poem, "At the California Institute of Technology", appeared in the May 1967 issue of this magazine.

Schmidt, Carol. "Writer Sights in on Bozeman Life." Bozeman Chronicle, 26 April 1982, pp. 1-2.
Brautigan talks about his childhood, his self-taught writing abilities, his early publication struggles, his unexpected popularity, his residency in Japan and Montana, the controversial banning of five of his books, his sensitivity to the concerns of children, his concern over criticism against his work, and his future saying, "I don't know where or what I'll be working on, but I do know why I'll be writing. Because I like it."

Young, Barbara. "Author Goes to College—As A Teacher." Great Falls Tribune, 14 June 1982, p. 9A.
A shortened version of a press release by Young, MSU News Service, written 11 June 1982. Says, "Brautigan, who did not attend college and considers himself self-taught, instructed a creative writing course in MSU's English Department this spring. . . . 'I think education provides the tools for a person to understand and enjoy life on this planet.' he says. 'The more you know, the more you can enjoy during our brief stay here. You can't get too much education. It should be a lifelong process.'"

Creative Arts Conference

18-29 August 1969
United States International University
San Diego, California

Brautigan participated in the Creative Arts Conference sponsored by United States International University, San Diego, California. Prior to 1968 United States International University was known as California Western. The 8.5" x 12" poster/handbill advertising the conference featured a photograph by Edmund Shea of Brautigan.

The Conference was a twelve-day series of lectures by ten artists and writers including Don Carpenter, Stephen Schneck, Michael McClure, Robert Creeley, Ed Dorn; filmmakers James Blue, Mike Ahnemann, Denis Sanders, and Jim Morrison of The Doors, scheduled to screen Feast of Friends. Brautigan's scheduled appearance was 22 August 1969. Reportedly, Brautigan also conducted classes in creative writing during his campus visit.

22 August 1969

The events were divided into three categories: "The Film-Maker," "The Writer," and "The Poet." Brautigan, listed as "author of Trout Fishing in America," appeared on 22 August in the Solomon Little Theater. Also scheduled were writers Don Carpenter and Stephen Schneck and poets Michael McClure, Robert Creeley, and Ed Dorn. Filmmakers on the schedule included James Blue (The Olive Tree of Justice), Mike Ahnemann (Cowboy), Dennis Sanders (A Time Out of War), and Jim Morrison, singer for the rock group The Doors, who was scheduled to screen his film Feast of Friends.

Modern Language Association of America

29 December 1979
San Francisco, California

At the 94th annual meeting of the Modern Language Association of America (MLA) in San Francisco, in December, Brautigan participated in a panel discussion concerning the importance of Zen Buddhism to American Literature. This special event, titled "Zen and Contemporary Poetry," held at 9:00 pm, in Plaza Square of the Hyatt Hotel, included Robert Bly, Gary Snyder, Lucien Stark, Philip Whalen, and Brautigan as speakers. A listing of this program is included in the Directory of PMLA 94(6) Nov. 1979: 1133. The session was chaired by Dennis Lynch, then a graduate student at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois.

Feedback from Dennis Lynch

"I put that MLA panel together, and that's what led to Brautigan and I being friends. That was quite a night. Governor Jerry Brown and his then-squeeze Linda Ronstadt showed up.

"Then a couple of years later, Richard came out to NIU [Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois] where I was a graduate student and delivered a reading and lecture, and came to my classes. There we had the surreal experience of going out to dinner and finding on the printed menu Trout á la Brautigan, believe it or not.

"After the MLA deal we kept in touch regularly. He'd drink and dial me maybe once a month after that until his death. I wrote a tribute to him for the Chicago Tribune, and wrote various other things about him, all of which you seem to have uncovered.

"I spent a week at his ranch in Montana where he showed me how to shoot his guns.

"Unless I'm working on a story, my MO around celeberities is never to ask them questions about their work (I figure they get that enough elsewhere) but just to talk about "normal" things. So instead of prying, I'd wait for Richard to talk about his art (which was rarely), his publishing and financial problems (frequently), or his personal life (often). So, unfortunately, I didn't hear from him a lot of insights into his craft."
— Dennis Lynch. Email to John F. Barber, 26 February 2005.

James M. Mellard, retired professor and chair of the English Department at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, (and author of The Exploded Form: The Modernist Novel in America which includes a chapter on Brautigan's Trout Fishing in America) adds the following comments about Brautigan's visit to the NIU campus.

"I am not sure whether it was Dennis Lynch or Jerome Klinkowitz who invited Brautigan.

"My wife Sue and I hosted the reception after Brautigan's reading, and a bunch of people, indeed, a coterie of Brautigan followers actually hung out and stayed at our house after Sue and I went to bed. They drank up all the beer and wine, then proceeded on to our modest supply of liquor (scotch, bourbon, that sort of thing, not a huge amount), leaving not a drop undrunk.

"Brautigan wasn't falling down drunk, but he was regaling the crowd in a flourishing manner. I remember one scene of Brautigan standing in the living room talking about his critics. Brautigan said that he would like to line up all his critics and shoot them. As he said this, he made the gesture of raising a gun and shooting each one, complete with sound effects. I also remember Brautigan sitting on the floor in the living room telling stories.

"When Sue and I needed to sleep, I said to the group "Y'all stay here; we're going to bed."
— James Mellard. Email to John F. Barber, 24 January 2007.