Vonnegut wrote "A Tribute" to author Richard Brautigan, who died by suicide in September 1984. It was included in the Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook, 1984, published in 1985.
Summary[]
Richard Brautigan
Vonnegut never knew Brautigan, nor communicated with him in any way, but first heard about him from his students while teaching at Harvard in 1971. At the time, Brautigan was published by City Lights, so Vonnegut recommended him to his own publisher, Seymour Lawrence, which gave him a much wider distribution and readership. It was said by many that Brautigan declared he was not interested in money, but later he became a "shrewd bargainer". Vonnegut guesses that like many other good writers, it was depression that ultimately killed Brautigan, which "does its deadly work" regardless of what's actually happening in the sufferer's life.[1]
- ↑ "A Tribute", Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook, 1984, Jean W. Ross, ed., pp. 168-169.