RIP Harry Crews
I'm not sure how I missed his death in March 2012. This man is (was) a fierce (and sometimes funny) social commentator on the American way of life, especially in such novel s as Car, Body, and The Mulching of America. The first book of his I read was A Feast of Snakes, loosely based on his childhood in Cracker country (south Georgia and north Florida). It's a book that scared me and exhilarated me and disgusted me, sometimes all on the same page, but the talent for place shone through and the sharp characters stared you down. I suppose his masterpiece was his autobiography, graphically illuminating his hard raising in the piney woods and swamps and fields, among the hard men and women who were cockfighters and dog fighters and boozers and dopers and gamblers.
Not for the faint-hearted. He pulls no punches but swoops you up and takes you on a hell of a ride, if you can just hang on.
Novels
- The Gospel Singer, 1968
- Naked in Garden Hills, 1969
- This Thing Don't Lead to Heaven, 1970
- Karate is a Thing of the Spirit, 1971
- Car, 1972
- The Hawk is Dying, 1973
- The Gypsy's Curse, 1974
- A Feast of Snakes, 1976
- The Enthusiast, 1981
- All We Need of Hell, 1987
- The Knockout Artist, 1988
- Body, 1990
- Scar Lover, 1992
- The Mulching of America, 1995
- Celebration, 1998
- An American Family: The Baby with the Curious Markings, 2006
Collections
- Classic Crews: A Harry Crews Reader, 1993
- The Gospel Singer & Where Does One Go When There's No Place Left to Go?, 1995
Autobiography
- A Childhood: The Biography of a Place, 1978
No comments:
Post a Comment