Harry Crews

From the acclaimed author of such novels as "Blood and Grits" and "Childhood" comes a wildly weird and breathtakingly original visit to the rural South that reveals the exotic subculture that erupts in all its glory at the Rattlesnake Roundup in Mystic, Georgia. "No number of adjectives in the thesaurus can do full justice to the dazzlingly bizarre nature of Crews' creations".--"Washington Post Book World".

A young man whose father owns Auto-Town advertises that he will eat a car from bumper to bumper

A Childhood is the unforgettable memoir of Harry Crews' earliest years, a sharply remembered portrait of the people, locales, and circumstances that shaped him—and destined him to be a storyteller. Crews was born in the middle of the Great Depression, in a one-room sharecropper's cabin at the end of a dirt road in rural South Georgia. If Bacon County was a place of grinding poverty, poor soil, and blood feuds, it was also a deeply mystical place, where snakes talked, birds could possess a small boy by spitting in his mouth, and faith healers and conjure women kept ghosts and devils at bay.At once shocking and elegiac, heartrending and comical, A Childhood not only recalls the transforming events of Crews's youth but conveys his growing sense of self in a world "in which survival depended on raw courage, a courage born out of desperation and sustained by a lack of alternatives."Amid portraits of relatives and neighbors, Bacon County lore, and details of farm life, Crews tells of his father's death; his friendship with Willalee Bookatee, the son of a black hired hand; his bout with polio; his mother and stepfather's failing marriage; his near-fatal scalding at a hog-killing; and a five-month sojourn in Jacksonville, Florida. These and other memories define, with reverence and affection, Harry Crews's childhood "its people and its customs and all its loveliness and all its ugliness." Imaginative and gripping, A Childhood re-creates in detail one writer's search for past and self, a search for a time and place lost forever except in memory.

To the dirt poor town of Enigma, Georgia, a local farm boy returns as a prosperous faith healer. Though the townsfolk give way to a mindless idolization, the Gospel Singer is tormented by the extent of his deception and is forced to admit his corrupt activities.

The hard-hitting narrative of a black boxer of uncommon promise-- and his descent into the New Orleans underworld. "A brilliant specialist in black humor, Crews delivers the goods once again... uncannily effective." —Publishers Weekly

Shereel Dupont--who abandoned her former name, Dorothy Turnipseed, when she left Waycross, Georgia, to seek fame and fortune with bodybuilder Russell Morgan--finds her new life threatened by the arrival of her corpulent, redneck family

From Simon & Schuster, Classic Crews is a collection of works from the master Harry Crews, including his memoir and short stories.Collected here is the best of Harry his astoundingly beautiful memoir A The Biography of a Place ; two if his most memorable novels, Car and The Gypsy's Curse ; and three masterly essays, "Climbing the Tower," "The Car," and "Fathers, Sons and Blood," as well as a new introduction to these works by Crews himself.

Scar Lover is a miraculous, true-to-the-bone story of love and redemption, at once a classic southern novel and purely, unmistakably, Harry Crews.Running from a past that has scarred and blamed him, and a tragic accident that has destroyed his family, Pete Butcher avoids all personal contact. Then Sarah Leemer, the oddly beautiful girl next door, walks into his life. Slowly, sweetly, and with a determination almost Faulknerian in its ferocity, Sarah pulls Pete back into life and into the ever increasing complications of love, family, death, and deliverance. For Sarah has made Pete her own, and as she takes her claim, we see the miraculous power of love without boundaries or fear.

Now from the author the Washington Post Book World calls "the dark chronicler of human vanity and folly" comes Celebration. The newest black comedy from Harry Crews is a biting, brilliant commentary set in a Florida rest-home gulag where the over-sixty-five set checks its dignity, self-esteem, and social security numbers at the door.Forever and Forever is the aptly named retreat, populated by a motley crew of forgotten wives and ruined men who are waiting for death while working on their tans. The leader of this group is Stump, whose lost arm paid for Forever and Forever, and who believes the silent desperation that infuses the trailer park masks the fact that Forever and Forever is truly a small piece of hell on earth.This ironic silence is shattered by the entrance of a beautiful young bombshell. Too Much is her name, and that is exactly what she is. This walking bonfire awakens long dead appetites in the inhabitants of Forever and Forever, reminding them of what they once were and can be again—a live.

Chronicles the story of Duffy Deeter, a Florida lawyer obsessed with fitness and images of death; his wife Tish, a platinum blond having an affair with his law partner, and Duffy's girlfriend Marvella, a coke-snorting nymphet

From Simon & Schuster, The Mulching of America is Harry Crews' latest work of unforgettable fiction.Celebrated for his slightly warped comic and moral vision of contemporary America, the author Harry Crews tells the story of a door-to-door salesman's struggle with his Boss, a man with a genius for selling junk.

First edition. Novel about a hand-balancer who lived in a gym where he was abandoned as a baby. Jacket shows light soiling. x, 207, 5 pages. cloth, dust jacket.. 8vo.

"Fourteen essays and articles and three short stories that will hit you right between the eyes. Crews writing is informed by a deep love of language, literature, nature, blood sports, and his own kind of people--namely rural, southern, hard-drinking, honest-measure hell-raisers. We are all lucky to have him to tell us about cockfighting, dogfighting, mending an injured hawk, becoming a great jockey, poaching gators, and taking ourselves much too seriously"-- Chicago Tribune "The author’s gifts include an elegant and easy style, a knack for telling a good story, and a wry and riotous sense of humor. . . . Unforgettable characters whose preoccupations evoke such memorable detail. Despite the concreteness of his descriptions, his sports cronies and the bar rats he encounters take on a universality in his graceful prose."-- Newsday In this collection of fiction and essays, Crews focuses on the people and places of Florida--full of natural wonders and other, grimier delights that make perfect grist for his forceful style, Southern Gothic sensibilities, and rowdy sense of humor. From poaching gators, to the Gatornationals, to cockfighting--a must-have collection for Harry Crews fans new and old.

Everybody wanted something from George Gattling. They wanted sex and new seat covers, money and confessions, a little bit of love and a lot of answers. That's why George liked his hawk. All it asked of him was an opportunity to kill.

Profiles of Charles Bronson and Robert Blake, descriptions of Appalachian hillbillies, and an account of life with a traveling carnival are among the nonfiction selections which, taken collectively, provide insight into Harry Crews the man

La antigua explotación minera de Garden Hills ya no es lo que era. Desde que la refinería cerró sus puertas todo se ha vuelto gris. El horizonte es un borrón de ceniza, smog, hedor y escoria. Apenas se ve el cielo. Al pie de la colina ya solo quedan doce familias pendientes de un falso rumor. Fat Man, el antiguo Señor del Fosfato, desde su fortaleza en la cumbre, no puede moverse de lo gordo que está. Lo ayuda en todo lo que puede Jester, un jockey negro lesionado que vive en una cabaña apartada en compañía de Lucy, una mulata despampanante. Se conocieron en un circo de freaks. Él montaba en un caballito balancín; si dabas con la bola en la diana lo hacías caer en un tanque de agua. Ella, anunciada como «Nestradidi, la Princesa Africana Civilizada», fumaba cigarrillos con el coño. Esta es la fauna que puebla las colinas. Un lento declive hacia la extinción. Pero Dolly, la joven Reina de la Belleza que logró huir en su día de aquel agujero inmundo, acaba de volver de Nueva York con un plan (y una jaula) para sacar a Garden Hills del olvido.

Book by Crews, Harry

Un nouvel inédit de Harry Crews !Avec Les Portes de l'enfer , on retrouve toute la noirceur et l'humour légendaire de l'auteur de La Foire aux serpents .Cumseh est une petite ville de Géorgie où il ne se passe jamais grand-chose. Hormis à la maison de retraite.C'est en effet dans cet établissement, tenu d'une main de fer par l'imposante Axel, que semblent s'être donné rendez-vous les personnalités les plus excentriques de la région.Un jour, trois nouveaux arrivants en ville se retrouvent à la porte du " Club des seniors ", Sarah Nell Brownstein, une géante amoureuse du masseur nain de la maison de retraite, Bledsoe, représentant d'une entreprise de pompes funèbres, et Carlita Rojas Mundez, une adepte du vaudou.Entre eux un drame va très vite se nouer et les précipiter dans une tragi-comédie aussi déchirante qu'irrésistible.Avec ce roman court, dont l'action est concentrée sur 24 heures, Harry Crews s'attaque à tous les tabous de la vieillesse : abandon, solitude, misère sexuelle, etc., et nous offre un tableau poignant et sans concessions de la condition humaine.

Harry Crews on getting naked: "If you’re gonna write, for God in heaven’s sake try to get naked. Try to write the truth. Try to get underneath all the sham, all the excuses, all the lies that you’ve been told. . . . If you’re gonna write fiction, you have to get right on down to it.""Harry Crews cannot refrain from storytelling. These conversations are blessed with countless insights into the creative process, fresh takes on old questions, and always, Crews’s stories: modern-day parables that tell us how it is to live, to work, and to hurt."--Jeff Baker, Oxford American"Harry Crews has indelible ways of approaching life and the craft of writing. This collection shows that he elevates both to a near-religious artform."--Matthew Teague, Oxford AmericanIn 26 interviews conducted between 1972 and 1997, novelist Harry Crews tells the truth--about why and how he writes, about the literary influences on his own work, about the writers he admires (or does not), about which of his own books he likes (or does not), about his fascination with so-called freaks, and about his love of blood sports. Crews reveals the tender side under his tough-guy image, discussing his beloved mother and his spiritual quest in a secular world.Crews also speaks frankly about his failed relationships, the role that writing played in them, and his personal struggles with alcohol and drugs and their impact on his life and work. Those seeking insights into his work will find them in these interviews. Those seeking to be entertained in Crewsian fashion will not be disappointed.Harry Crews on his tattoo and mohawk . . ."If you can’t get past my ‘too’--my tattoo--and my ‘do’--the way I got my hair cut--it’s only because you have decided there are certain things that can be done with hair and certain things that cannot be done with hair. And certain of them are right and proper and decent, and the rest indicate a warped, degenerate nature; therefore I am warped and degenerate. 'Cause I got my hair cut a different way, man? You gonna really live your life like that? What’s wrong with you?"On advice to young writers . . ."You have to go to considerable trouble to live differently from the way the world wants you to live. That’s what I’ve discovered about writing. The world doesn’t want you to do a damn thing. If you wait till you got time to write a novel or time to write a story or time to read the hundred thousands of books you should have already read--if you wait for the time, you’ll never do it. 'Cause there ain’t no time; world don’t want you to do that. World wants you to go to the zoo and eat cotton candy, preferably seven days a week." On being "well-rounded" . . ."I never wanted to be well-rounded, and I do not admire well-rounded people nor their work. So far as I can see, nothing good in the world has ever been done by well-rounded people. The good work is done by people with jagged, broken edges, because those edges cut things and leave an imprint, a design." Harry Crews is the author of 23 books, including The Gospel Singer, Naked in Garden Hills, This Thing Don’t Lead to Heaven, Karate Is a Thing of the Spirit, Car, The Hawk Is Dying, The Gypsy’s Curse, A Feast of Snakes, A Childhood: The Biography of a Place, Blood and Grits, The Enthusiast, All We Need of Hell, The Knockout Artist, Body, Scar Lover, The Mulching of America, Celebration, and Florida Frenzy (UPF, 1982).Erik Bledsoe is an instructor of English and American studies at the University of Tennessee. He has published articles on southern writers and edited a special issue of the Southern Quarterly devoted to Crews. His 1997 interview with Harry Crews from that magazine is included in this collection.

The newest book out from the creator of SOUTHERN GOTHIC, HARRY CREWS! The first novel in over eight years.

First SIGNED LIMITED Edition. 1/400 numbered copies. Fine in dj. Features Ralph Steadman's cover art. The sequel to "The Gospel Singer." SIGNED BY HARRY CREWS

A couple of essays by Crews issued in a limited edition

Mit Harry Crews gibt es nach Nic Pizzolatto einen weiteren großartigen Noir-Autoren zu entdecken, der das Genre nach allen Regeln der Kunst beherrscht.„Florida Forever“ ist ein ätzender und, angesichts des rapiden Überalterungsprozesses der westlichen Gesellschaften, sehr weitsichtiger Roman über die wachsenden Gegensätze zwischen Alt und Jung. Angesiedelt in einem Pensionärs-Trailerpark in Florida schildert er die Versuche des kriegsversehrten Veteranen Stump, die Horde von Rentnern in Schach zu halten, die, angelockt vom ewigen Sonnenschein, nach Florida gekommen sind und nun darauf pochen, bei Laune gehalten zu werden. Der durch sinnentleerte Spielnachmittage nur mühsam gewahrte soziale Frieden wird durch die Ankunft einer jungen Entertainerin gestört, deren erotische Ausstrahlung bei den Rentnern längst vergessen geglaubte Begierden weckt, die ihnen zeigen, dass sie allen Ruhigstellungsversuchen zum Trotz noch am Leben sind.

Harry Crews arrive en terres hostiles en 1974 pour écrire un reportage sur l'oléoduc trans-Alaska. Une météo très rude, des autochtones peu accueillants et des rencontres rocambolesques lui font vivre une aventure hors du commun.

Harry Crews écrit toujours à hauteur d’homme. Qu’il nous entraîne au bord du ring pour assister à un match de Mike Tyson en compagnie de Madonna et de Sean Penn, qu’il nous raconte quelques jours passés avec David Duke, le trop charismatique « Grand Sorcier » du Ku Klux Klan, ou avec un redoutable télévangéliste, il le fait toujours avec une humanité et une justesse incomparables. Même chose quand il se penche sur son enfance pauvre dans une ferme du comté de Bacon, Géorgie, qu’il évoque la noyade de son fils dans la piscine des voisins, ou ses tourments d’écrivain alcoolique, la pudeur affleure toujours. Il fait naître l’émotion, il nous touche et nous rappelle, s’il en était besoin, qu’il fut un des grands écrivains américains de sa génération.Harry Crews avait établi le manuscrit de ce recueil quelques années avant sa mort. Resté dans un tiroir, il ne fut jamais publié. Byron Crews, le fils d’Harry, nous l’a confié. Nous en sommes fiers.

A tres meses de cumplir los dieciocho, Eugene Biggs abandona los estudios y la pequeña granja familiar, porque eso es lo que se espera de él. Es lo que la gente del sur de Georgia viene haciendo desde antes de la Gran Depresió subirse a un autobús de la Greyhound y poner rumbo a Jacksonville, Florida, para ganarse los garbanzos. Al llegar, alquila un cuartucho y empieza a encadenar empleos de chichinabo. Vegeta por una panadería, una fábrica de celulosa, una empresa de reparación de techos, una constructora y un astillero. En este último conoce a Budd Jenkins, quien, adivinando su potencial pugilístico, decide subirlo a un ring y convertirse en su mánager. Así comienza el sueño. Gana trece combates consecutivos y le surge la oportunidad de abrir la ronda preliminar en el Madison Square Garden. Todo parece ir sobre ruedas, pero la realidad no tardará en demostrarle lo contrario. Tras una tercera derrota por KO, Budd, defraudado, lo abandona a su suerte en Nueva Orleans. Ese mismo día, Eugene se descubre poseedor de una habilidad portentosa de la que no dudará en servirse para vender su alma al sórdido inframundo de la ciudad.

Duffy Deeter cree en el dolor. Nada como el sabor de tu propia sangre para estar a lo que hay que estar. Quienes viven preocupados por el futuro de sus hijos, por Dios o por el orden del universo, deberían salir a la calle y romperse un par de costillas, así se les pasaría la tontería. Un remedio bastante más barato que un psiquiatra y no tan humillante. Por eso, Duffy vive obsesionado con el fitness y los deportes de contacto y resistencia. Para él todo es récord y competición. El triunfo es aguantar. El budismo zen y los libros también ayudan, cualquier esfuerzo por entender el mundo, nombrar el abismo, batirse con él y evitar las gilipolleces. Pero, de un tiempo a esta parte, la vida se le ha empezado a descoser. Está perdiendo el control de sí mismo. Su mujer, su hijo, su trabajo, sus recuerdos, sus creencias, todo se desmorona. Está a punto de librarse una batalla en su corazón y Duffy sabe que no es tiempo de pensar, sino de actuar, de desplegar todas las tropas y lanzarse contra el fuego enemigo sin miedo al descalabro, porque si algo le ha enseñado la vida, y el deporte y el Tao, es que la derrota es también una suerte de victoria. Y que, una vez en el infierno, lo único que importa es salir de allí perdiendo el culo.