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| Harry Crews | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 7, 1935 Bacon County, Georgia |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Genres | Novel, Short story, Essay |
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Influenced
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Harry Crews (born June 7, 1935) is an American novelist, playwright, short story writer and essayist. He was born in Bacon County, Georgia in 1935 and served in the Marines during the Korean War.[1] He attended the University of Florida on the GI Bill, but dropped out to travel. Eventually returning to the university, Harry finally graduated and moved his wife, Sally, and son, Patrick Scott, to Jacksonville where Harry taught Junior High English for a year.
Harry returned to Gainesville and the university to work on his master's in English Education. It was during this period that he and Sally divorced for the first time. Harry continued his studies, graduated, and - denied entrance into UF's Creative Writing program - took a teaching position at Broward Community College in the subject of English. It was here in south Florida that Harry convinced Sally to return to him, and they were re-married. A second son, Byron, was born to them in 1963. He returned to University of Florida in 1968 not as a student, but as a member of the faculty in Creative Writing. Crews formerly taught in the creative writing program at the University of Florida.[2] In 1964, Patrick Scott drowned in a neighbor's pool. This proved to be too heavy a burden on the family, and Harry and Sally were once again divorced.[citation needed]
His first published novel, The Gospel Singer, was released in 1968.[1] His novels include: A Feast of Snakes, The Hawk is Dying, Body, Scar Lover, Karate Is A Thing of the Spirit, All We Need of Hell, The Mulching of America, Car, and Celebration. He published a memoir in 1978 titled A Childhood: The Biography of a Place. Crews has written essays for Esquire, Playboy, and Fame. He had a column in Esquire called "Grits" for fourteen months in the 1970s, where he covered such topics as cockfighting and dog fighting.[1] Harry has a tattoo on his right arm that says How do you like your blue eyed boy Mr. Death (from the poem Buffalo Bill's by e.e. cummings) beneath a skull.[citation needed]
The University of Georgia acquired Harry Crews's papers in August 2006. The archive includes manuscripts and typescripts of his fiction, correspondence, and notes made by Crews while on assignment. [3]
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[edit] In Popular Culture
- Kim Gordon (of Sonic Youth), Lydia Lunch and Sadie Mae named their band Harry Crews after him. They released one album, Naked in Garden Hills, in 1989.
- Canadian pop band Men Without Hats has a song called "Harry Crews" on their 1991 album Sideways.
- Colorado band Drag The River has a song called "Mr. Crews" on their 2006 album It's Crazy.
- Crews was the subject of the first installment of the "Rough South" documentary series written and directed by Gary Hawkins. The film, entitled The Rough South of Harry Crews won a regional Emmy Award and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's Gold Award in 1992.
- In the 2004 documentary, Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus,[4] Crews tells his grisly homespun Southern stories while walking down a rural dirt track.
- Harry played a brief role in Sean Penn's The Indian Runner and dedicated his book Scar Lover to Penn.
- In 2007, another documentary was released: Harry Crews - Survival is Triumph Enough. The personal format is loosely based on an interview with artist and filmmaker Tyler Turkle, and the themes explored include hardship, tragedy and loss throughout the Crews' life.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Walt Harrington, ed (2005). "Contributors". The Beholder's Eye: A Collection of America's Finest Personal Journalism. New York: Grove Press. p. x. ISBN 0802142249.
- ^ "Department of English". University of Florida. http://www.english.ufl.edu/crw/. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
- ^ "Harry Crews: Biographical Sketch". http://www.libs.uga.edu/development/newsletter/fall2007/crews.html. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
- ^ Felperin, Leslie (December 17, 2003). "Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus". Variety (Reed Business Information). http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117922684.html. Retrieved October 6, 2009.
- ^ "Harry Crews: Survival Is Triumph Enough". IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1558160/. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
[edit] Further Reading
- Perspectives on Harry Crews. Erik Bledsoe (ed.). University Press of Mississippi, 2001. (available on google books).
[edit] External links
- www.harrycrews.com
- www.myspace.com/harrycrews/ Unofficial page on MySpace.
- Out of the Gates, Slowly Bleeding: The Life & Times of Harry Crews
- New Georgia Encyclopedia article on Crews
- Works by or about Harry Crews in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Crew's new book
- DVD/VOD: Harry Crews - Survival is Triumph Enough
- http://www.harrycrews.org/Personal/Biography/
