Larry Brown: A Writer's Life

by Jean W. Cash, Shannon Ravenel (Foreword by)

Overview

The first biography of Mississippi's beloved blue-collar writer who redefined southern fiction

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496853189
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	09/16/2024
Series:	Willie Morris Books in Memoir and Biography
Pages:	316
Sales rank:	315,900
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Jean W. Cash, Broadway, Virginia, is professor emerita of English at James Madison University. She is the author of Flannery O'Connor: A Life and coeditor of Larry Brown and the Blue-Collar South (University Press of Mississippi).

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Table of Contents

Foreword Shannon Ravenel ix

Preface xi

Introduction 3

1 Origins, 1951-1969 12

2 Marine, Husband, Father, and Fireman, 1969-1980 29

3 Literary Apprenticeship, 1980-1987 46

4 Facing the Music, 1987-1989 60

5 Dirty Work: A Vietnam Novel, 1989-1990 86

6 Full-Time Writer: Big Bad Love, 1990 97

7 Joe: A Major Novel, 1991 119

8 "Fire Notes" becomes On Fire, 1991-1994 131

9 Solid Success: Father and Son, 1994-1996 153

10 Continued Success: Fay in Progress and a Semester at Ole Miss, 1997-1998 169

11 Years of Triumph: Fay, the Wallace Award, and Montana, 1999-2000 184

12 A Return to Nonfiction: Billy Ray's Farm, 1999-2001 196

13 Leaving Algonquin: The Rabbit Factory, 2002-2003 209

14 Writing and Building, 2004 227

15 Remembering Larry and A Miracle of Catfish, 2004-2007 234

Appendixes 251

Sources 259

Acknowledgments 288

Index 291

Editorial Reviews

"Larry Brown's life story is about as close to a literary version of the Horatio Alger myth as American letters have witnessed.… Jean Cash's exhaustive archival research and first-hand interviews with Brown and those who knew him best enable her to bring that story to life on the page even as her skills as a literary critic wisely assess his writing. For anyone concerned about American writing's connection to people outside of elite publishing and academic circles, this book affirms that literature has not yet been completely handed over to insiders on the country's two coasts or reduced to intellectual games requiring footnotes. For all of us who have experienced the power of Brown's best writing, it offers understanding of the sources and driving forces behind their emotional and intellectual impact."

—Robert Donahoo, professor of English, Sam Houston State University, and president of the Flannery O'Connor Society




"For fans of the late Brown, this book is a must. For aspiring writers, ditto. And readers everywhere. Ms. Cash has done an exhaustive job but it's never exhausting to read. A pleasure and reminder of what a loss Mr. Brown's death was, but what a gift his writing still is."

—Tom Franklin, author of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter




"Larry Brown's connection to the earth and animals and many objects seemed religious somehow. He was gentle in a mysterious way, deep, quick, sincere, and very funny. We're all lucky that he left so much of himself behind—on paper. And I'm thankful that Jean Cash decided to write about him."

—Clyde Edgerton, author of The Floatplane Notebooks

From the Publisher