John Hawkes

[Richard Romeo]

Hawkes' work, particularly his early stuff is very dream-like but built upon 
some semblance of what we would could reality.  His books are plot-less, not 
very long, emeshed I supposed in psychological dislocation and unease. He 
doesn't have the slapstick humor of a Coover or Pynchon, but a fevered 
eroticism. I did like his first book, The Cannibal and The Lime Twig is 
pretty bizarre as well.  I found his later works like The Frog and Irish 
Eye, and Alaskan Skin Trade pretty boring. He has thing for Horses:  Sweet 
William and Whistlejacket which I haven't read deal with that theme. Hawkes 
has a European sensibility, his writing way more popular in France than in 
the US. The movie version of The Blood Oranges wasn't bad, by the way.
In terms of likeness I'm thinking the Austrian writer Christoph Ransymar or 
Peter Handke but I'm sure there are better examples.

Rich

>From: "Cat Hamilton" <cat_hamilton at hotmail.com>
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: John Hawkes
>Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2002 14:47:13 -0500
>
>Could someone tell me a little about John Hawkes?: What sort of writer is 
>he
>and what other writers do his fans often like?
>
>--Cat
>
>
>>From: MalignD at aol.com
>>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>>Subject: Re: Coover
>>Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 15:59:35 EST
>>
>>In a message dated 3/27/2002 2:39:36 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>>fqmorris at hotmail.com writes:
>>
>>
>> > <<I haven't read any Coover yet, so I searched a bit for descriptions 
>>of
>>his
>> >
>> > work. >>
>>
>>And:
>>
>><<There are those who find the works of William Gaddis, William Gass, John
>>Barth, Thomas Pynchon, John Hawkes and others of this group of middle-aged
>>Northern and Midwestern WASPs to be more fun to discuss as theory than to
>>read, and there's no denying that Coover shares their bias for
>>self-conscious
>>technique over content and narrative.">>
>>
>>Dismissing five writers in three sentences.  You want to trust someone 
>>like
>>that, feel free.
>>
>> > I'd say read The Public Burning.  It's a lot more fun to read than to
>> > discuss.
>>
>
>
>
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.
>


_________________________________________________________________
Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com