Getting Naked with Harry Crews

Name: Getting Naked with Harry Crews
Author: Erik Bledsoe
ISBN: 9780813081427

Interviews

Edited by Erik Bledsoe

Published by: University Press of Florida

In these 26 interviews, novelist Harry Crews discusses writing, literary influences, his fascination with so-called “freaks,” his failed relationships, the impact of alcohol and drugs on his life and work, and more.

376 Pages6.00 × 9.00

Paperback
9780813081427
Published: September 30, 2025

$28.00

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EPUB
9780813075242
Published: September 30, 2025

(Ebook delivery via Leaf eReader app.)

$18.99

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Description
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Table of Contents

Interviews with novelist Harry Crews about his life, work, and writing craft

In these 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." 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 (1935–2012) was 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.

Erik Bledsoe is a writer and former 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.

"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 American

“The novelist pulls no punches in these 26 interviews.”—Publishers Weekly
“These conversations are full of gems that reveal Crews’s tenacious commitment to the writing life.”—Miami Herald
“Anyone who has a taste for Southern fiction or is an aspiring writer should rush to their nearest bookstore and nab this set of interviews. . . . Crews’s words will pump you into literary action.”—Tampa Tribune-Times
“Has plenty that the die-hard Crews fan will like. [Crews] talks often about the writers who influenced him (Graham Greene, Flannery O’Connor, Flaubert, Faulkner), his philosophy of literature, and how he goes about writing.”—Palm Beach Post
“Though Harry Crews is known for his machismo and personal struggles with alcohol and drugs, he appears—more often than not—as a humorous, productive, and often compassionate novelist.”—Charleston Daily News
“Shed[s] a great deal of light not only on Crews's creative process but also on specific novels.”—Southern Quarterly
“A wonderful source for any serious writer. Bledsoe has done a service to students of Southern and Georgia literature by providing a truly remarkable edited work on one of the region's most engaging characters.”—Georgia Library Quarterly