Re: RARA-AVIS: Willeford, Burnt Orange and Shark

From: Dave ( birdlives@earthlink.net)
Date: 12 Jan 2000


Have to weigh in on "Shark Infested ..."

I read in the biography that when Willeford finished it, he was convinced it was his greatest work, yet. Then he was blown away to discover that no one would publish the goddamn thing. And after that, he quit writing for a while. It was brutal blow for him.

You have to realize that all these books are written as BLACK COMEDIES. And
"Custard" is the blackest of all of them, riffing on the swinging bachelor scene of the seventies. I love it.

Dave

Mbdlevin@aol.com wrote:

> Martha:
> << the willeford book i recently bought (for my
> first) is the burnt orange heresy, which no one
> has mentioned as a good one-- have i made a horrible
> choice? >>
> Teri:
> <>
>
> A few quick thoughts. I am a big fan of the Hoke Moseleys and many here have
> directed readers to them. They are great books and probably more accessible
> (for lack of a better word) crime novels than Willeford's other writing.
> They have good guys and bad, and crimes are solved. As Teri saw in Shark,
> crime plays a part, but (re)solution (or a clean balance of justice/morality)
> does not. Without Moseley, however, we might not be reading much
> Willeford--everything was out of print when Miami Blues came out. Willeford
> shopped Shark in the 70s and got nowhere; the book was published posthumously.
>
> Most of the non-Hoke are quite strong. Burnt Orange was, incidentally, his
> first hardback and it garnered reviews in The New York Times, The New Yorker,
> Harpers, etc. It is very good, though some readers may tire at moments. My
> favorite is The Woman Chaser (which was also called his masterpiece by
> Richard Gehr in the Village Voice); look for the new movie if it gets a
> distributor (or at your local film fest). In the Washington Post, Barry
> Gifford, sometime acquiring editor at Black Lizard when it was run by
> Creative Arts in Berkeley, and writer in his own right of course, called The
> Black Mass of Brother Springer Willeford's masterpiece. The Library of
> America made Pick-Up its Willeford choice.
>
> Doug
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