Re: RARA-AVIS: Willeford

kip.stratton@natinst.com
Tue, 4 Aug 1998 09:46:03 -0500 Willeford was a rare writer in that his books (and I've read all of them except two
or three of the more rare early paperback originals) are at once successful as
entertainment while lending themselves to literary interpretation. If you want to
take the "deeper" look at his work, you should start with his scholarly writing on
the immobilized man in the twentieth century (which, unfortunately, is out of print
and is selling at about $300 a pop from rare book collectors these days -- if they
can find it).

To compare Willeford to Fitzgerald is barking up the wrong dead white man literary
legend (sorry about that). Kafka is more like it; Willeford worked in the absurdist
tradition. I also think that he bears comparison to his contemporaries Terry
Southern and Bruce Jay Friedman in that he was a master of black humor.

COCKFIGHTER, a retelling of episodes from Homer removed to the underworld of blood
sport in the American South, is about as absurd as you can get. And it's a terrific
book. (I take that back: Writing a memoir about hemorrhoid surgery is about as
absurd as you can get; of course, Willeford did that, too.)

I'm not convinced that there will be people around in 50 years who will know how to
read -- or at least people with a long enough attention span to be able to read an
entire book. But if there are, I suspect someone will be reading Willeford.

Kip

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