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The Knockout Artist Audiobook
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Publisher Description
Crews’s novel about a boxer with the gift of knocking himself unconscious, with a new foreword by New York Times-bestselling author S. A. Cosby
A Penguin Classic
A favorite of longtime Harry Crews fans, The Knockout Artist (1988) portrays Eugene Talmadge Biggs, a young boxer from rural Georgia whose champion rise is diverted by a vulnerability, or gift, for knocking himself unconscious. As he begins to exploit his talents, the notorious Knockout Artist journeys a hero’s descent into the New Orleans underworld and meets characters who have long since checked their morals at the door. The unforgettable climax shows Crews at his virtuoso best, when Eugene confronts his truth, and sets out to claim his freedom and win his own self-respect.
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"“This was a movement for which I’m tempted to use a shorthand drawn from three of its best writers: Harry, Barry and Larry. I am talking about Harry Crews (1935-2012), Barry Hannah (1942-2010) and Larry Brown (1951-2004). They were at the vanguard of a genre sometimes referred to as Grit Lit, or Rough South.(…) They provided me, in a way more highbrow writers might not have, with core literary values. Among them: Dry is better than wet. Funny beats somber. Liberal (in the small “l” sense) is better than conservative. Writing about ordinary lives is, nine times out of 10, more valuable and more interesting than reading about cosseted or artistic ones.(…) Like the filmmaker Mike Leigh, Harry, Barry and Larry refused to condescend to working-class people. (…) They were in absolute sync with the world’s misfits, dissidents and jokers. All three had a mistrust of authority. Few writers have better lived up to Charlotte Brontë’s epic declaration in Jane Eyre: ‘I would always rather be happy than dignified.’"
— Dwight Garner, The New York Times
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“Crews’s novel, published in 1988, is finally on audio, and it’s worth the wait. Matt Godfrey’s masterful storytelling brings it to life…Godfrey shines in the final scene in which Biggs faces tough decisions that will leave a lasting impression on the listener. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile -
“The Knockout Artist (1988) is a high point of the fruitful second chapter of Crews’s career…The Knockout Artist, for all of its grimness and horror, shows that he was still the sensitive boy from A Childhood, tenderly fascinated by the disfigurements that shape our fortunes.”
— Wall Street Journal -
“The Knockout Artist (1988) is a high point of the fruitful second chapter of Crews’s career... The Knockout Artist, for all of its grimness and horror, shows that he was still the sensitive boy from A Childhood, tenderly fascinated by the disfigurements that shape our fortunes.
— Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal
Awards
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Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
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About Harry Crews
Harry Crews (1935–2012), born in Georgia, was a protégé of Southern novelist Andrew Lytle. He published his first novel, The Gospel Singer, which earned him a new teaching job at the University of Florida and paved the way for the publication of seven more novels over the next eight years. His reputation as a bold and daring new voice in Southern writing grew during this time. In the 1970s, he wrote for popular magazines and screenplays. In 1978, his memoir of his youth, A Childhood: The Biography of a Place, was published to enduring acclaim. He remade Southern gothic in his own rough-hewn image in eighteen memorable novels, dozens of riveting nonfiction pieces, and one of the finest memoirs in American literature. In 2002, the University of Georgia Libraries inducted Harry Crews into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.
About Matt Godfrey
Soneela Nankani is an award-winning narrator with over three hundred titles in many different genres including Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi, and Nonfiction. She has garnered sixteen Earphones Awards, nominations for Audie and SOVAS awards, and was recently awarded AudioFile magazine’s Golden Voice Lifetime Achievement Honor. Her audiobooks have been featured in Best Audiobooks lists by AudioFile magazine and the Washington Post, among others. In her spare time, she loves to read (yes, really), learn languages, try new recipes, and travel. She lives in the DC area with her husband and two mischievous daughters.