Problematic, Southern, and Tattooed

Paradoxical inspiration

Photo by Marcel Strauß on Unsplash

With profound disallowance to judge those who seek pleasure in libation… do you know author, professor, and US Marine Corps veteran, Harry Crews was allegedly drunk every day for thirty years, yet insistently maintained a diurnal writing habit?

Synonymous with the Grit Literary Movement, his works were influenced by and often mirrored his damaged past and present. Described as a nihilistic provocateur his vivid depictions of classism, misogyny, racism, and toxic masculinity absent of moral proclamations, force readers to accept and digest the stark extremes of human behavior.

A professor of literature with a boisterous and self-absorbed nature, he gained the fascination of students and faculty alike, partly due to his mohawked coif and skull tattoo but also because of his counted-upon hell-raising reputation and devotion to the craft of writing.

A known alcoholic and rumored cocaine addict who ultimately ended his love affair with illicit substances, he …