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Show November, 1979 u Ik a series of stories carefully woven around a was hanged from a winch in Erwin, Tencentral narrative line. The stories are told nessee," Crews growled. "All he had to do in an authentic southern voice with a com- was the pick up phone and call Erwin and passionate yet never condescending tone. see if there was one hanged there. Hell, Crews evokes sympathy and understand- there was a period of time during the ing for his characters through incisive use Thirties in which there was this genocide of dialogue, and a painstaking attention to of elephants throughout the South. detail and mood. "You can never trust a man who has "The night was dark as only the swamp three initials in front of his name or a can be dark and they could not see each hyphenated last name. And the next time I other there in the bunkhouse. The see Christopher Lahmann-Haup- t, I'm rhythmic stroke of the dredge's engine take the his of out gonna hyphen right came counterpoint to my daddy's shaky and the mosquitoes clotted about their faces thick as a veil and the heavy black flies crawled over their legs. "'It weren't -- A Childhood Crews is a storyteller in the oral tradition of the deep South. His talent grew from satis-faction.Outsi- non-fictio- 300-poun- de, n k SCRATCHING NO ASSEMBLY NEEDED WALNUT STAIN GENUINE HARDWOOD $19.95 the U a pair M difference in the sitting on thick way your speakers sound carpeting can deaden their response, and direct contact with tile or hardwood floor can make them shrill and sharp. And annoy the lift downstairs neighbors! SPEAKER-UPPER- S s seven-incheoff the floor, let any size speakers to their fullest them "breathe" and perform capacity A few inches can make all n. hours of sitting on a floor with a sugar-ti-t in his mouth, listening to talk at quilting parties, from listening to men converse as they dipped their feet into the washtub around the fire at night. "I started out to be and only want to be a storyteller," Crews said. He spooned a small amount of liquid off the greens and pork concoction and tasted it with Crews teenage son and a friend romped through the woods surrounding the house. Crews' wife, Sally, a thin, energetic woman whom he's married three times, watched from the porch. "If you're a.storyteller in the traditional sense," he continued, "then your strong suit has got to be the narrative line. It's whisper baby talk to horses." He was in south Florida recently workcalled, after all, the narrative art. That's not much to want to be I reckon, but that's ing on a pit bull fighting story or Esquire: all I want to be. I want to tell stories; Stories "I wasn't bullying up to anybody, I was just which hopefully inform the human situa- trying to see the end of the fight. I thought tion. After all, the keepers of the legends this one dog was going to quit because the and myths in primitive societies were other dog had been at his throat twenty always the shaman, the priest, the throwers minutes. But the dog got to his feet and of the chicken bones, the lookers of the shook the other dog out and kicked his tail. felgoat entrails . . . And I think that's what tel- I wanted to see the end, so I asked this I I low to move. was so excited, didn't ling stories is all about. notice how really big he was. Jack, when he I was it I "When started out, thought enough to learn to write well, which God hit me I went down like a sack of flour. knows is hard enough. But unfortunately Things happen, you know. Vbu're subject that's not enough. Ultimately you have to to get hurt at a dog fight. "I get into things sometimes, you can't have something to say. And that includes everybody," Crews said. He pressed his deny that. The world is a very, very head back and expanded his neck. His hair dangerous thing for anything mortal. But rimmed his head like a shaggy halo and his what the hell are you going to do because its dangerous? Go hide in a closet?" earring glinted in the late afternoon light Of all the dangerous situations Crews filtering in through the kitchen window. "I don't know what my associates at the uni- has put himself in while working on a piece, his latest assignversity think of my work: they see me major magazine may be the most hazardous to date. being sent to Alaska to do a story and I ment finished an installment of He's write about a whore having her ass tattoed just"His Turn" column, which feawhile blowing cocaine up her nose. What PlaygirVs tures a different male contributor each the hell is that?" Crews' unorthodox style of journalism month. Crews' opening line should have has made him one of the most sought feminists nationwide calling for his head: free lancers in the busi- "I'm sick and tired of women being in my after, highly-pai- d ness. Blood and Grits, his most recent book, face and on my case." "I mean, I don't even know what to call n works which is comprised of Bethem anymore," Crews explained, tugging first appeared in Esquire and Playboy. fore you Have settled into the book the on his earring. "'Lady' will do in some parts of the country, 'woman' will do in ice in your drink has not yet melted is Crews' has told tales of a fellow named others. But the word that stands up best bloodis which most the faceless, d 'person,' "Dog" plighting his troth with a word one of the worst less, anonymous waitress and of an elephant Frosty-Crem- e a little in the language." being hanged to death for stomping Will Crews make the ultimate commitwell girl. The collection has been generally his art? Will he pose in the nude? received, but one reviewer, Christopher ment to "No," he said with a wide grin. "But hell, of the New York Times, Lahmann-Haup- t if they had asked a few years ago, I would raised Crews' hackles. have gladly shucked down. "He said he didn't believe an elephant m FELT TABS AT SUPPORT POINTS TO PREVENT Ernest Hemingway once said no one has the right to dig up an author's journalistic work writing done against deadlines, writing done out of necessity and compare it to work he has written to write the best he can. Crews feels no such qualms. "The technique and craft of fiction is there in all of my Dialogue is is character there, there, place is there, transitions are there. There are all kinds of transitions: spiritual transitions, emotional transitions it's all there. But, as Robert Frost said, 'It's bad when it gets too bookish.' You can't allow yourself to get isolated and cut off from the street." While Crews often justifies or at least explains acts of violence in his writing, he is not a particularly violent man. His athlete's body has sagged with age and abuse, and when he is drawn into brawls he rarely hits more than the ground. He sees his fascination wtih blood sports cock and dog fighting as a natural, ingrained result of his southern rural upbringing. "I've always been addicted to blood sports of all kinds," Crews, also a falconing enthusiast, wrote of the illegal games. "And I make no apology for it. Where I come from, we don't confuse animals with people. 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