Celebration; A Novel

New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. George Kingson (Author Photograph) and Howard Scha. Inscribed by the author on the title page. Inscription reads 1/25/98 For Bart and Shirley, Live Long and Well Harry Crews. Harry Eugene Crews (June 7, 1935 - March 28, 2012) was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. He often made use of violent, grotesque characters and set them in regions of the Deep South. Crews graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in English, and eventually received a graduate degree of education. Crews then began teaching English, which he continued to do for the rest of his career, along with his career as a writer. In 1963, he had his first story published: "The Unattached Smile". In 1964, he published another short story, "A Long Wail". After Crews's first two novels, he wrote prolifically, including novels, screenplays and essays, for journals including Esquire and Playboy. Once he published The Gospel Singer, he began to write eight novels, publishing one almost every year. His works were known to feature "freaks", and "outcasts", usually from rural areas. Crews felt strongly that authors should write about experiences that they have actually had. Crews continued writing and publishing his entire life. As his reputation grew, he became a favorite of Madonna, Sean Penn, Kim Gordon, and Thurston Moore. Madonna and Penn discussed making film adaptations of his novels, but these never came to fruition. Crews's final novel, An American Family, featured a blurb on the cover from Moore, saying, "God bless Harry Crews, America's best writer. He'll break your heart but he'll always bring you love." When a sensuous free spirit by the name of Too Much arrives at a Florida trailer park for the over-sixty-five set, she unleashes new life and stirs up trouble for her fellow residents. Now from the author the Washington Post Book World calls "the dark chronicler of human vanity and folly" comes Celebration. The newest black comedy from Harry Crews is a biting, brilliant commentary set in a Florida rest-home gulag where the over-sixty-five set checks its dignity, self-esteem, and social security numbers at the door. Forever and Forever is the aptly named retreat, populated by a motley crew of forgotten wives and ruined men who are waiting for death while working on their tans. The leader of this group is Stump, whose lost arm paid for Forever and Forever, and who believes the silent desperation that infuses the trailer park masks the fact that Forever and Forever is truly a small piece of hell on earth. This ironic silence is shattered by the entrance of a beautiful young bombshell. Too Much is her name, and that is exactly what she is. This walking bonfire awakens long dead appetites in the inhabitants of Forever and Forever, reminding them of what they once were and can be again—alive.