James Purdy: Life of a Contrarian Writer

The work of a celebrated if seldom-read writer is extolled but not especially illuminated in this uneven outing. Snyder (John Joseph Mathews), an English professor at the University of Oklahoma, surveys the life of novelist, poet, and playwright James Purdy (1914–2009), who was noted for dark fiction set in Midwestern locales with homoerotic themes, copious profanity, “authentic” vernacular, and shocking violence. Snyder’s account of Purdy as a man is colorful and well-drawn, probing the Chicago jazz clubs and artistic circles where his literary sensibility incubated, his sudden leap from obscurity to critical acclaim in his 40s (though he never had a bestseller), and his feuding with reviewers and editors (“I am giving the advance proofs which you have the brazen gall to send me to a neighbor’s dog to relieve himself on,” he told one publisher). Unfortunately, while Snyder reprints reams of praise from Purdy’s supporters—he was “the greatest American prose writer of our time,” according to poet Dame Edith Sitwell—he curiously includes very little of his subject’s literary works, robbing readers of the chance to sample the prose, tone, and themes for which Purdy was known. This one’s just for the fans. Photos. (Oct.)