Conversations with Jim Harrison

Jim Harrison (b. 1937) is well known for his blunt brave style in prose poetry screenplays and nonfiction. In Conversations with Jim Harrison the Michigan-born writer''s directness and passion shine throughout. Conversations with Jim Harrison is the first-ever collection of interviews by this well-known prolific writer whose books include twenty-two volumes of poetry fiction and nonfiction published over a period of thirty-six years. In addition to standard literary forms he has written sporting essays reviews literary journalism food columns and almost twenty screenplays. Harrison a writer devoted to small presses and independent bookstores has a formidable reputation as a recluse and defender of his privacy. However he has been open to interviews in America and abroad particularly in France where he is very popular. Conversations with Jim Harrison features interviews given between 1976 and 1999. Although the conversations vary in length most are traditional questions and answers. In these Harrison has the opportunity to develop his responses fully and cover a wider range of topics than he can in the briefer profile pieces. Harrison discusses his peripatetic early life his desire to be a poet since he was sixteen and his subsequent quadra schizoid attraction to writing poetry fiction nonfiction and screenplays. A literary outsider who prefers rural life Harrison talks in detail about his colorful eventful life. He also explores the mutual enrichment he received from nature and civilization. He talks specifically about a number of his important books-- including Wolf Legends of the Fall Sundog Warlock and The Road Home. Harrison speaks eloquently about habits of mind aesthetic choices intellectual resources and psychological contexts in his writing. By turns thoughtful cantankerous witty and erudite his voice reveals a man fully given over to the single-minded pursuit of the art of writing.