Rotten Tanx wrote:Anyone care to elaborate on any of these? Some of them I never heard of.
Hemingway and Mailer probably need little explanation.
Philip Levine is a poet who also grew up in a blue collar family and used to work in (I believe) the auto industry. I'm also almost certain that he used to be a golden glove boxer. I'm positive, however, that he punched John Berryman in the face and broke his glasses when Berryman hit on Levine's wife/partner. He's actually probably not much a tough guy, but I wouldn't want to fight him. He'd surely whip the shit out of Charles Bukowski. His writing whips the shit out of Bukowski's too.
Thom Jones often writes about boxers. (His first collection of short stories is called
The Pugist at Rest.) An anecdote: Jones once gave a reading at a Barnes and Noble in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which I regret missing. During the reading, some customer was chatting with someone else in a nearby aisle. Jones asked him politely if he wouldn't mind keeping it down. The customer ignored him and continued to talk loudly. Jones asked him again to be quiet. The customer again ignored him.
So Jones threw his book at the guy's head and screamed, "SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!" The manager of B&N then escorted Jones from the building.