Larry L. King: A Writer's Life in Letters, Or, Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye (Hardcover)

~ Larry King (Author), Richard Holland (Editor) "Larry L. King's first exposure to power politics came at the age of twenty, when he was fired from his first real job..." (more)
Key Phrases: writers collection, theatrical writers, gay place, New York, Willie Morris, West Texas (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Before he wrote the 1979 rowdy musical comedy Broadway hit The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, King worked a variety of jobs, leaving a trail of sometimes funny, often bilious letters to editors, writers, politicians and assorted others. Spanning the years 1954 to 1999, this collection of correspondence follows King as he works as a congressional assistant to Jim Wright and a lobbyist in Washington, where he witnesses the stunned, slightly crazed reaction to the assassination of JFK by the Texas congressional delegation; as a novelist (The One-Eyed Man); playwright (The Night Hank Williams Died); essayist and cultural commentator (Confessions of a White Racist, which earned him an enthusiastic letter of praise from Maya Angelou); Harper's editor under Willie Morris; and New York carouser who hobnobbed with the East Coast literati while remaining fiercely proud of his West Texas roots. An epistolary autobiography of sorts, this unbowdlerized scrapbook of rants, wisecracks, stories, scrapes and reminiscences lets us watch King as he resourcefully reinvents himself. What saves this selected correspondence from becoming a whiny, defensive, extended ego trip are King's jibes at William Buckley ("the Rightest in residence of New York City"), Harvard lecturer John Kenneth Galbraith ("he puts me to sleep: drones on in a monotone..."), Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn ("too goddamn wordy"), Norman Mailer, Nelson Rockefeller and other targets. At their best, these letters are brash, funny, pugnacious and charged with their author's renegade energy. Photos. Author tour.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 404 pages
• Publisher: Texas Christian University Press (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875652034
• ISBN-13: 978-0875652030
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,709,717 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for parents of small children, December 2, 1999

By	Vonciel Baudouin (Fort Worth, Texas) - See all my reviews

Parents of small children desperately need sleep, so I cannot recommend that they read this book--it has kept me awake for two nights in a row. It's as hard to put down as any thriller, and a whole lot funnier than most.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating view of a writer's life, October 8, 1999

By	Edwin Shrake (Austin, Tx USA) - See all my reviews

This book takes the reader inside the head and heart of a working writer and reveals the triumphs and the despair that are staples of a writer's life. There are a lot of famous people in it, too.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An irreverent look at life from a literary raconteur, July 9, 2000

By	a reader (Virginia) - See all my reviews

Judging from these often humorous, sometimes poignant, but always brash and candid letters, it is probably safe to assume that few writers have had such widely varied experiences as has Larry L. King. Spanning over 40 years, King's fascinating and provocative letters--along with his no-holds-barred reminiscences interspersed among them--provide a virtual autobiography of this novelist, playwright, essayist, and commentator. What makes this epistolary volume especially interesting is that King suffers no fools lightly, appears to be intimidated by no one, and is always ready to prick the balloons of the famous--and oftentimes pompous. (His accounts of working with actor Burt Reynolds and dancer Tommy Tune are particularly hilarious.