Presenting Chris Crutcher

Drawing on a twenty-four-year friendship with Crutcherthe two met as undergraduates at Eastern Washington State College - Davis provides readers with a superbly crafted entree to the writer and his work, the first biocritical study devoted to Crutcher. In a cogent style, Davis delineates the people and events shaping Crutcher's character and commitment to youth and examines each of the published works, including Crutcher's 1992 novel for adults, The Deep End. While assessing each work's plot, theme, ethical perspectives, and critical reception, Davis draws freely on a wealth of personal observations from Crutcher and on insights Davis himself has gained during their long association. Readers learn, for example, that Crutcher can do one hundred straight push-ups; that his outlook was sharply influenced by his maternal grandfather, who grew up an orphan; and that at Christmastime Crutcher asks friends to give him not gifts but money he can use to help his clients at one of Spokane's mental health centers. Throughout, Davis employs engaging literary techniques to make his subject come alive for readers - taking readers on an imaginary motorcycle ride to visit the Idaho of Crutcher's youth, for instance, and introducing readers to Crutcher's mother, Jewell, who offers wry and telling remarks about her son. A portrait of a writer who infuses his work with physical, emotional, and intellectual energy, Presenting Chris Crutcher will appeal to young people, librarians, teachers of English and reading, and college and graduate students of adolescent literature.