In this Book
- Texas Literary Outlaws: Six Writers in the Sixties and Beyond
- Book
- 2017
- Published by: TCU Press
summary
At the height of the sixties, a group of Texas writers stood apart from Texas’ conservative establishment. Calling themselves the Mad Dogs, these six writers—Bud Shrake, Larry L. King, Billy Lee Brammer, Gary Cartwright, Dan Jenkins, and Peter Gent—closely observed the effects of the Vietnam War; the Kennedy assassination; the rapid population shift from rural to urban environments; Lyndon Johnson’s rise to national prominence; the Civil Rights Movement; Tom Landry and the Dallas Cowboys; Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, the new Outlaw music scene; the birth of a Texas film industry; Texas Monthly magazine; the flowering of “Texas Chic”; and Ann Richards’ election as governor.
In Texas Literary Outlaws, Steven L. Davis makes extensive use of untapped literary archives to weave a fascinating portrait of writers who came of age during a period of rapid social change. With Davis’s eye for vibrant detail and a broad historical perspective, Texas Literary Outlaws moves easily between H. L. Hunt’s Dallas mansion and the West Texas oil patch, from the New York literary salon of Elaine’s to the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, from Dennis Hopper on a film set in Mexico to Jerry Jeff Walker crashing a party at Princeton University. The Mad Dogs were less interested in Texas’ mythic past than in the world they knew firsthand—a place of fast-growing cities and hard-edged political battles.
The Mad Dogs crashed headfirst into the sixties, and their legendary excesses have often overshadowed their literary production. Davis never shies away from criticism in this no-holds-barred account, yet he also shows how the Mad Dogs’ rambunctious personae have deflected a true understanding of their deeper aims. Despite their popular image, the Mad Dogs were deadly serious as they turned their gaze on their home state, and they chronicled Texas culture with daring, wit, and sophistication.
In Texas Literary Outlaws, Steven L. Davis makes extensive use of untapped literary archives to weave a fascinating portrait of writers who came of age during a period of rapid social change. With Davis’s eye for vibrant detail and a broad historical perspective, Texas Literary Outlaws moves easily between H. L. Hunt’s Dallas mansion and the West Texas oil patch, from the New York literary salon of Elaine’s to the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, from Dennis Hopper on a film set in Mexico to Jerry Jeff Walker crashing a party at Princeton University. The Mad Dogs were less interested in Texas’ mythic past than in the world they knew firsthand—a place of fast-growing cities and hard-edged political battles.
The Mad Dogs crashed headfirst into the sixties, and their legendary excesses have often overshadowed their literary production. Davis never shies away from criticism in this no-holds-barred account, yet he also shows how the Mad Dogs’ rambunctious personae have deflected a true understanding of their deeper aims. Despite their popular image, the Mad Dogs were deadly serious as they turned their gaze on their home state, and they chronicled Texas culture with daring, wit, and sophistication.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Texas Literary Outlaws
- pp. 1-6
- Part One: Coming of Age in Texas
- Chapter 1: A Rebel in West Texas
- pp. 9-24
- Chapter 2: A Texas Oasis
- pp. 25-38
- Chapter 3: The Gay Place
- pp. 39-54
- Chapter 5: The Texas Beats
- pp. 72-83
- Chapter 7: A Gathering Force
- pp. 96-108
- Chapter 8: A Long Way from Beaumont
- pp. 109-117
- Chapter 9: Dallas, 1963
- pp. 118-126
- Part Two: Too Much Ain't Enough
- Chapter 10: A New Beginning
- pp. 129-139
- Chapter 11: The Doors of Perception
- pp. 140-151
- Chapter 12: Literary Comanches
- pp. 152-156
- Chapter 13: These Happy Occasions
- pp. 157-165
- Chapter 14: The One-Eyed Man
- pp. 166-171
- Chapter 15: Cowboys and Indians
- pp. 172-182
- Chapter 16: Harper's on the Rise
- pp. 183-187
- Chapter 17: Obscure Famous Arthurs
- pp. 188-197
- Chapter 18: Absurdism in the Southwest
- pp. 198-206
- Chapter 19: Busted in the Oasis
- pp. 207-214
- Chapter 20: Harvard's "White Racist"
- pp. 215-219
- Chapter 21: Land of the Permanent Wave
- pp. 220-227
- Chapter 22: Mad Dog, Texas
- pp. 228-238
- Chapter 23: King's Road
- pp. 239-249
- Chapter 24: Outlaws
- pp. 250-258
- Chapter 26: Redneck Hippies
- pp. 268-274
- Chapter 27: Strange Peaches
- pp. 275-280
- Chapter 28: Semi-Tough
- pp. 281-286
- Part Three: Texas...Chic?
- Chapter 29: A New View of Texas
- pp. 289-293
- Chapter 30: The Cowboy Professor
- pp. 294-297
- Chapter 31: Live Music Capital
- pp. 298-301
- Chapter 32: North Dallas Forty
- pp. 302-308
- Chapter 34: Challenging Texas
- pp. 315-319
- Chapter 35: Changes at Sports Illustrated
- pp. 320-324
- Chapter 36: Texas's Gonzo Journalist
- pp. 325-333
- Chapter 37: Texas Brain Fry
- pp. 334-340
- Chapter 38: LBJ, Speed, and Paranoia
- pp. 341-348
- Chapter 39: Hollywood vs. Sports Illustrated
- pp. 349-354
- Chapter 40: Whorehouse
- pp. 355-361
- Chapter 41: A Fraction of His Talent
- pp. 362-366
- Chapter 42: Measures of Success
- pp. 367-373
- Chapter 43: Hitting the Wall
- pp. 374-380
- Chapter 44: A Recovery
- pp. 381-384
- Chapter 45: "Ever a Bridegroom"
- pp. 385-393
- Chapter 46: Third Coast
- pp. 394-396
- Chapter 47: Faces in the Fire
- pp. 397-400
- Part Four: How Time Slips Away
- Chapter 48: Jenkins
- pp. 403-416
- Chapter 49: King
- pp. 417-432
- Chapter 50: Cartwright
- pp. 433-440
- Chapter 51: Shrake
- pp. 441-450
- Bibliography
- pp. 492-501
Additional Information
ISBN
9780875656809
Related ISBN(s)
9780875656755
MARC Record
OCLC
1008577746
Pages
512
Launched on MUSE
2017-11-04
Language
English
Open Access
No