Harry Crews

Writer Harry Crews had a hard life and didn't make it any easier for the characters in his novels. He died Wednesday at age 76. Fresh Air remembers the Southern novelist with excerpts from a 1988 interview.

Novelist and essayist Harry Crews. His nine novels include All We Need is Hell and The Gospel Singer. Oftentimes, the main characters of Crews' works are outsiders; The central character of Crews' most recent work, titled The Knockout Artist, is a boxer who specializes in knocking himself out. Crews' three works of nonfiction include the autobiography A Childhood, Blood and Grits, and Florida Frenzy.