After years of underground existence, this brilliant novel is emerging as a classic of visionary writing and still remains Hawkes s only work devoted solely to American life.
The Beetle Leg, John Hawkes s second full-length novel, was first published by New Directions in 1951. Now, after more than sixty years, this brilliant novel is emerging as a classic of visionary writing and still remains Hawkes s only work devoted solely to American life. As a «surrealist Western» (Newsweek), and a violent and poetic portrayal of «a landscape of sexual apathy» (A.J. Guerard), The Beetle Leg is a rich flight into the special vein of comedy that Hawkes had begun to exploit a decade before the popular acceptance of «black humor.»
