Barry Hannah Summary

Since 1972 Barry Hannah has published two novels and a prize-winning collection of short stories. His third novel, Ray, is scheduled for publication in fall 1980. While some stories and novel segments... Read more

Critical Essay by Jim Harrison "Geronimo Rex" is a stunning piece of entertainment, almost a totally successful book…. Hannah is one of those young writers who is brilliantly dru... Read more

Critical Essay by Eliot Fremont-smith Barry Hannah's Ray … is a song. Sharp and snappy snatches for the most part, above the electrics, cool and hot, of being alive…. It... Read more

Critical Essay by Geoffrey Wolff The sometimes third-person hero who gives the title to [Ray], usually told by him in first person, is an alcoholic medical doctor and veteran jet fighter pilot alive ... Read more

Critical Essay by John Updike ["Geronimo Rex"] belongs to an older tradition—the whining-adolescent novel of the fifties. The action begins in 1950, when the hero, Harry Monroe, ... Read more

Critical Essay by John Skow Of all the rich array of error in a book reviewer's repertoire of philistinism, the worst may be that of falling in love with an author's first novel, and th... Read more

Critical Essay by Richard Locke In recent weeks—somewhat to our suprise—we have run three front-page reviews of fiction by young American writers. Mary Gordon's "Final Pay... Read more

Critical Essay by Christopher Lehmann-haupt In "Ray," Barry Hannah's startling new novel, set in the American South, we have come a long way from the hanging moss and stately col... Read more

In the following interview, which was conducted on April 27, 1982, Hannah discusses his literary influences, his characters, and aspects of his personal life. [Vanarsdall]: To start off, who do you... Read more

In the excerpt below, Seib focuses on several of the stories in Airships and analyzes Hannah's mythic treatment of J. E. B. Stuart, a prominent general in the Confederate army during the Americ... Read more

In the following review, Raksin distinguishes the representation of violence in Hannah's works from that of such authors as Bret Easton Ellis. There's a scene in Barry Hannah's... Read more

In the following review of Bats out of Hell, Wiggins comments on the major themes of Hannah's fiction and his insights into the male psyche. Who is he? A railroad track toward hell? &... Read more

An American critic and journalist, Eder received a Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1987. In the following review, he remarks favorably on Hey Jack! In the white hell of winter warfare in Korea, Hom... Read more

In the following essay, Shepherd argues that Captain Maximus is a disappointing work that lacks the focus and freshness of Airships, Hannah's first collection. Perhaps exculpatory jacket cop... Read more

In the following review, Kennedy praises Hannah's style in Boomerang but finds it difficult to empathize with the author's persona. We must forgive Barry Hannah his inability to menti... Read more

In following review of Never Die, Kaye faults Hannah for not fully developing his characters. Barry Hannah can succinctly and with great good humor evoke the profound bewilderment of the human cond... Read more

In the following essay, Weston suggests that Barry Hannah's Vietnam stories attempt to make sense out of the violence of the Vietnam era, and views his stories within the context of Southern hi... Read more

In the following excerpt, Gilman underscores the significant role of violence in Barry Hannah's fiction and surveys his Vietnam War short stories from a Southern perspective. In an early ove... Read more