Media > John Powers on His Books, Writing, and Life

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Title: John Powers on His Books, Writing, and Life

Added: 5 years ago

By: loyolapress

Categories: Youth, Adult, Seniors, TV, Books, Inspiration

Tags: john, powers, last, catholic, america, black, patent, leather, shoes, unoriginal, sinner, ice-cream, loyola, press, classics, americna, novels, chicago, interview, literature, identity, youth, family, confession, hope

Description:

Author John Powers talks about the inspiration for his beloved novels: The Last Catholic in America, Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?, and The Unoriginal Sinner and the Ice-Cream God. These classics of 20th-century American literature, which portray the Catholic experience in the U.S. with humor and tenderness, are part of the Loyola Classic series. (See the below website for more information, including free discussion guide; Produced by Loyola Press.)

From the Publisher's Website

John Power's The Last Cat...

John R. Powers’s THE LAST CATHOLIC IN AMERICA is a humorous and nostalgic account of the unique experience of growing up in Catholic schools in the 1950s. The novel records the elementary school experiences of Eddie Ryan, the author’s alter ego. It is the first of three coming-of-age novels that Powers wrote in the 1970s, drawing on his childhood in the intensely Catholic subculture of South Side Chicago. His character Eddie is warm, funny, and a keen observer of human behavior, and the many aspects of growing up Catholic that angered and scandalized others through Eddie’s eyes just make us laugh.

John Power's Do Patent Le...

John R. Powers’s comic novel DO PATENT LEATHER SHOES REALLY REFLECT UP? transports readers to the halls of Catholic high school in the 1960s. It is the second of three coming-of-age novels that Powers wrote in the 1970s, drawing on his childhood in the intensely Catholic subculture of South Side Chicago. Powers’s iconic character Eddie Ryan, now a Freshman at Bremmer High School, is an Irish Catholic Holden Caulfield—a teenage literary character whom the reader immediately recognizes as a familiar figure. Eddie is the bright, funny kid who can make you laugh just by keenly describing the ordinary things people do in school every day.

John Power's The Unorigin...

John R. Powers’s acclaimed novel THE UNORIGINAL SINNER AND THE ICE-CREAM GOD is a pitch-perfect trip back into the world of young Catholic men from the South Side of Chicago circa 1970. It is the third of Powers’s three coming-of-age novels and its comedy is the darkest. His hero (or, more accurately, antihero) is Tim Conroy, an angst-ridden, draft-dodging college student--a clever and once-sunny boy who has grown wary and sardonic as the traditional values of church, family, and neighborhood gradually crumble around him. The sad changes in the boy are related to the deterioration of his culture, which he surveys with the bewildered cynicism of an Irish Catholic Holden Caulfield.

Loyola Classics Series

The LOYOLA CLASSICS is a series of masterpieces of Catholic fiction from some of the greatest authors of the twentieth century, republished in quality editions by Loyola Press. Explore the books in the series and find informative essays on each novel and author, as well discussion guides and other downloadable resources for students, teachers, and reading groups.

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