Synopses & Reviews
No two lives could have been more different, yet similar in a few essential ways than John and Dan Fante′s. As father and son, John and Dan Fante were prone to fights, resentment and extended periods of silence. As men, they were damaged by alcoholism. As writers, they were compelled by anger, rage and unstoppable passion.
In FANTE, Dan Fante traces his family′s history from the hillsides of Italy to the immigrant neighborhoods of Colorado to Los Angeles. There, John Fante struggles to gain the literary recognition he so badly craves, and despite the publication of his best known work, ASK THE DUST, he turns to the steady paycheck of Hollywood, working as a screenwriter to support his family. We follow Dan through a troubled childhood to his discovery of life′s vices through work as a carnival barker and later as he hitchhikes to New York City, where he drives a taxi for twelve years. While John Fante′s rage over his perceived failures as a writer and his struggle with debilitating diabetes make him more and more miserable, Dan struggles with alcoholic blackouts, suicidal thoughts and what he deems a broken mind.
John was a writer whose literary contributions were not recognised until the end of his life. Dan was an alcoholic saved by writing, who at the age of 45 picked up his father′s old typewriter in order to ease the madness in his mind. Fante is the story of the evolution of a relationship between father and son who eventually found their way back to loving each other. In straightforward unapologetic prose, Dan Fante lays bare his family′s story from his point of view, with the rage and passion of a writer, which he feels was his true inheritance and his father′s greatest gift.
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“Fantes stories are as funny as they are dark, and always deeply human in a world thats often not.” Ron Shelton, Director (Bull Durham, White Men Can't Jump)
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“Dan Fantes writing grabs you by the throat and doesnt let you go. Its authentic, gritty, and yet full of a flawed beauty found in the strangest places and the hardest people.” Ron Shelton, Director (Bull Durham, White Men Can't Jump)
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"'An author puts his heart and his guts on the page.' It is a lesson Dan never forgot, and one that served him well in his own writing future ... A vivid cautionary tale of a family's struggles with words, rage and the bottle." Kirkus Reviews
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“The Fantes, father and son, have been a major new discovery for me . . . I cant think of the West Coast without them.” & #151; John Fowles, Author of The French Lieutenant & #8217;s Woman & #151; John Fowles, Author of The French Lieutenant & #8217;s WomanJohn Fowles, author of The French Lieutenant's Woman
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“Dan Fante is an authentic literary outlaw.” New York Times
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“Fante offers moments that brush the genius of Bukowski and Hubert Selby, Jr.” Elle
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“Readers who dont hang up . . . wont be able to stop listening” New York Times
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“With Fante, and his father before him, there are never any false feelings or pretentiousness . . . you know he has been where he writes from, and judging by the sound of things, it has been one hell of a wild ride.” Sacramento Book Review
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“If you like your prose vodka-soaked, soulful, and bleeding on the page, then Fante is your man.” Ben Meyers, 3AM MagazineBen Meyers, 3AM MagazineBen Meyers, 3AM MagazineBen Meyers, 3AM Magazine
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“A brilliant memoir. John and Dan Fante are two sides of the same coin. Both battered but resilient, theyre writers who have written with pure honesty and blood and never gave up. Its one of the best memoirs Ive read in years.” Willy Vlautin, author of Lean on Pete and The Motel Life
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“If writing is fighting, then Dan Fante goes fifteen rounds and stays standing. This is a fascinating story about two hard-edged men, survival and the passion to live and to write.” Michael Connelly
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“What a story. Riveting, harrowing, and extremely moving. Dan Fantes been to hell and back and taken notes along the way.” Mary Dearborn Author of The Happiest Man Alive: A Biography of Henry Miller and Mailer: A Biography
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“This book is a knockout, with all the down-and-out, kick-you-in-the-teeth, unflinching prose of self-taught street writers like Herbert Huncke and Hubert Selby, Jr. Dan Fante is now entrenched on my list of self-sabotaging, self-abusing fuckup writer anti-heroes.” Neil Strauss, Author of The Game and Everyone Loves You When You're Dead
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“[Fantes] anecdotal, spare narrative is full of fine, pointed writing and searing memories” Publishers Weekly
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“A vivid cautionary tale of a familys struggles with words, rage and the bottle.” Kirkus Reviews
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“[Fante] is frank and funny. Dan does not lionize or demonize his father, nor does he indulge in the self pitying or self gratifying aspects of memoir. Its an achievement in tone and delightful to read.” Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times
Synopsis
"Dan Fante is an authentic literary outlaw."
New York TimesFrom Dan Fante, son of novelist John Fante, comes an exploration of his familys legacyone of boozing, passion, writing, and survival. Long before his father achieved literary recognition for Ask the Dust or The Road to Los Angeles, and before Dan had conceived his novels 86d, Chump Change, and Mooch, their difficult relationship as father and son evolved in a household where love and literary artistry were often overshadowed by emotional violence. Fante is the story of Dans struggle to find his own voice amidst the madness of his familys dark inheritance, a memoir of his escape from his own vices and his eventual return to Los Angeles to embrace the manand the callingthat once had driven him away.
Synopsis
As father and son John and Dan Fante shared a relationship characterized by competition, resentment, rage and silence. As men, both were driven to succeed by damaged by uncontrollable drinking. As writers, both were gifted with inextinguishable passion. In
Fante, Dan Fante traces his familys history from Los Angeles, where John struggles to gain literary recognition and turns instead to the steady paycheck of Hollywood screenwriting, to New York, where Dan finds an escape from his troubled childhood in a life of words and vices.
John was a writer whose literary contributions were not recognized until the end of his life. Dan was an alcoholic saved by writing, who at the age of 45 picked up his fathers old typewriter in order to ease the madness in his mind. Fante is the story of the evolution of a relationship between father and son who eventually find their way back to loving each other. In straightforward unapologetic prose, Dan Fante lays bare his familys story from his point of view, with the rage and passion of a writer, which he feels was his true inheritance and his fathers greatest gift.
About the Author
The son of novelist John Fante (Ask the Dust), Dan Fante is the author of the novels 86'd, Chump Change, and Mooch; the short story collection, Short Dog; two books of poetry; and the plays The Boiler Room and Don Giovanni. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he lives in Arizona with his wife and son.