Jerome Charyn has long been one of my favorite writers. At its best, his writing attains a level of poetry rarely equalled in noir fiction. I suppose one could say that he specializes in the grand gesture, a particularly difficult type of writing in this so-called post-modern era, particularly when it comes to the genres in which he works. I can't think of any other writer who wears his heart on his sleeve so unashamedly. I thought I had most of Charyn's books, but from looking at a list of them I realize that I've really been slacking of late. My favorites are, of course, the Issac Quartet, but I also like Maria's Girls, The Good Policeman, The Seventh Babe, Elsinore, as well as non-fiction books like Movie land, Metropolis and Savage Shorthand- the Life and Death of Issac Babel. Though this is pretty much a promo for his 2008 book Johnny One-Eye: a Tale of the American Revolution, a novel that I have yet to read, I still find it interesting. I particularly like the first part in which he talks about using language as a weapon.