by Stephen Cooper

In the definitive biography of John Fante, English and film studies professor Stephen Cooper explores the life of a man whose muse was Los Angeles. If ever a writer presented an enigma to the literary world, it was Fante -- who grappled at once with brilliance and cruelty, yet presented a talent that has been equated with that of America's finest writers. From his home near L.A.'s Bunker Hill and his days filled with frustration, rage and love, Fante's life is at one with his characters' lives, but Cooper pinpoints the parallels and the divergences.