Talk:Jim Harrison

Harrison's Loss of One Eye

The article states that Harrison lost an eye in a childhood "accident." This is inaccurate. According to Harrison himself, the loss occurred when a neighbor girl gouged a broken bottle in his face during an argument. Younggoldchip (talk) 11:57, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

Agrarian intelligence

"Harrison's characters tend to be rural by birth and to have retained some qualities of their agrarian pioneer heritage in spite of their intelligence..."

Are you kidding me? This sentence states that agrarian qualities are in spite of intelligence. So, intelligence and rural qualities are mutually exclusive. This is insulting. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.208.251.22 (talk) 17:54, 30 July 2015 (UTC)

The sentence in question has been removed. --Oadys (talk) 15:50, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

Proposed rewrite of opening paragraph

I've taken a stab at rewriting the opening paragraph of the Jim Harrison article. It is available in my sandbox. I would be interested in your thoughts and comments.

Mr Harrison is my favorite writer; I am particularly fond of his Brown Dog character. I hope that I can improve his presence of Wikipedia. I started with the opening paragraph of his article because that is what appears in a browser if you google him.

I feel there are a couple of problems with the opening paragraph as it stands:

1. I can't find any evidence that he is best known for "Legends of the Fall" (the novella). Granted, it was made into a movie, but how many viewers of the movie know of Mr Harrison's involvement? In my rewrite I mention that the "Legends of the Fall" (the collection) was his first commercial success (and give a citation).

2. I don't believe his work is like Ernest Hemingway or William Faulkner. The citation given for the Ernest Hemingway comparison actually says that he is not like Ernest Hemingway. I don't find any mention of Faulkner in the citations given.

3. "Harrison's characters tend to be rural by birth... ". Because Harrison wrote in several genres, statements like this seem better placed in the prose section. I'm leaving aside the discussion on whether the statements are accurate.

I hope my proposed replacement paragraph succinctly emphasizes Harrison's accomplishments as a writer, let me know! --Oadys (talk) 15:25, 3 March 2019 (UTC)

I have replaced the opening paragraph. --Oadys (talk) 15:52, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

ERROR NEA grants in late 60's --NOT Academy of Arts

Someone change the article to correctly say he received grants from the National ENDOWMENT FOR the ARTS (NEA) in 1967,'68,'69.

There is no such thing as the "National Academy of Arts" in the US. I just entered this wrong info into an article for publication and had to catch it myself. ~2026-11251-74 (talk) 04:08, 20 February 2026 (UTC)