My Amputations, Clarence Major's fifth novel, is an explosively rich book about a man pursued by his shadow. Its protagonist is either a desperate ex-con who has become convinced that he is an important American novelist or a desperate American novelist who has become convinced that he - and most of what passes for literary life on three continents - is a con. Clarence Major has split the difference between Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and Herman Melville's The Confidence Man to produce this dark, funny tale about the great American hustle. - Denise Levertov, Robert Haas, Jonathan Galassi, Sandra Cisneros (Jurors, Western States Arts Foundation, 1986 Western States Book Award for Fiction) ""My Amputations is a picaresque novel that comes wailing out of the blues tradition: it is ironic, irreverent, sexy, on a first-name basis with the human condition."" - The New York Times ""My Amputations is a provocative advance in contemporary American writing. This novel should do much to make the name Clarence Major a byword among aficionados of adventurous fiction everywhere."" - The Washington Post Book World ""Mere description cannot convey the wild humor and audacity to be found here, nor the anxiety and cunning. The virtues of My Amputations are all active ones."" - The Nation