Cockfighter

the long version

"Cockfighter is a fiction of the American south loosely modeled, according to the author, on Homer's Odyssey. Frank Mansfield is the titular cockfighter--a silent and fiercely contrary man whose personal code and obsession with winning allows him no mercy on himself or those around him. Mansfield haunts the cockpits, bars, and roads of the rural South in the early 1960s, offering reflections on honor and gaming, as well as a stark look at manhood, class, and sex."--Page 4 of cover.