The Battle of Pollocks Crossing is the sixth novel by J.L. Carr, published in 1985. The novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1985 and followed a nomination in 1980 for A Month in the Country, his preceding novel.

The novel describes a year spent by a young English exchange teacher named George Gidner in the fictional town of Pallisades on the Great Plains

Great Plains

The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...

 of South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

. Like many of Carr's novels it is grounded in personal experience: Carr worked for a year as an exchange teacher in Huron

Huron, South Dakota

Huron is a city in Beadle County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 12,592 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Beadle County. Huron was the home of now-defunct Huron University since 1897. Huron is also the home of the South Dakota State Fair...

, South Dakota in 1938 - 39 and returned again to teach in 1956 - 57. Carr also reported that it was his first novel, but the book failed initially to find a publisher.. When it had been accepted by Viking Penguin, Carr took it back and spent two days rewriting it. The early titles of the novel were apparently Oh, My America, a quotation from John Donne

John Donne

John Donne 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs,...

 and To the West, To the West, an immigrant song, although Carr may not have been entirely serious. When the novel was published Carr issued from his Quince Tree Press a small, 16 page companion volume called Gidner's Brief Lives of the Frontier, a dictionary of people who had lived and died between 1810 and 1890 to the east of the Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

 river.

Carr bought back the rights to the novel and published it in 1993 in an edition of 2,000 copies as the fourth title from The Quince Tree Press

The Quince Tree Press

The Quince Tree Press is the imprint established in 1966 by J. L. Carr to publish his maps, pocket books and novels. The Press is now run by his son Robert Carr and his wife, Jane.- History of the press :...

, who still publish it.

Publishing history

• 1985 Viking Penguin, ISBN 0670805599
• 1986 Penguin Books
  Penguin Books
  Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
  
  , ISBN 0140077987
• 1993 The Quince Tree Press
  The Quince Tree Press
  The Quince Tree Press is the imprint established in 1966 by J. L. Carr to publish his maps, pocket books and novels. The Press is now run by his son Robert Carr and his wife, Jane.- History of the press :...
  
  , ISBN 0900847964

Translations

• 1991 Le bataille de Pollocks Crossing, Actes Sud, France, ISBN 9782868696397