Updike Still Looking

Updike, John. SEEK MY FACE. New York City, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002.
Hardcover. First Edition. First Printing. 276 pages. As New in As New Dust Jacket. The author's 20th novel. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. One of very few novelists who also write brilliantly about art ("Just Looking" and "Still Looking") , this is Updike on one of his great passions in fictional form, a roman a clef in the best sense of the term: "An ambitious attempt to capture the moment when America for the first time ever led world art. As a fictional survey of the birth of Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, and other contemporary genres, the narrative offers the roiling currents of genius and calculation, artistic vision and personal ambition that characterized the art scene in the post-war years. Updike's ability to get inside an artist's psyche is considerable. Hope's life bears a strong resemblance to that of Jackson Pollock's wife, Lee Krasner. Hope's memories recapitulate the dilemma of an artist whose personal expression is thwarted by marriage and the omnipresence of alcohol and drugs. Updike's descriptions of landscapes and interiors are painterly in themselves, closely observed, and sensuous. The novel is a study of the artist as archetype, 'a man who in the end loves nothing but his art' " (Publishers Weekly) . Written in Updike's characteristic lapidary style: Chiseled, polished, impeccable. There is such a thing as a John Updike line or sentence in the sense that there isn't in any other living American writer. Susan Sontag regarded him as the finest stylist in the English language of our time. A "must-have" title for John Updike collectors. <b><i> This copy is prominently and beautifully signed in blue pen on the front free endpaper by John Updike. It is signed directly on the page, not on a tipped-in page. This is one of very few signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition still available online and has no flaws, a pristine beauty. Many copies available online have serious flaws. A very scarce signed copy thus. </b></i> A writer all his adult life, John Updike is probably the most prolific and most-honored living American writer: Winner of numerous awards, among them the Guggenheim Fellowship (1959) , Rosenthal Award, National Institute of Arts and Letters (1959) , National Book Award for Fiction (1964) , O. Henry Prize (1967-68) , American Book Award (1982) , National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction (1982, 1990) , Union League Club Abraham Lincoln Award (1982) , National Arts Club Medal of Honor (1984) and the National Medal of the Arts (1989) , the highest award the U. S. Government bestows on its artists and writers. In 1976, he became a member of American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2003, Updike received the National Medal for Humanities, joining a very small group of great living Americans who have been honored with both the National Medal of the Arts and the National Medal for the Humanities. Updike's greatest novels, "Rabbit is Rich" and "Rabbit at Rest", won Pulitzer Prizes. One of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. A flawless copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JOHN UPDIKE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0375414908. Signed by Author.

Details

Miller, Henry (edited and with an Introduction By Lawrence Durrell; Author's Preface and Commentaries): The Henry Miller Reader, Norfolk, CT New Directions Books 1959
Near Fine in Near Fine DJ Dust Jacket Design By Charles Kaplan; Dust Jacket Photograph of Author By Cedric Wright; Book Design By Stefan Salter

xvi, 400pp. Red cloth, gilt spine lettering, dark gray top stain. Dust jacket price 6.50. SIGNED by MILLER and DURRELL to half-title page. "The best" of Miller selected by his friend Lawrence Durrell, with commentaries by the Author at the head of each selection. Selections from Black Spring, Tropic of Cancer, The Colossus of Maroussi, Sexus, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymous Bosch, Plexus, Sunday After the War, Max and the White Phagocytes, The Wisdom of the Heart, Remember to Remember, The Books in My Life, The Time of the Assassins divided into the sections, Places, Stories, Literary Essays, Portraits, The Man Himself, Aphorisms, Appendices: Defense of the Freedom to Read, Chronology, Bibliography. " After living with the difficulty for a couple of years, Lawrence Durrell put together an anthology of Henry Miller's work published by New Directions in 1959. 'The Henry Miller Reader', assembled with Durrell's keen eye for ornament, was a collection of Miller's least obscene writings. Durrell had his reasons. As Miller's friend, possibly his best friend, Durrell must have been aghast at the gap between Miller's large European reputation and small American readership. Known to the American literary world as a phenomenon, acclaimed by a fraction of that literary world as a giant and a genius, Miller was still relatively unknown and ninety-nine percent unread by that larger world of reasonably serious readers who camp in the fields just outside the literary world. His most renowned work,'Tropic of Cancer', was unavailable in the U.S. except for copies smuggled in from Europe, and his succeeding works, 'Black Spring' and 'Tropic of Capricorn', were also banned. His later works brought out in the Forties and the Fifties by New Directions were considerably cleaner. Durrell, putting the anthology together in consultation with Miller, came to the well-researched conclusion they could not touch Miller's best writings - in 1959 they were much too obscene for the US Post Office. So 'The Henry Miller Reader' is obliged to do without the powerful prose of 'Tropic of Cancer', 'Tropic of Capricorn', and 'The Rosy Crucifixion' - precisely the heart of Miller's gargantuan talents and vices as a novelist. Under the circumstances, Durrell must have looked for the next best solution: he could at least introduce Henry Miller to a good many serious American readers who hitherto had had only a limited idea of Miller as a pornographer. That was a marrow of readership Durrell's friend deserved to reach, nay, it was his right to reach such people and their duty to read him, and Durrell may have been looking for the way to make a proper introduction. So our literary best of Miller, the Sunday best, the most attractive collection which could be dressed out of the quarter of his least offensive work was gotten together, and there is a wealth of exquisite writing in Durrell's collection. I recommend 'The Henry Miller Reader 'to anyone who loves the work of Flannery O'Connor, William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Thomas Wolfe, Eudora Welty, Saul Bellow, Nabokov, Updike, Cheever, Bill Styron, Thomas Pynchon, John Hawkes, Nelson Algren - it is rich literary writing of the best kind, and proves in passing Miller's collateral right to be regarded as a distinguished literary talent full of character and evocation. Durrell therefore did the best job available to be done..." - Norman Mailer. Book has a few small blemishes to top stain o/w in Fine condition; some minor sunning [less than usual] to dust jacket orange spine, no markings or tears. Signed by Author and Editor First Edition Near Fine Hard Cover 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall

[SW: LITERATURE]

Details

Updike, John. STILL LOOKING: ESSAYS ON AMERICAN ART. New York City, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.
Hardcover. First Edition. First Printing. 222 pages. As New in As New Dust Jacket. The author's second collection of essays on art. The sequel to his landmark debut collection, "Just Looking", all of the pieces originally appeared in The New York Review of Books. The true First Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. "Free of abstraction and jargon and radiant in its curiosity and discernment, he can't help but bring a novelist's psychological insight to his discussion of art, even as he expertly considers technique and aesthetics. American art is his passion, and within that realm, it is painting that he loves best, although he has included a judicious discussion of Alfred Stieglitz, the most painterly of photographers. Updike is receptivity personified, writing about art with ardent attention, knowledge, and profound appreciation. Updike's immersion in art assures us that there are oases from the crassness of commercial images" (Donna Seaman) . A magnificent achievement. A "must-have" title for John Updike collectors. <B><i>This copy is prominently and beautifully signed in blue pen on the title page by John Updike. This title has been out-of-print as a hardcover for some time. This is the only signed copy of the true First Edition available online and has no flaws, a pristine beauty. Signed copies of John Updike's Hardcover First Editions are more scarce than the Limited Editions because he seldom does public signings and limits the number of books when he does. A rare signed copy thus. </b></i> Lavishly illustrated with 223 color plates. A writer all his adult life, John Updike is probably the most prolific and most-honored living American writer: Winner of numerous awards, among them the Guggenheim Fellowship (1959) , Rosenthal Award, National Institute of Arts and Letters (1959) , National Book Award for Fiction (1964) , O. Henry Prize (1967-68) , American Book Award (1982) , National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction (1982, 1990) , Union League Club Abraham Lincoln Award (1982) , National Arts Club Medal of Honor (1984) , and the National Medal of the Arts (1989) , the highest award the U. S. Government bestows on its artists and writers. In 1976, he became a member of American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2003, Updike received the National Medal for Humanities, joining a very small group of great living Americans who have been honored with both the National Medal of the Arts and the National Medal for the Humanities. Updike's greatest novels, "Rabbit is Rich" and "Rabbit at Rest", won Pulitzer Prizes. One of the greatest living American writers. A flawless collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JOHN UPDIKE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1400044189. Signed by Author.

Details

Updike, John: Still Looking Essays on American Art, Knopf, 2005

First edition ,Fine and very bright in like dustjacket with crisp bright text throughout. Quite exquisite throughout. Profusely illustrated.

[SW: Art]

Details