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High Sierra
by Burnett, W.R
- Used
- Fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Fine/Fine
- Seller
-
Mission Viejo, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1940. Book. Fine. Hardcover. 1st Edition. First Edition stated. First printing. $2.00 price on front flap of dustjacket. Dustjacket has been expertly repaired to fine condition. Book is tight and square with no writing or marks of any kind. Basis for the 1941 movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino directed by Raoul Walsh from a screenplay by William R. Burnett and John Huston. Book is protected with a custom cut clear mylar cover. All books are carefully wrapped and shipped in a box..
Synopsis
The tormented and exhausted man at the center of W.R. Burnett's High Sierra is a notorious criminal whom the newspapers call "Mad Dog" Roy Earle. Earle is every bit the criminal the newspapers depict, but he is a complicated soul who is the tragic hero of the novel -- a horribly flawed man, a violent criminal who still retains a bit of a conscience but never gets a decent break.As in most of Burnett's novels, High Sierra ostensibly describes a carefully plotted crime that is undermined by human nature. More interesting and important, perhaps, is its study of Roy Earle, who hardly seems the "Mad Dog" he is made out to be in the press. Pardoned from prison, he idealizes his childhood as he wearily makes his way across the California desert to meet up with two hoods named Red and Babe. Earle is dismayed to find they have with them a tough and brazen woman named Marie, though he begins to warm to her crude charm. He has been moved by the plight of a physically impaired woman he meets, Velma Goodhue, and he resolves to help her -- imagining, somehow, that she will be his. After a holdup he plans with Red, Babe and Marie (who has now fallen in love with him), Earle takes money to Velma for an operation to repair her clubfoot. But the holdup has disastrous results. Red and Babe are killed, and Roy goes on the lam with Marie. They have nowhere to turn and even Velma deserts him. Earle sends Marie away, to meet him eventually in a mountain pass in the High Sierras -- a rendezvous high in the sky that will not take place as planned.Much happens plotwise in High Sierra but it is Roy Earle who holds our interest. As remorseless as the book is -- the concluding chapter consists a few lacerating paragraphs of post-mortem chitchat from the police -- it makes Earle a rich and deeply compelling man, without sentimentalizing him at all. Reading High Sierra is close to the experience of reading James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, a tough, bleak and unforgiving narrative that works a dark and elusive magic.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Cahill Rare Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 002898
- Title
- High Sierra
- Author
- Burnett, W.R
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Fine
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Publisher
- Alfred A. Knopf
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1940
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
Terms of Sale
Cahill Rare Books
All items in this catalog are guaranteed to be authentic and in the condition described. All items are subject to prior sale. Reservations may be made by phone 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM PST. Books may be returned with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged. Please send remittance with order. Institutions may receive deferred billing. Large or heavy books may require additional postage from purchaser for International Orders
About the Seller
Cahill Rare Books
Biblio member since 2018
Mission Viejo, California
About Cahill Rare Books
We have been in business for 33 years n Southern California.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
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