THE RUNAWAY SOUL

New York City, NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1991. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1991. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 835 pages. The author's debut novel. One of Harold Brodkey's greatest achievements. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Harold Brodkey's "The Runaway Soul". Originally titled as - and more poetically as such - "Party With Animals". It is "the most famous unpublished work in America". "Dense, ambitious, and over 800 pages long. Its hero is Wiley Silenowicz, adopted in 1930 and raised by his cousins S. L. & Lila Silenowicz in St. Louis. Not quite as crafty as his name, but possessed of a fiercely observant intelligence that unfolds experience endlessly like a flower, Wiley must abide a glamorous, self-absorbed mother, an obnoxious sister, and a smooth-talking father who says things like, 'I won't wear another man's shoes. But I'll tell another man's jokes. I'm the father to another man's child'. In the course of the novel, Wiley grows up, observes his parents, suffers his sister, experiences sexual longing, and then sex. In short, nothing much happens except language: Brodkey's lush, carefully observed antidote to Minimalism that will alternately enthrall and exasperate readers. Brilliant, maddening, and essential for readers of good literature everywhere" (Library Journal). Harold Brodkey achieved immense success as a very young man with his collection of short stories, "First Love and Other Sorrows", which is still widely considered his masterpiece. "The Runaway Soul" is his contrapuntal response to his youthful achievement. An absolute "must-have" title for Harold Brodkey collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed, placed, dated (in the year of publication), and inscribed in red pen on the title page by the author: "1991 NYC For Max Kahn, Memory on memory. You and I have had a good time now and then. Harold Brodkey". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. The recipient, who is named, is unmistakably a close friend of the author. As such, Brodkey's inscription on this copy is the most beautiful we have ever seen. The book is enclosed in an elegant, custom-made black cloth slipcase. This title is a great book. As far as we know, this is the only such signed, placed, publication-year dated, and inscribed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. "First Love And Other Sorrows" is regarded by Harold Bloom as one of the canonical titles of the 20th century. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER HAROLD BRODKEY TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0374252866.