Hawkes, John

Two Novels (in One Volume): The Goose on the Grave & The Owl

New York, NY: New Directions Books, 1954. First Edition. Hardcover. Inscribed & signed by John Hawkes. "Out of his experiences as a wartime ambulance driver in Italy- mainly in the area of the Inferno- John Hawkes has distilled two haunting, obsessive short novels of strange happenings in a landscape which is partly Italian and partly the author's own brand of myth and fantasy. The Owl is laid in a medieval citadel that is suggestive of the little principality of San Marino and is as symbolic of tyranny as the bastion in Stendhal's The Charterhouse of Parma. The story is told on several levels, the Fascist narrator being the provincial Hangman, ruler of the people, sought-after bachelor and at times the dictatorial and ruthless bird of history, the owl himself...The Goose on the Grave, the title story, narrates the wanderings of a small Italian child orphaned by the war, the bombings, by the holocaust described as "the survival of the least fit." The boy seeks a father in a wounded, deranged soldier, in an elderly roue, in a priest, a blind man, and in a menacing accordionist." (from front flap) Two short, early novels published in one volume by John Hawkes (1925-1998), the acclaimed and influential author who pioneered the postmodern movement in American literature. Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket, first edition, a production of James Laughlin's New Directions imprint & exemplary of its fearless championing of such contemporary cutting-edge authors as Hawkes & so many others. On the page preceding title page, above a quote by Ezra Pound, Hawkes has hand-written & signed in bold black ink: "For Phyllis Levita/ with all best wishes/ (signed) John Hawkes." A classic Hawkes collectible, very rare with this signed inscription & in exceptionally fine condition: Book with only mild wear, some tiny bumps & loss of black color at edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; mild rubbing, browning & occasional spotting to edges of text block esp. upper edge. Interior very fine with only a hint of browning to blank paste-downs, endpapers & blank margins of page leaves. Unrestored dust jacket also fine with light browning & rubbing to front, back covers, esp. spine & flaps; mild wear & some tiny bumps incl. with very slight loss of surface paper at edges & corners of same; original price of $3.00 near lower right corner of front flap has been stamped out with a new (interestingly higher) price of $4.50 stamped below (with bleeding from these stamps onto blank verso). We note that all flap corners here are very slightly clipped, apparently as issued, since original & amended prices remain. Fine / Fine. [Item #4484]

Price: $200.00