Wideman, John Edgar

The Lynchers

ISBN: 0151548005
New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1973. First Edition. Hardcover. "With his third novel, The Lynchers, John Edgar Wideman fulfills all the promise of his first two, and comes into his own. The Lynchers is one of those rare books that one feels in one's bones is making literary history before it is published. Why? How? Four utterly dissimilar black men come together and plan an ultimate symbolic act: the lynching of a white policeman. Mr. Wideman's searching of the hearts and minds of these men plays a searing human counterpoint to the inexorable march of the action. This powerful work, without exaggeration, is the most stirring and probing revolutionary novel since Dostoevski's The Possessed." (from front flap) The deep & disturbing now-classic third novel by John Edgar Wideman, the acclaimed & prolific African-American novelist, short story writer, memoirist & academician. Honored with many awards & honorary doctorates over the years, Wideman is especially noted for having been the first author to receive the highly prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction twice, in 1984 (for Sent For You Yesterday) & 1991 (for Philadelphia Fire). Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket, first edition as stated on copyright page, possible second printing as indicated by "BCDE" sequence thereon (although all first edition copies we have seen images of have this letter sequence). A key collectible in the vast Wideman canon, sadly perhaps more relevant to our bedeviled American society than ever. Book in fine condition with slight wear to edges & corners of front, back covers & spine incl. loss of orange color esp. at spine-edges & all corners; slight bend of spine-binding toward front; mild rubbing & light spotting to edges of text block. Interior fine with mild rubbing & light spotting to blank paste-downs & endpapers; small triangular pink sticker with "BTP" in white font affixed near upper right corner of front paste-down (we have seen this on images of other copies, so possibly as issued); tiny bumps at mostly upper corners of a few page leaves. Dust jacket fine with light rubbing & occasional spotting to front, back covers & spine; mild wear & some tiny bumps, creases at thin edges & corners of same & flaps incl. very slight loss of surface paper to spine-edges & corners; moderate fading of red background color at spine. Fine / Fine. [Item #4493]

Price: $50.00