Carver, Raymond

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

ISBN: 0002226243
London, England: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., 1982. First UK edition. Hardcover. "In Raymond Carver's fiction, the door is always open because someone is always leaving- and the TV is always going because it is safer to look at television than at people. "I've seen some things," insists the startled son in "Mr. Coffee & Mr. Fixit," offering in mute explanation the kind of vague, dazed admission that might be made by any of the exhausted men and women in these seventeen stories- homeless, jobless, bewildered Americans in hysterical motion from one spoiled place to another. These are people rooted in dislocation- like the ghostly occupant in "Why Don't You Dance?" whose drab history lies spread out for sale on the lawn; like the stunned custodians in "Gazebo," whose names alone are far more burden than they can manage; like the door-to-door photographer in "Viewfinder," whose hands have vaporized along with the tragedies he has recorded in his camera; like the married couples in the title story, who are waiting to be married to someone else." (from front flap) The third collection of stories by Raymond Carver (1938-1988, born Raymond Clevie Carver Jr.), the canonical American short story writer & poet considered by some critics to be among the ever-most important, & whose works are now enshrined in the Library of America. Originally published the previous year (1981) in the USA by the venerable Alfred A. Knopf imprint, offered here is a copy of the first British edition, hardcover in unclipped dust jacket, actually manufactured in the USA as noted on copyright page but officially issued by the Collins imprint in London. Almost identical to the American edition, but with different points including lack of any price on front flap. The dust jacket is printed in the USA & copyrighted by Knopf, as noted in fine print at lower edge between back cover & rear flap. A cornerstone collectible in the Carver oeuvre; a milestone literary classic in a particularly rare form & in exceptionally very fine condition: Book with only very slight wear, mild fading & a few tiny bumps to edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; a hint of rubbing & one tiny spot each at upper & lower edges of text block (side edge of same untrimmed as issued). Interior with one tiny spot at blank front paste-down near lower right corner; otherwise substantially mint. Dust jacket very fine with only a bit of rubbing to front, back covers & spine; a few tiny bumps, creases at thin edges & corners of same & flaps. Very Fine / Very Fine. [Item #4558]

Price: $125.00