Naipaul, V.S.

A Turn in the South

ISBN: 0394564774
New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1989. First Trade Edition. Hardcover. "...V.S. Naipaul now brings his unique intellect and insight to bear on the American South. The result is an extraordinary book that not only looks at the South we know with a fresh and often startling clarity, but shows us a South that perhaps only Naipaul- as an outsider and as one of the most astute and perceptive writers and thinkers of our time- is capable of revealing to us...As he travels, he senses the long history of the region "resting layer upon layer": the legacy of the land, of event and emotion, that seems to instill in every Southerner he meets the feeling of being both deeply rooted and inextricably yoked. And Naipaul's journey is fueled not only by his own fervent curiosity. The ideas, the thoughts, the beliefs revealed in his probing conversations with Southern politicians and journalists, farmers and college professors, preachers and businessmen, waitresses and judges- these are his guides into the complex, often hidden, life of the South." (from front flap) The tenth nonfictional work of V.S. Naipaul (1932-2018), the acclaimed, prize-winning & very prolific Trinidad and Tobago-born British writer. In this critical travelogue, Naipaul explores the fabled-&-bedeviled American South, deeply plumbing the myriad essences of its people, places & legacies. Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket, "First Trade Edition" as stated on copyright page, published simultaneously with a limited signed edition as noted thereon. A probing, haunting & most insightful classic in the Naipaul canon, in its penultimately rarest original form. Book in very fine condition with only a bit of rubbing & scratching to front, back covers & spine incl. edges & corners (all copper-gilt letters & graphics on spine & front board quite bright & intact); mild-to-moderate spotting to edges of text block (side edge of same untrimmed as issued). Interior very fine with only sparse spotting to blank paste-downs & endpapers; very slight bleeding of spots from text block edges noted above onto blank thin edges of some page leaves; tiny bumps at corners of a few of same. Dust jacket (first issue with $18.95 price printed near upper right corner of front flap, "2/89" printed near lower edge of rear flap) fine with very slight rubbing, faint scratching & a few tiny spots to front, back covers & spine; a touch of wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at thin edges & corners of same; several long but very faint creases across left-area length of rear flap. Very Fine / Fine. [Item #4589]

Price: $50.00