[Item #4674] The Pawnbroker. Edward Lewis Wallant.
The Pawnbroker
The Pawnbroker
The Pawnbroker
The Pawnbroker

The Pawnbroker

New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1961. First Edition. Hardcover. "Readers who question the continued vitality of the novel in America are urged to consider Edward Lewis Wallant. The Pawnbroker, which follows by one year his notable first novel, The Human Season, is a work of far greater scope and impact, and reveals new aspects of an impressive talent. Sol Nazerman, a university teacher from Poland who has survived the Nazi death camps in which his wife and children have perished, is now the proprietor of a Harlem pawnshop. A man who has deliberately attempted to armor himself in indifference, he believes that he despises his American relatives and feels weary unto death of the sad or sick or tormented specimens of humanity that drift in and out of his store. Yet to the men and women who have dealings with him...there is something impressive and even awe-inspiring about the Pawnbroker...Sol Nazerman is an extraordinary creation, and in its largeness of vision, its controlled intensity, its overwhelming emotional power, The Pawnbroker is an altogether exceptional work of fiction." (from front flap) The second & best-known novel by Edward Lewis Wallant (1926-1962), the brilliant Jewish-American writer, which was the basis of the acclaimed 1965 film starring Rod Steiger as the haunted Holocaust-survivor protagonist Sol Nazerman. Wallant belongs in the canon of his great contemporaries including Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, Philip Roth et al., but is unfortunately less celebrated & with a much smaller oeuvre since he died suddenly & tragically at the age of only 36. Hardcover in unclipped first-issue dust jacket (with $4.50 price printed on front flap), first edition as stated on copyright page. An essential Wallant collectible; a most deep & disturbing classic that pioneered the Holocaust-related literary genre. See also our item No. 4559. Book in fine condition with very light rubbing, browning, occasional spotting & spot-staining to grey-cloth front, back covers & spine (with dark grey & gilt lettering, designs on spine & front cover completely bright & intact); mild wear, browning & fading to thin edges & corners of same; moderate rubbing, browning & a few shallow scratches to upper edge of text block; much lighter rubbing, browning & sparse spotting to side & lower edges of same. Interior very fine with only light browning, occasional spot-staining to paste-downs & endpapers; a hint of browning at blank margins of page leaves; small spots at a few of same. Unrestored dust jacket relatively near-fine with light rubbing, browning & occasional spotting to front, back covers, spine & flaps; mild wear, some tiny bumps, creases & a few very short, mostly closed tears at edges & corners of same incl. very slight loss of paper at spine-edges & corners; small area of tape repair at/ near upper spine-edges & corners of blank inner jacket, overlapping very slightly but otherwise hardly visible at same area of outer jacket. Fine / Near Fine. [Item #4674]

Price: $125.00

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