[Item #5301] Mickelsson's Ghosts. John Gardner.
Mickelsson's Ghosts
Mickelsson's Ghosts
Mickelsson's Ghosts
Mickelsson's Ghosts
Mickelsson's Ghosts

Mickelsson's Ghosts

ISBN: 0394504682
New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1982. First Edition. Hardcover. "In this novel...John Gardner has created an entire world, that of Peter J. Mickelsson, professor of philosophy, a brilliant man, once fanatically orderly, devoted to precision (despite his love of Nietzsche), distrustful of passion, but now, since the breakup of his marriage, a man who has lost control of both his life and himself: drinking too much gin, eating Di-Gels like candy, unable to meet even the simplest, most ordinary demands of life and work, frightened by the knowledge that he is slipping toward violence and madness. Indulging an urgent impulse to escape, Mickelsson buys a run-down farm at the edge of a small town in the Pennsylvania Mountains, where- alone- he sets about reconstructing the huge old farmhouse and himself." (from front flap) The final novel published during the lifetime of John Gardner (1933-1982), the brilliant & prolific American novelist, essayist, critic & academician who died tragically in a motorcycle accident at the age of only 49. A vast & self-contained "entire world" of the imagination, this intense & sprawling work depicts the protagonist Mickelsson as beleaguered by ghosts- of the philosophers he has taught as well as the people in his life- as he lives & works in a foreboding old rambling farmhouse which has itself been said to be haunted. Illustrations have always been an important component in Gardner's novels, & here we have reproductions of haunting, eerie photographs as frontispiece & throughout the text by Joel Gardner (whom we believe is John's son). Hardcover in unclipped first-issue dust jacket (with $16.95 price printed on front flap, "6/82" on rear flap), first edition as stated on copyright page. We found & have retained, between front paste-down & endpaper, a charming bookmark from the venerable Eureka Books Shop in Eureka, California, in perfect condition. In this monumental door-stopper of his last completed novel, "With its immense cast, its labyrinthine story, its dense, gloomy, and large philosophical resonance, Mickelsson's Ghosts is John Gardner at his most ambitious and most satisfying." (from rear flap) An apotheosis among Gardner collectibles, in its rarest original form. Book in very fine condition with only a bit of rubbing to front, back covers & spine (gilt letters at spine & front cover mostly bright & intact); very light rubbing & areas of light browning at edges & corners of same; slight fading & a few light spots, scratches to grey-dyed upper edge of text block. Interior very fine, all-but-mint. Dust jacket very fine with a touch of rubbing, light browning, occasional spotting & scratching to front, back covers, spine & flaps; a bit of wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same. An extra handling fee will be added for shipping due to the weight of this item. Very Fine / Very Fine. [Item #5301]

Price: $60.00