Harrison, Jim

Farmer

ISBN: 0670308382
New York, NY: The Viking Press, 1976. First Edition. Hardcover. “Rural Michigan and a forty-three-year-old farmer/schoolteacher are dual protagonists in Jim Harrison’s third novel, an inedible, acutely visceral statement about growth, death, and seasonal change. Joseph is a man of modest expectations, a victim of circumstance and of his own ennui. He is both tempted and repelled by the larger world as represented by his dreams of the ocean and his affair with a nubile young student. What strains against his longing for an easy escape is a sense that the world he knows best—the rocky farmland and the grave, sternly beautiful Rosealee—still holds the greatest mystery and the closest thing to truth.” (From front flap.) Jim Harrison (1937-2016) has triumphed in exploring the depths of the human condition, having published over three dozen books including poetry, non-fiction, fiction, children’s literature, and memoir. Farmer follows Joseph or “Joe” Bauer, a 43-year-old farmer and high school teacher in the familiar setting of rural Michigan, who’s heart — and sensual desire — is torn three ways between his emotionally distant wife, Rosalee, a former lover, Althea, and Catherine, one of his students. This is not some pop-novel that fetishizes the taboo “student-teacher” affair or makes a villain of the chilly-tempered wife, this is an exploration of human desire and how twisted and complicated it can become. A truly enriching collectible for any fan of Harrison's work, with all of its poignant insight and humor supported by beautiful prose, Farmer is truly one of Harrison’s greatest fictional efforts. Hardcover in unclipped first-issue dust jacket (with "$7.95" price and “0876” printed on front flap): Assumed to be First Edition, First Printing, though neither explicated at copyright page. Book is in fine condition with brown spotting on title and copyright page, and along upper, lower and edge of page block. Has what looks to be part of the dust jacket stuck to the back cover. Dust jacket is Very Good with brown spotting and a mild rough patch along top of the inside where part of it has stuck to book’s back cover, mild smudging and rubbing along edges, bumping along top. Fine / Very Good. [Item #6397]

Price: $170.00