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Sontag, Susan (Author) & Hodgkin, Howard (Artist) : The Way We Live Now

The Noonday Press/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York City, NY, 1991

ISBN 0374523053

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 30 pages. The author's short story on the AIDS crisis during its most crucial period. One of the greatest short stories of the 20th century. The first appearance of the title in the United States. The British and American regular trade editions were both produced in the United Kingdom, published simultaneously as softcover originals only, and based upon the Artist Book by Susan Sontag and Howard Hodgkin. While the Artist Book is rare (it sold out shortly after publication), both trade editions are also now scarce. A brilliant adaptation/production by Howard Hodgkin: Regular-sized volume format. Pictorial softcovers with titles on the cover and spine and large flaps, as issued. Text by Susan Sontag. Art by Howard Hodgkin. Printed on thick coated (for the art) and uncoated (for the text) stock paper in the United Kingdom to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Susan Sontag's "The Way We Live Now". Widely regarded as the single greatest fictional account ever written on the devastating illness. The author's story is interpreted by the greatest British abstract painter of our time in luminous aquatints that are beautifully reproduced in this edition. Hodgkin spent about four years working on them to ensure, by his own account, that he captured the short story's finely modulated emotional temperature accurately. The result is a series of profoundly moving images that are among Hodgkin's greatest work. Sontag presents the sufferer's illness from the points-of-view of his closest friends, who take turns visiting him, worrying about him, exchanging notes, and making life-saving arrangements. Each friend is named after a letter of the Roman alphabet (from A to Z), which is Sontag's concrete way of saying all of humanity has a stake in the illness and its sufferers' plight. Sontag's story was included in the "Best American Short Stories of the Twentieth Century" by John Updike. An absolute "must-have" title for Susan Sontag and Howard Hodgkin collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed and inscribed in black pen on the title page by Susan Sontag. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. The recipient is named, and was one of the late author's closest colleague/friends. This title is a great book. As far as we know, this is the only such signed and inscribed copy of the First American Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws. Copies of the Artist Book turn up online occasionally, commanding up to $5000 if all of the prints are intact. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. Susan Sontag is Winner of the MacArthur Genius Grant, the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1977 for "On Photography", the National Book Award in 2000 for "In America", and the Jerusalem Prize in 2001. Shimon Peres, in awarding the Jerusalem Prize, described Sontag as "one of the world's finest writers and greatest minds". Howard Hodgkin is Winner of the Turner Prize, the most prestigious British artistic award, among numerous other honors. Two of the most influential and important artists of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER SUSAN SONTAG AND HOWARD HODGKIN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0374523053.

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