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Sontag, Susan (Subject/Author) & Rieff, David (Author) : Swimming In A Sea Of Death: A Son's Memoir

Simon & Schuster, New York City, NY, 2008

ISBN 0743299469

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 180 pages. The author's debut memoir. One of the best books on illness, dying, and death ever written in our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run that sold out shortly after publication. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents David Rieff's "Swimming In A Sea of Death: A Son's Memoir". His harrowing yet reflective account of his mother's illness and death. "Susan Sontag was fiercely, exuberantly alive, and uncompromising in her life no less than her work. At once a report from the frontlines of experimental oncology and a moving, absorbing personal account of his mother's last illness, a courageous and darkly beautiful book" (Oliver Sacks). Rieff's notion of a memoir is not the nakedly "confessional" American version, but the more clinically detached Continental/European one: His book is a reflection on dying and death, that is, on the denial, decline, and (there is no other way to put it) process of decomposition of a gravely ill person, who nevertheless believed that she would beat the odds and survive. In this sense and as the title clearly says, Rieff's book is not so much about illness as about death, surely the most difficult subject of all for any writer or artist to dare tackle. Sontag loved life too much to accommodate any notion of death ever. She was willing to suffer tremendously (she did), in the horrific way that other people would rather not, provided she came out of it alive in the end (she did not). Here is the iconic American intellectual of her time, depicted by her hapless son as being in near-absolute denial about The End, that is, in denial about the idea and the reality of "extinction" despite being in irreversible decline physically, emotionally, and mentally. An absolute "must-have" title for Susan Sontag and David Rieff collectors. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and despite its imperfection (one ding on the front board corner, but it's there), is still in fine condition overall: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. One of the most influential and important writer-intellectuals of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER SUSAN SONTAG AND DAVID RIEFF TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0743299469.

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Sontag, Susan (Subject) & Rieff, David (Author) : Swimming In A Sea Of Death: A Son's Memoir

Simon & Schuster, New York City, NY, 2008

ISBN 0743299469

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 180 pages. The author's debut memoir. David Rieff's most accessible and moving book. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents David Rieff's "Swimming In A Sea of Death: A Son's Memoir". "A courageous and darkly beautiful book". "Susan Sontag was fiercely, exuberantly alive, and uncompromising in her life no less than her work. At once a report from the frontlines of experimental oncology and a moving, absorbing personal account of his mother's last illness" (Oliver Sacks). Rieff's notion of a memoir is not the nakedly American "confessional" version, but the more clinically detached continental/French one. His book is a reflection on dying and death, and even more than these, on the denial, decay, and decline that accompany the process. Sontag feared all three and of course, death itself, about which she nourished fantasies that her rational self would typically have exposed and criticized. Here is the greatest American intellectual of her generation, depicted by her hapless son as being in total denial about her illness and imminent death, in extreme physical (and just as important, mental) pain, and in irreversible decline emotionally. An absolute "must-have" title for Susan Sontag and David Rieff collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by David Rieff. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. It is the single most beautiful copy we have ever seen. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. One of the most influential and important writer-intellectuals of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER SUSAN SONTAG AND DAVID RIEFF TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0743299469.

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