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Kingston, Maxine Hong : The Fifth Book Of Peace

Alfred A. Knopf, New York City, NY, 2003

ISBN 0679440755

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 402 pages. The author's sequel to her debut novel, "Tripmaster Monkey". Now considered a contemporary classic. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Maxine Hong Kingston's "The Fifth Book of Peace". The great author's retrieval project. Began fourteen years ago, Maxine Hong Kingston tentatively titled her book, "The Fourth Book of Peace", echoing a Chinese legend about The Three Books of Peace. As the legend went, the latter were all burned. So while we have innumerable Books on War, the secret to lasting peace has been elusive because there is no surviving text. As it happened, Hong Kingston's own manuscript was also destroyed when her home burned down, an uncannily suggestive personal disaster that made the author even more determined to start over and finish the book. Hence its title. "She re-creates her lost fictional narrative and sets it alongside an account of her life after the fire so that the Vietnam-era doings of her antic hero, Wittman Ah Sing, who moves to Hawaii to evade the draft, are juxtaposed with her own experience teaching writing workshops for veterans of Vietnam and other wars. Rich in empathy and moral conviction, Kingston is also such an exuberant storyteller that readers may regret that she purposely leaves the fictional narrative unfinished" (The New Yorker Magazine). That is, however, the whole point: That peace will always remain elusive. No sooner is it within our grasp that we do something to lose it again. An absolute "must-have" title for Maxine Hong Kingston collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in pink pen-marker on the title page by Maxin Hong Kingston. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. As is her custom, Maxine Hong Kingston added her signature-chop. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online andis in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. 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 signed copy thus. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for "The Woman Warrior" in 1976, the National Book Award for "China Men" in 1980, and the National Medal for the Humanities. One of the greatest American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER MAXINE HONG KINGSTON TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0679440755.

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