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MARIAN ENGEL : Bear. A novel

Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., London & Henley, 1977

First UK Edition (first printing), issued a year after the original Canadian edition. 8vo. 141pp. Black boards lettered in silver at the spine. A touch of light uneven toning to the free endpapers and pastedowns, else a fine copy in just fractionally dust soiled price-clipped dust wrapper. The author's most famous and controversial novel, detailing the erotic love between an archivist and a bear. This UK edition is particularly uncommon. Originally conceived as a 31-page short story for the Writer's Union of Canada's collection of pornographic fiction by "serious" writers (Engel herself founded the W.U.C. several years earlier), the story did not make it to publication and was eventually expanded into a 141-page novel. The book was initially rejected by publishers (an editor with Harcourt Brace writing "Its relative brevity coupled with its extreme strangeness presents, I'm afraid, an insuperable obstacle in present circumstances") before being championed by Robertson Davies who commended it to McClelland & Stewart. The book, deemed Canada's most controversial novel, was well received by critics, and won the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction. A 2014 internet meme inspired by the Harlequin-like 1970s paperback cover (the Canadian, US and UK first editions, perhaps wisely, opted for plain lettered dust wrapper designs) lead to an equally positive modern reappraisal.. Book. Book Condition: Near Fine. Binding: Hardcover. Jacket: Near Fine

1st Edition