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Englander, Nathan : For The Relief Of Unbearable Urges

Alfred A. Knopf, New York City, NY, 1999

ISBN 0375404929

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 205 pages. The author's breakthrough debut collection. One of the most important literary debuts of 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 as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Nathan Englander's "For The Relief of Unbearable Urges". His first book, which immediately established his international reputation at the ripe old age of 23. Englander was based in Israel at the time of publication and for some time thereafter. "Nine graceful and remarkably self-assured stories. Ranging expertly from contemporary Israel to New York to isolated Yiddish communities in Russia and Europe, they spin a vision of 20th-century orthodox Judaism under siege from both political tyranny and the rapid pace of modern life. Spare and crystalline, capturing the singsong rhythms and sometimes contorted English of a primarily Yiddish cast, often striking a deliberately archaic tone. Despite their surface mixture of humor and horror, these are stories of ideas, offering complex meditations on Judaism through the eyes of an astonishing range of characters: A disconsolate middle-aged orthodox woman imprisoned in limbo by a husband who won't grant a divorce; a Cheever-esque Park Avenue financial analyst with a taxi-cab epiphany that he's Jewish; an American navigating the streets of contemporary Jerusalem during a terrorist campaign" (Publishers Weekly). As such, they have received and merit favorable comparisons with his great predecessors in Isaac Bashevis Singer and Bernard Malamud. An absolute "must-have" title for Nathan Englander collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Nathan Englander. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. It comes with a pristine copy of the Souvenir Material of the event during which his signature was obtained. 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. 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. Selected by The New Yorker Magazine as one of "Twenty Writers for the 21st Century". One of the most brilliant American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER NATHAN ENGLANDER TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0375404929.

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