YOU ARE NOT A STRANGER HERE: STORIES - Scarce Fine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing/First-State NO "Today's Show" DJ: Signed by Adam Haslett - SIGNED ON THE TITLE PAGE

Haslett, Adam

ISBN 10: 0385501676 / ISBN 13: 9780385501675

Published by New York City, NY: Doubleday/Nan A. Talese, 2002, 2002

Description:

1st Printing. Signed. 240 pages. Published in 2002. The author's breakthrough debut collection of short stories. One of the most sensational 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 Adam Haslett's "You Are Not A Stranger Here: Stories". His first, and in many ways, still his best, book. Published to enormous critical acclaim, it established Adam Haslett as one of the most brilliant new voices in contemporary American literature. "Haslett writes quietly about sensational topics: Men cruising each other in the park at night; an abusive, self-hating relationship between two adolescent boys. A beautifully written collection that's as heartfelt as it is intelligent". Haslett's subject is the dysfunctional, un-moored American, as seen through the eyes of the mentally ill and the lives of gay men (Haslett, a Yale Law School student at the time of the book's publication, is openly gay). It is not the kind of vision - fearless, unsentimental, and honest - that endears a writer to millions of readers. Still, Haslett is "an enormously compassionate writer, and shows a lovely acuity about his people. He never romanticizes or oversimplifies" (Claire Dederer). An absolute "must-have" title for Adam Haslett collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Adam Haslett. 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/First-State DJ (NO "Today's Show" Logo) still available online and is in especially fine condition: 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 signed copy thus. Finalist for the National Book Award in 2002 of "Your Are Not A Stranger Here: Stories". Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2017 for "Imagine Me Gone". One of the most brilliant American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ADAM HASLETT TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0385501676. Seller Inventory # 11336

About this title:

Synopsis: The publication of “Notes to My Biographer,” in Zoetrope: All-Story magazine introduced readers to the remarkable voice of Adam Haslett. Nominated as part of a National Magazine Award, broadcast on National Public Radio, performed at venues across the country, the story brought the author widespread recognition.

Now, in his first book, Adam Haslett gives us nine richly varied stories, each suffused with intense emotion and written in a lyric prose alternatively lush and spare. You Are Not a Stranger Here carries its readers into the hearts and minds of people facing life’s most profound dilemmas. We meet an aging inventor still burning with ideas as he makes a final visit to his gay son. A psychiatrist’s encounter with a reluctant patient reveals a young doctor’s own needs and fears. An orphaned boy finds solace in a classmate’s violence. The return of an old lover disturbs the peace between a brother and sister who have lived together for decades.

In settings that range from New England to Great Britain, from Los Angeles to the American West, the stories in this book treat what Faulkner called the old verities and truths of the heart: love and honor, pity and pride, compassion and sacrifice. They do so with heartbreaking precision and an often generous humor, drawing us past the surface of characters’ lives into the moments of decision and recognition that shape them irrevocably. Together these stories constitute a significant achievement by a powerful new writer.

Review: In his debut story collection, You Are Not a Stranger Here, Adam Haslett drags into the light subjects often left in the cellar. Most of his stories are told from the viewpoint of the mentally ill (though one, "The Good Doctor," shows us madness from a caregiver's perspective). The rest of the stories deal with closeted homosexuality: boys who are just learning their identity, men who have never come to terms with it. Haslett is an enormously compassionate writer, and shows a lovely, plain-written acuity about his people. His writing is a convincing inside job--he never romanticizes or oversimplifies. In "The Volunteer," an old woman at a care facility is haunted by the voice of an ancestress named Hester: "For more than two decades, Elizabeth Maynard has done exactly as she is told and the voice of Hester, which has cost her so much, comes only quietly and intermittently. It is a negative sort of achievement, she thinks, to have spent a life warding something off."

Haslett has a gift for writing quietly about sensational topics: men cruising each other in the park at night; an abusive, self-hating relationship between two adolescent boys. The stories can get a bit too fancy: the writer can't resist the ironic twist or the surprise ending. Still, this is a beautifully written collection that's as heartfelt as it is intelligent. --Claire Dederer

Bibliographic Details

Title: YOU ARE NOT A STRANGER HERE: STORIES - ...
Publisher: New York City, NY: Doubleday/Nan A. Talese, 2002
Publication Date: 2002
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Fine
Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
Signed: Signed by Author
Edition: 1st Edition.