Items related to Back
Synopsis
Back is, according to Jeremy Treglown in his introduction, "Henry Green's most extended attempt to plumb the world of the hunted - and haunted". First published in 1946, it has indeed remained one of Green's most haunting, elegiac novels and one of the most enduring to have focused on the individual human tragedy of the war.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Henry Green was the pen name of Henry Vincent Yorke. Born in 1905 near Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, England, he was educated at Eton and Oxford and went on to become managing director of an engineering business, writing novels in his spare time. His first novel, Blindness (1926) was written whilst he was still at school and published whilst he was at Oxford. He married in 1929 and had one son, and during the Second World War served in the London Fire Brigade. Between 1926 and 1952 he wrote nine novels, Blindness, Living, Party Going, Caught, Loving, Back, Concluding, Nothing and Doting, and a memoir, Pack My Bag. Henry Green died in December 1973
Review
First published in England in 1946, this takes its place with his other titles- Loving, Nothing, etc. Full of air and fluff and rose light, and sometimes more serious too, Back is about Charley Summers- a very quiet man who returns from war and a German prison camp with a couple of strikes against him; his lady love Rose is dead and he now has a peg leg. Set for the most part in a suburb and in an office in London, Charley tries to adjust to a Roseless world- a world which insists on being diffused with rose colors, rose words and horrid rose puns. Dead Rose devours him on the one hand and government contracts (he deals in parabolam, bird droppings, needle valves, etc.) on the other, and one day he meets what he supposes to be Rose. Actually she is Nance, Rose's half-sister-through a misdemeanor on Rose's father's part. There are unholy coincidences scattered throughout which give the impression that this Henry Green world is a wild, unsafe, but haphazardly genteel place to live. The skillful coupling of love talk and office terminology, the dexterous handling of characters who seem at first glance to be picked bone clean but who turn into cream, and the view of a world just a little off center make Back a delightful, wispy and original experience. For his established audience.—Kirkus Reviews
"Green belongs to the mad tradition in English literature—Sterne, Carroll, Firbank, and Mrs. Woolf." --V. S. Pritchett
"Nobody writes novels quite like Henry Green . . . His characters . . . dance to a tune of his own as precise and stylized as a sonata."—New York Herald Tribune
"The best writer of his time." --Rebecca West
"Green's books remain solid and glittering as gems." --Anthony Burgess
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherHogarth Press
- Publication date1946
- ISBN 10 0701200758
- ISBN 13 9780701200756
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Rating
Other Popular Editions of the Same Title
Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace
Stock Image
Back
Seller: Goldstone Books, Llandybie, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
hardcover. Condition: Good. All orders are dispatched within one working day from our UK warehouse. We've been selling books online since 2004! We have over 750,000 books in stock. No quibble refund if not completely satisfied. Seller Inventory # mon0007095553
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
Back
Published by
Penguin Random House, 1979
ISBN 10: 0701200758
ISBN 13: 9780701200756
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Better World Books Ltd, Dunfermline, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: USED_GOOD. First Edition. Ships from the UK. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # GRP28612507
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
Back
Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: USED_FAIR. No Jacket. Missing dust jacket; Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 2.45. Seller Inventory # G0701200758I5N01
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
Back: A Novel
Published by
The Hogarth Press, 1979
ISBN 10: 0701200758
ISBN 13: 9780701200756
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Black Cat Books, Shelter Island, NY, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: USED_VERYGOOD. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition Thus. Hardbound in dust jacket. 1st edition thus. Minor wear to dust jacket, otherwise very good. Seller Inventory # 66905
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
Back: A Novel Green, Henry
Published by
Vintage/Ebury (A Division of Random House Group), 1979
ISBN 10: 0701200758
ISBN 13: 9780701200756
Used
Hardcover
Seller: Twice Sold Tales, Ashfield, MA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: USED_GOOD. 1950 Viking hard cover - 1st edition 1st printing - some wear to edges of dust jacket (now in mylar cover) minor wear to cover - 1st page removed - minor staining to page edge - otherwise binding strong contents clean - enjoy. Seller Inventory # LO-03ZU-B9WH
Quantity: 1 available
Seller Image
BACK [Later printing - ex-library]
Published by
The Hogarth Press, 40 William IV Street, London, WC2N 4DF, 1979
ISBN 10: 0701200758
ISBN 13: 9780701200756
Used
Hardcover
Seller: Orlando Booksellers, Lincoln, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: USED_VERYGOOD. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. Vanessa Bell [Dustwrapper design] (illustrator). 5th or later Edition. An ex-library copy of this later edition, published in 1979. The book was first published in 1946, with further printings appearing in 1951 and 1964. Dustwrapper designed by Vanessa Bell. ***Very good in light-grey cloth-covered boards with gilt titles to the spine. The gilt is still beautifully bright having been protected by the dustwrapper. Boards clean and unmarked. Head and tail of spine slightly creased. Bottom edge of front board also slightly creased. Corners sharp. Light vertical reading crease to the spine. Small 'B' printed onto the top edge of the page block, which is otherwise clean. Internally the book is also very good, but has the following library marks and paperwork: Library lending sheet and barcode to the front free endpaper; off-setting from barcode affecting the next couple of pages; library acquisition stamp to printer's page; blank white sticker to the rear pastedown. Beside these library marks and insertions, the interior pages are nice and clean, with just a small light stain affecting the last few pages. No foxing. No tears or creases. Spine tight. ***In a near fine colour-illustrated dustwrapper, with the attractive original design by Vanessa Bell to the front panel. The dustwrapper has not been price-clipped, retaining the original publisher's printed price of £5.50 net. The dustwrapper is complete, without any chips or tears - just slight offsetting from a library label to the bottom of the spine [now removed]. The cream areas of the dustwrapper are nice and clean. Dustwrapper bright. ***205 mm x135 mm. 208 pages. ***'This novel tells the story of a man who came back from prison to find everything the same - and at the same time different. "He has a quiet sureness of touch often lacking in his contemporaries. This is a tale unfolded with subtlety and economy of words." - News Review [Quote and review quote taken from the front flap of the dustwrapper] ***An ex-library copy of a later edition of "Back" by Henry Green, which was originally published just after World War Two. A nice reading copy of a book which is quite elusive in the dustwrapper. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc. Seller Inventory # 8122
Quantity: 1 available