John Hersey Wrote Notes Volume (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. CLASSIC: NEW First Edition Library of America hardcover (Orig. 1992) First Printing, EXCELLENT slipcase w/ double-ruled borders & LOA-logo on front panel & w/ sharp NEW edges & corners, NEW sand-tan Brillianta linen-over-boards cover w/ sharp NEW edges & corners, IMMACULATE smooth-cut text-block exterior, NEW smyth-sewn binding w/ tight signatures & bronze silk ribbon page-marker, IMPECCABLE white-on-rich-tan LOA-patterned front & back card-stock end-papers, PRISTINE interior handsomely printed w/ ELEGANT clarity in Linotron Galliard on SUPERB silk-finish acid-free Ecusta-Nyalite archival paper * 5.0" x 8.12" x 1.08", 0.58 kg, 898 pp; w/ slipcase: 5.36" x 8.36" x 1.74", 0.69 kg * CONTENTS: Main Street (1), Babbitt (487); Chronology (845), Note on the Texts (882), Notes (885). * ABOUT THE BOOK: Sinclair Lewis drew on his boyhood memories of Sauk Centre, Minnesota, to explore middle-class life in America as no writer had done before. These remarkable novels combine biting satire w/ a lingering affection for the men and women who, as he wrote of Babbitt, want to "seize something more than motor cars & a house before it's too late." "Main Street" was a phenomenal event in American publishing & cultural history; it is a wry, sad, funny account of a woman who attempts to challenge the hypocrisy & narrow-mindedness of her Midwestern community where the romance of the frontier has dwindled to drab reality. "He is America incarnate, exuberant & exquisite," H.L. Mencken said of George Babbitt. With this boisterous, vulgar, gadget-loving real estate man, Lewis fashioned a new & enduring figure in American literature, the total conformist, & captured the noisy restlessness of American commercial culture. * ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sinclair Lewis was born in 1885 in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, & graduated from Yale University in 1908. His college career was interrupted by various part-time occupations, including a period working at the Helicon Home Colony, Upton Sinclair's socialist experiment in New Jersey. He worked for some years as a free lance editor & journalist, during which time he published several minor novels. But w/ the publication of "Main Street" (1920), which sold half a million copies, he achieved wide recognition. This was followed by the two novels considered by many to be his finest, "Babbitt" (1922) & "Arrowsmith" (1925), which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1926, but was declined by Lewis. In 1930, following "Elmer Gantry" (1927) & "Dodsworth" (1929), Sinclair Lewis became the first American author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for distinction in world literature. This was the apogee of his literary career, & in the period from "Ann Vickers" (1933) to the posthumously published "World So Wide" (1951) Lewis wrote 10 novels that reveal the progressive decline of his creative powers. "From Main Street to Stockholm", a collection of his letters, was published in 1952, & "The Man from Main Street", a collection of essays, in 1953. During his last years Sinclair Lewis wandered extensively in Europe, & after his death in Rome in 1951 his ashes were returned to his birthplace. * THE LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an award-winning, nonprofit program dedicated to publishing America's best most significant writing in handsome enduring volumes, featuring authoritative texts. Hailed as "the most important book-publishing project in the nation's history" (Newsweek), this acclaimed series is restoring America's literary heritage in "the finest-looking, longest-lasting edition ever made" (New Republic). * SHIPPING: MNEMOSYNE carefully wraps, labels & custom-packages this fine book for FREE domestic shipment via USPS MEDIA MAIL or USPS PRIORITY MAIL for a nominal additional fee & via efficient USPS FIRST CLASS MAIL to all international shipments at our posted rates.