Pink top page edges. Very good indeed. The dust jacket is price clipped but otherwise in fine condition. Internally, there are no markings or inscriptions, and the pages are immaculately clean and complete. Tightly bound and presented beautifully in cellophane. The binding is excellent. GK. Our orders are shipped using tracked courier delivery services.

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Bibliographic Details

Title: Briefing for a descent into hell
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Publication Date: 1971
Language: English
ISBN 10: 0224005073
ISBN 13: 9780224005074
Binding: Hardcover
Edition: First Edition.
Condition: Fine
Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

About this title

Synopsis

An extraordinary blend of fantasy and realism, this is classic Lessing. Penniless, rambling and incoherent, a man is found wandering at night on London's Embankment. Taken to hospital and heavily sedated, he tells the doctors of his incredible fantastical voyage, adrift on the ocean, landing on unknown shores, flying on the back of a huge white bird. Identified as Charles Walker, a Cambridge Classics professor, he is visited by family and friends, each revealing clues to the nature of his breakdown: both his young wife, Felicity, and his mistress, Constance, have been troubled by his cold detachment; his fellow dons are bewildered by Watkins's recent anti-social outburst and anarchistic theories on the futility of education. As the doctors try to cure him, Watkins begins a fierce battle to hold on to his magnificent inner world, as it gradually acquires a greater reality than the everyday! An extraordinary blend of fantasy and realism, 'Briefing for a Descent into Hell' is one of Doris Lessing's most brilliantly achieved novels; it links her early work, which explored the nature of subjectivity, with her later experiments in science fiction. Its stunning indictment of the tyranny of society -- one of the perennial themes of Lessing's writing -- is powerful, disturbing and, as always, magnificently rendered.

From the Inside Flap

A fascinating look inside the mind of a man who is supposedly "mad."

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

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Chapter 1 trades out of three premises that are all in the Johannesburg area. Our emphasis is providing quality books at highly competitive prices. A large (and continuously growing) selection of our books are listed on various websites on the internet. We post on a daily basis to all parts of the world. All our books are parcelled in tissue paper, bubble wrap, card board and strong brown paper. If the book has a dust jacket it is provided with a protective cellophane sleeve. We supply a tracking number on every parcel that we post. We specialise in Modern First Editions, Rhodesiana, Africana and other rare and out of print books. We are always looking to buy interesting and unusual books and libraries in Johannesburg and Cape Town. We are prepared to travel within the greater Johannesburg and Cape Town area if the quantity warrants it.

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