Man in Motion

MEWSHAW, Michael

Published by Random House, New York, 1970

About this Item

First Edition. In dustjacket. Green fabric with stamped, silver lettering to front cover and spine. Author's first book. "The harrowing, calamitous, funny, touching flight of a guilt-eaten young man--from the rank unweeded garden of an unloving home in wintry Washington to Mexico (even ranker) and back home to find the bluebird. Walter Hawley was raised with the family Murdoch in Cottage City (as ungainly as it sounds). He was the product of his mother Iris' first marriage, and Iris, now in a mental institution, alternately curses and smothers him. His sister cordially hates him and his beloved stepfather, Daddy Dick, has withdrawn into a beery romance with TV football. Walker himself suffers from a paralysis of will brought on by all the calls he had put up with and did not want--God and the Catholic Church, Mother, his nice little girlfriend Dede's desire for marriage, the inner directive to write. But when Daddy Dick, in an alcoholic haze, stumbles to his death, Walker flees into the snowy night in his trusty Tr-3, California-bound with voluptuous Lila as a passenger. By the time the trip is over in Mexico, Walker has effused guilt from every orifice. In fact the motel-dotted journey is a gala performance of intestinal agonies and increasingly distressful couplings with Lila, trailed by a brace of college cut-ups. He returns home--the one narrow path left open--to marry Dede and represent those who measured their lives in terms of things lost. Young beatitudes in a vision of Cottage City--and all of a piece." Very Good in Good dustjacket. Some folding, ripping, and sunning to dustjacket. Sunning to back cover and top edge.

Seller Inventory # 32270

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Man in Motion
• Publisher: Random House, New York
• Publication Date: 1970
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included