The Biographer's Tale (Signed First Edition)
Language: English
Published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2001
- First Edition
- Signed
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: Jeff Hirsch Books, ABAA, Wadsworth, IL, U.S.A.Jeff Hirsch Books, ABAA
AbeBooks seller since September 26, 2008
Condition: Used
US$ 40.00
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
First U.S. edition. Hardcover. First printing. Another well received novel from the Booker Prize winning author of "Possession." A fine and tight copy in a fine dust jacket. Signed by Byatt on the title page.
Seller Inventory # 114268
- Title
- The Biographer's Tale (Signed First Edition)
- Author
- BYATT, A.S.
- Publisher
- Alfred A. Knopf, New York
- Publication year
- 2001
- Dust jacket
- Dust Jacket Included
- Signed
- Signed
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0375411143
- ISBN 13
- 9780375411144
- Edition
- First Edition.
- Item weight
- 2.063 pounds
- Seller catalogs
- Literature
It tells the story of Phineas G. Nanson, a disenchanted young graduate student who decides to escape the world of postmodern literary theory and immerse himself in the messiness of "real life" by writing a biography of a great biographer. For what could be more real than biography, the "art of things, of arranged facts"? But Phineas quickly discovers that facts can be unreliable, and a "whole life" hard to find. No matter how hard he tries, he unearths only fragments--disconnected manuscripts, bones and husks, strands of poetry, boxes of marbles, undated photographs. How does one put together the idea of a person?
Phineas tracks his subjects' journeys to the deserts of Africa and the maelstroms of the Arctic in a series of adventures that are by turns intellectual and comic, scientific and erotic. He meets others who are building wholes from bits and pieces: a beautiful radiographer, ecologists, anthropologists, even travel agents offering the trip of your dreams. But they seem only to make his task more difficult. And as he tries to sort through the cabinet of curiosities that is the past, he must also decide his own future, and face the most difficult puzzle of all: which woman will guide him out of this dizzying labyrinth and back into his own life?
With The Biographer's Tale, A. S. Byatt--hailed by the New York Times Book Review as "a storyteller who could keep a sultan on the edge of his throne for 1,001 nights"--asks provocative questions about our perennial quest for certainty, about "truth" in biography, about the nature of the imagination and the meaning of meaning, even as she spins a tantalizing yarn of detection and desire.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Jeff Hirsch Books, ABAA
Wadsworth, IL, U.S.A.
Shipping rates within U.S.A.
| Item | 5 to 14 business days | 3 to 6 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | US$ 7.00 | US$ 18.00 |
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We are members of ABAA, ILAB and Midwest Antiquarian Booksellers Association. We specialize in First Editions of 20th century photography, art, design, literature, drama, poetry, and signed books. We are not an open shop but ship orders daily.
Specialty
20th Century Photography, Art Monographs, Poetry, Drama, Signed Books, Design & Architecture, Modern Literary Firsts, Exhibition Catalogs, Literary Broadsides and Art EphemeraAssociation member
Seller's business information
Jeff Hirsch Books, ABAA
IL, U.S.A.
Terms of sale
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Jeff Hirsch Books
39850 N Dilleys Rd
Wadsworth, IL 60083
847-662-2665
mail@jhbooks.com
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