THE INVITATION **Signed First Edition**

Claude Simon

ISBN 10: 0916583791 / ISBN 13: 9780916583798

Published by Dalkey Archive Press, Elmwood Park, 1991

About this Item

This is the true first American edition, first printing (with "First American edition" stated on the copyright page, and with NO later printings listed). **** This book is SIGNED by the author (Claude Simon) on the front endpage. The author has not inscribed this book to anyone; it is just signed by the author. Signed examples of this title are very rare. ***** Claude Simon was awarded the 1985 Nobel Prize for Literature. ***** Very nice hardcover with dust jacket. There is NO writing, NO bookplates, and NO remainder marks. It is NOT a book club edition and NOT a former library book. The dust jacket is not price-clipped ($15.95). ***** CONDITION: Both the book and the dust jacket are in FINE condition. ***** We include new mylar (clear) dust jacket protectors with all books at no extra charge. ***** OUR GUARANTEE TO YOU: All books are guaranteed to be as described. We believe that no sale is complete until you are happy. Any book is returnable for a full refund (including postage) if you're not 100% satisfied. Thank you! Richard Vick, Modern First Editions (Buying and Selling Modern First Editions since 1982). Seller Inventory # 2120

Bibliographic Details

Title: THE INVITATION **Signed First Edition**

Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press, Elmwood Park

Publication Date: 1991

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: First Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

This 1987 novel by Nobel Prize-winner Claude Simon is a sardonic look at glasnost Russia, where recent reforms and improvements carry all the conviction of rouge on a corpse. The narrator is one of fifteen international guests who have been invited on a goodwill tour of the new Soviet Union. Whisked from one staged event to another, from Moscow to Central Asia, enduring hours of rigid Soviet hospitality, the guests react with varying degrees of stupefaction and disgust to a society whose recent renovations ill-disguise a bloody and repressive past.

The Invitation is a reminder that although the Cold War may be over, the past cannot and should not be forgotten; the Soviets have a new game to play―diplomacy rather than military force―but Simon voices skepticism in our current era of pro-Soviet sentiment.

The chief attraction of The Invitation is Simon’s celebrated style: long, convoluted sentences register the narrator’s impressions, sometimes dragging with fatigue, but always sharpened with sensuous details and spiked with mordant satire. No one is named, but the reader will see through their identities as easily as the narrator sees through the sham of perestroika. This compact masterpiece of political satire concludes with an afterword by Lois Oppenheim, a noted authority on Simon’s work.

About the Author:

Claude Simon was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1985. Born in Madagascar in 1913, he grew up in Perpignan, France, and after leaving school traveled extensively throughout Europe. At the beginning of World War II he was captured by the Germans at the Battle of the Meuse but escaped and joined the resistance movement. He published his first novel, The Cheat, in 1946. His many works include The Wind, The Georgics, and The Invitation.