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Sporting with Smaryllis
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Sporting with Smaryllis Hardcover - 1996

by Paul West

Paul West is one of our most acclaimed writers, author of such novels as Rat Man of Paris and Lord Byron's Doctor. This time out, he astounds us with a novel on the nature of creative genius and its nexus with sexuality, a novel at turns erotic, lewd, philosophical mythical, and spiritual.


From the rear cover

Taking as his point of departure the sexual obsessions and initiation of the poet John Milton, Paul West elucidates the psychology of an artist who would come to create the most enduring and compelling work of Western civilization on the subject of Original Sin. But that all comes later. Now, young Milton is a Cambridge student, a virgin, intoxicated by the power of words and the stories of myth - and especially the myth of Amaryllis, the shepherdess in Virgil. When he meets her on a crowded London street, and is led mutely to her odd dwelling, hung with the dripping animal skins and shared with a philosophizing, castrated expert on plague remedies, he encounters a living myth so powerful as to make his earlier learning - his religion, really - pale by comparison. Is she a prostitute? A witch? A myth sprung to life? All that and more, as she invites Milton to use her as his Muse.

Details

  • Title Sporting with Smaryllis
  • Author Paul West
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 160
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Overlook Press, New York
  • Date 1996-12-01
  • Features Dust Cover
  • ISBN 9780879516666 / 0879516666
  • Weight 0.68 lbs (0.31 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.24 x 5.58 x 0.65 in (20.93 x 14.17 x 1.65 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Library of Congress subjects Historical fiction, Biographical fiction
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 96-22766
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

Citations

  • Booklist, 11/01/1996, Page 482
  • Kirkus Reviews, 10/01/1996, Page 1425
  • Library Journal, 11/15/1996, Page 90
  • New York Times, 04/06/1997, Page 14
  • Publishers Weekly, 10/07/1996, Page 59
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Sporting With Amaryllis
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Sporting With Amaryllis

by West, Paul

  • Used
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  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used - Fine
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First Edition
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Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780879516666 / 0879516666
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Woodstock, New York: Overlook Press, 1996. First Edition . Hardcover. Fine/Fine. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. This 1st printing is unmarked, square and tight like New.
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Sporting With Amaryllis
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Sporting With Amaryllis

by West, Paul

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
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Edition
1st Edition
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780879516666 / 0879516666
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Seller rating:
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Woodstock, New York: Overlook Press, 1996. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Fine/Fine. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. Bound in paper covered boards with a black cloth spine.
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Sporting with Amaryllis
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Sporting with Amaryllis

by West, Paul

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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Sporting with Amaryllis
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Sporting with Amaryllis

by West, Paul

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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Sporting with Amaryllis
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Sporting with Amaryllis

by West, Paul

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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Sporting With Amaryllis
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Sporting With Amaryllis

by West, Paul

  • Used
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  • Hardcover
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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780879516666 / 0879516666
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The Overlook Press, 1996. Jacket and boards have only light wear. Pages are clean, text has no markings, binding is sound.. First Printing. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo - 7¾" - 9¾" Tall.
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Sporting with Amaryllis
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Sporting with Amaryllis

by West, Paul

  • Used
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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780879516666 / 0879516666
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Sporting With Amaryllis
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Sporting With Amaryllis

by West, Paul

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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SPORTING WITH AMARYLLIS.

SPORTING WITH AMARYLLIS.

by West, Paul.

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780879516666 / 0879516666
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Woodstock, New York: Overlook Press, 1996. 158 pp, 8vo (8 1/4" H). "Taking as his point of departure the sexual obsessions and initiation of the poet John Milton, Paul West elucidates the psychology of an artist who would come to create the most enduring and compelling work of Western civilization on the subject of Original Sin. But that all comes later. Now young Milton is a Cambridge student, a virgin, intoxicated by the power of words and the stories of myth - and especially the myth of Amaryllis, the shepherdess in Virgil. When he meets her on a crowded London street, and is led mutely to her odd dwelling, hung with dripping animals skins and shared with a philosophizing, castrated expert on plague remedies, he encounters a living myth so powerful as to make his earlier learning - his religion, really - pale by comparison. Is she a prostitute? A witch? A myth sprung to life? All that and more, as she invites Milton to use her as his Muse. Brilliant, confounding, allegorical, and… Read More
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Sporting with Smaryllis
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Sporting with Smaryllis

by West, Paul

  • Used
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  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used - Very Good
Edition
First Edition
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780879516666 / 0879516666
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Overlook Press, 1996. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket in very good condition. First edition, first printing. Minor shelf and handling wear, overall a clean solid copy with minimal signs of use. Secure packaging for safe delivery.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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