Marbles: A Play in Three Acts.

New York, NY Farrar Straus Giroux: The Noonday Press, 1989. Paperback First Edition Thus (1989), so stated. This translation was first published in "Comparative Criticism", volume 7 in 1985. Very Good+ in Wraps: very faint sunning to the olive-toned background field of the backstrip (the black titles thereon remain unaffected: bold and clearly legible); top edge rear face show small ding and the upper corner nearby shows light wear; the binding is square and secure; the text is clean. Free of any creases to the backstrip. Free of creases to the panels. Free of creased or dog-eared pages in the text. Free of underlining, hi-lighting, notations, or marginalia. Free of any ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, plates, or labels. A handsome nearly-new copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing a couple of unobtrusive flaws. Close to 'As New'. This is a REMAINDER, showing a small dot and a rubber stamp at the bottom edge of the text block. NOT a Book-Club or Ex-Library. 8vo. (8.25 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches). 87 pages. Translated by Alan Myers, with the author. Language: English. Weight: 5 ounces. First Edition Thus (1989), so stated. This translation was first published in "Comparative Criticism", volume 7 in 1985. Trade Paperback. Brodsky, a brilliant poet and sensitive translator, is also a stunning dramatist. A Platonic dialogue in the form of a double anachronism--the action takes place two centuries after our era--Joseph Brodsky’s only play, Marbles, is set in a prison cell that alone provides for the three unities of classic drama: those of time, place, and action. A nightmare rather than a utopia, this play proceeds according to the immanent logic of mental aggravation as its two characters, the inmates Publius and Tullius, examine the tautology of their psychological, historical, and purely physical confines. The fusion of its dour, somewhat terrifying vision with the macabre hilarity of its verbal texture allows Marbles to take its audience beyond the farthest reaches of the theatre of the absurd. Highly recommended.