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The Naked and the Dead
by MAILER, NORMAN
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Stevenson, Maryland, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Original black cloth, black dust jacket. Owner's inscription dated 1948 on front endpaper. Rear endpaper browned. Fine, in a superbly preserved dust jacket.
First edition of Norman Mailer's landmark first novel. This is the first printing, with the Rinehart colophon on copyright page, and in the first issue dust jacket without reviews on rear flap.
The Naked and the Dead has been called "the best war novel to emerge from the United States" (Anthony Burgess). Norman Mailer, who "loomed over American letters longer and larger than any writer of his generation … burst on the scene in 1948 with The Naked and the Dead" (New York Times). The book remained on the Times best seller list for more than a year.
Mailer's electrifying debut conveys, "with great accuracy and power, the agony of the American troops in the Pacific campaign. … It remains Mailer's best" (Burgess).
This is a splendid copy in the famously fragile dust jacket.
Modern Library 100 Best Novels 51. Burgess, Anthony. Ninety-Nine Novels: The Best in English since 1939—A Personal Choice.
Synopsis
Acclaimed as a successful expression of the futility of war, Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead follows the story of an army platoon of foot soldiers fighting for the possession of the Japanese-held island of Anopopei during World War II. The novel, which embodies wartime disillusionment, is partly based on Mailer’s own experiences with the 112th Cavalry in the Pacific. Through its four parts, The Naked and the Dead addresses themes of loneliness, death of fear and dying, and brotherhood. The novel is written in gritty, journalistic detail. However, this tone was dialed back as publishers persuaded Mailer to use to euphemism “fug” in lieu of the mother of all curse words — the “F” word — in his novel. The Naked and the Dead sold 200,000 copies in its first three months and was a New York Times best seller for over a year. Despite some controversy among critics, the novel remains important in American literature. The Naked and the Dead is ranked 51st on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century. The novel was later adapted into a film of the same name in 1958.
Read More: Identifying first editions of The Naked and the Dead
Reviews
On May 21 2016, a reader said:
this is a book of the month issue
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Details
- Bookseller
- 19th Century Rare Book and Photograph Shop
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 42820805
- Title
- The Naked and the Dead
- Author
- MAILER, NORMAN
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Rinehart
- Place of Publication
- New York and Toronto
- Date Published
- 1948
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
Terms of Sale
19th Century Rare Book and Photograph Shop
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
19th Century Rare Book and Photograph Shop
Biblio member since 2011
Stevenson, Maryland
About 19th Century Rare Book and Photograph Shop
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Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Colophon
- The colophon contains information about a book's publisher, the typesetting, printer, and possibly even includes a printer's...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Copyright page
- The page in a book that describes the lineage of that book, typically including the book's author, publisher, date of...
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