Description

“THE SUPREME AMERICAN NOVELIST”: FIRST EDITION OF HENDERSON THE RAIN KING, SIGNED BY SAUL BELLOW

BELLOW, Saul. Henderson the Rain King. New York: Viking, 1959. Octavo, original half white cloth, original dust jacket.

First edition, the fifth work by Nobel laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winner Saul Bellow, signed by him on the title page, scarce in original dust jacket.

“Realization of the self means surrender of the self. Bellow has always recognized this paradox, which he dramatizes nowhere more effectively than in Henderson the Rain King. Henderson begins as a man overwhelmed by the demands of his own ego. Neighbors, wives, children— nothing and nobody is permitted to stand in the way of his self gratification as he listens to an inner voice intoning, ‘I want! I want!’ At the end of the book, his African experience has taught him that what men need is a right relation with the world of nature and with humanity as a whole” (Contemporary Novelists, 125). “Bellow sees more than we see—sees, hears, smells, tastes, touches? he will emerge as the supreme American novelist” (Martin Amis). First edition, first issue, with yellow top edge.

Book with mild toning to spine; slight tape reinforcement to verso of bright about-fine dust jacket. A near-fine copy, scarce signed.