Description

“CLAW OUR WAY INTO COMPASSION”: WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, SIGNED BY EDWARD ALBEE

ALBEE, Edward. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? New York, 1962. Octavo, original blind-stamped black cloth, dust jacket.

First edition, signed on the half title: “Edward Albee, 2005.”

Albee has described his first three-act play as the depiction of the desire to “try to claw our way into compassion” (Hart 9). From drunken antagonism to catharsis, Albee’s characters “[engage] in an isolated struggle through a personal hell” (Benet 1063). Made into a film of the same title by director Mike Nichols in 1966 and starring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal and Sandy Dennis; Nichols and the cast all garnered Academy Awards. Book fine. Light toning to spine and edges of near-fine dust jacket.