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Doctorow, E. L : City Of God

Random House, New York City, NY, 2000

ISBN 0679447830

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 272 pages. The author's ninth novel. One of E. L. Doctorow's greatest achievements. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly the Franklin Mint edition. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents E. L. Doctorow's "City of God". A mix of alternating voices that touch on such matters as theology, popular music, astronomy, physics, science, war, carnal love, and the verisimilitude of film to life. "Probes the validity of religion in a century that has fostered epic barbarism and bloodshed. Doctorow's language is both lyric and bracing, a mix of elegant, precise wordplay and brash vernacular. In a masterwork of characterization, he depicts a gallery of characters with vivid economy. At once audacious and assured, this profound existential inquiry will surely be ranked as a brilliant mirror of our life and times" (Publishers Weekly). The city in question is New York once more, but this time from the vantage point of the future as opposed to the rich past that Doctorow previously explored in "Ragtime", "World's Fair", The Waterworks", and "Billy Bathgate" (and mined one more time with "Homer & Langley", his eleventh and next-to-last novel). As has been suggested by some critics and admirers, Doctorow has written in "City of God" a more fully realized (and more mature) version of his second, "fantasy"-genre novel, "Big As Life", an early effort that he never allowed to be reissued. "History is the present. That's why every generation writes it anew. But what most people think of as history is its end product, myth. So to be irreverent to myth, to play with it, let in some light and air, to try to combust it back into history, is to risk being seen as someone who distorts truth" (E. L. Doctorow). E. L. Doctorow died on July 21, 2015 at the age of 84, an irreplaceable loss. An absolute "must-have" title for E. L. Doctorow collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in blue ink-pen on the title page by E. L. Doctorow. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. It comes with the Souvenir Material of the event during which the signing was held, one of the very last such public appearances Doctorow made. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Late in life, E. L. Doctorow seldom did public signings, and when he did, limited the number of books he was willing to sign. As a result, his Limited Editions, while highly collectible, are often more widely available than copies of the First Hardcover Editions, which are signed directly on the title page rather than on a tipped-in leaf. Random House indicated its First Editions with the statement and a number line that began with the Number 2. It did not adopt the Number 1 until recently (around 2004/2005), and even then, on a very inconsistent basis. A scarce signed copy thus. Winner of the very first National Book Critics Circle Award in 1976 for "Ragtime". Winner of the National Book Award in 1986 for "World's Fair". Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Winner of the PEN/Faulkner, and a second National Book Critics Circle Award in 2006 for "The March". One of the greatest American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER E. L. DOCTOROW TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0679447830.

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