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Powers, Richard : The Gold Bug Variations

William Morrow & Company, New York City, NY, 1991

ISBN 0688098916

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 640 pages. The author's third novel. One of Richard Powers' finest achievements. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only that sold out shortly after publication. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Richard Powers' "The Gold Bug Variations". The title being a sly allusion to Johann Sebastian Bach's "The Goldberg Variations", one of the greatest achievements of Western Classical music tradition. This speculative yet rigorous meditation on what it means to be human rings - sounds - true. The title, and its contrapuntal inspiration, are beautifully realized by the novel: "A double love story of two young couples separated by a distance of twenty-five years. Stuart Ressler, a brilliant young molecular biologist, sets out in 1957 to crack the genetic code. His efforts are sidetracked by other, more intractable codes - social, moral, musical, spiritual - and he falls in love with a member of his research team. Years later, another young man and woman team up to investigate a different mystery: Why did Ressler suddenly disappear from the world of science? Strand by strand, these two love stories twist about each other in a double helix of desire" (Publisher's blurb). Richard Powers is a unique voice in American literature: A committed novelist of ideas, he has described the novel as a "supreme connection machine, the most complex artifact of networking that we have ever developed". An absolute "must-have" title for Richard Powers collectors. This is a Review Copy. The Review Material is laid-in. This title is a great book. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked yet command up to $795. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. Recipient of the MacArthur Genius Grant in 1989. Winner of the National Book Award in 2007 for "The Echo Maker". Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2019 for "The Overstory". One of the most brilliant writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER RICHARD POWERS TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0688098916.

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