The Debut
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981. 1st Edition. Octavo, publisher’s brown cloth over speckled tan paper-covered boards, spine gilt, speckled tan endpapers, original illustrated dust jacket.
"Dr. Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature." First US edition of English author and art historian Anita Brookner’s debut novel. Published when she was 53 years old, the tragicomic story centers on Ruth Weiss, a middle-aged literature scholar looking back on her childhood spent tending to the whims of her self-absorbed parents and young adulthood attempting to escape them. Prior to writing fiction, Brookner had published monographs on the French Romantics, including Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Jean-Antoine Watteau, and Jacques-Louis David. While her work is widely considered autobiographical, in an interview with the Paris Review she stated, "[Fiction writing] was an exercise in self-analysis…I tried to make it as objective as possible—no self-pity and no self-justification. But what is interesting about self-analysis is that it leads nowhere—it is an art form in itself." Dust jacket designed by New York artist Dagmar Frinta.Reminder ink stamp to bottom edge. Some soiling and light edgewear to unclipped dust jacket. Very good. Item #6182
$45.00