The Women
New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1996. 1st Edition. Tall octavo, publisher's tan paper over oat paper-covered boards, spine stamped in off-white, original photo-illustrated dust jacket.
"She had the gift of language, but she couldn't use it. Her drinking brought forth the sense that language had turned to waste in her twilight mind, which lived in the past while she went on uttering the old, old female story: her inability to forgive life for what it had not allowed her to claim: herself." First edition of American writer and critic Hilton Als's debut book. An amalgam of memoir, critical study, and political analysis, The Women is an uncategorizable exploration of sexual and racial identity. Focusing on three significant figures in his life, of personal and intellectual influence, Als renders a portrait of himself: his mother, an alcoholic and self-described "Negress"; writer and intellectual Dorothy Dean, the only black member of Andy Warhol's Factory; and Harlem Renaissance author Owen Dodson, with whom Als had a romantic relationship. Numeric inkstamp to front endpaper, else fine in unclipped dust jacket. Item #8383
$85.00