Letters : a novel / John Barth.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barth, John, 1930-2024.

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Imaginary letters.

Genre:

Epistolary fiction.

Fiction.

Penn Provenance:

Barth, John, 1930- (autograph) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy 2)

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copies 1 & 2)

Physical Description:

xv, 772 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Putnam, [1979]

Summary:

A landmark of postmodern American fiction, Letters is (as the subtitle genially informs us) "an old time epistolary novel by seven fictitious drolls & dreamers each of which imagines himself factual". Seven characters (including the Author himself) exchange a novel's worth of letters during a 7-month period in 1969, a time of revolution that recalls the U.S.'s first revolution in the 18th century - the heyday of the epistolary novel. Recapitulating American history as well as the plots of his first six novels, Barth's seventh novel is a witty and profound exploration of the nature of revolution and renewal, rebellion and reenactment, at both the private and public levels. It is also an ingenious meditation on the genre of the novel itself, recycling an older form to explore new directions, new possibilities for the novel.

Notes:

"An old time epistolary novel by seven fictitious drolls & dreamers, each of which imagines himself actual."

Local Notes:

Gotham Book Mart Collection copy 1 has dustjacket retained.

Gotham Book Mart Collection copy 2 in slipcase.

Gotham Book Mart Collection copy 2: "Of the first edition of Letters five hundred copies, specially bound, have been numbered and signed by the author"--page preceding half t.p.

Gotham Book Mart Collection copy 2 signed by the author, no. 248.

Other Format:

Online version: Barth, John, 1930- Letters.

ISBN:

039912425X

9780399124259

0674526368

9780674526365

1564780619

9781564780614

OCLC:

4983419