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 (Click for larger image) 
DeLillo, Don.
FALLING MAN.
New York City, NY:
Scribner,
2007.
Hardcover.
First Edition/First Printing.
246 pages.
As New/As New.
The author's fourteenth novel. Now considered a contemporary classic. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. The wraparound DJ design utilizes the now-celebrated color photograph of the Twin Towers surrounded by clouds. The title is an unmistakable allusion to the often-suppressed photograph of the man who, rather than be engulfed in flames, jumped to his death from one of the Twin Towers on 9/11. DeLillo vividly tells the aftermath through what happens to one of the imaginary survivors, Keith Neudecker, as only the masterly DeLillo can. At the end of the novel, he then "rewinds" and takes the reader back inside the Twin Towers as the planes strike the buildings, one of the most stunningly imagined endings about The End ever written. "Through all the terror, fire, and smoke, DeLillo's voice is steady as a metronome, recounting exactly what happens to Keith as he sees friends and co-workers maimed and dead, navigates the stairs, and, ultimately, is saved. Though several post-9/11 novels have been written, not one of them is as compellingly true, faultlessly conceived, and beautifully written as this novel" (Valerie Ryan). Well, there are at least two major works thus far on 9/11: Ian McEwan's "Saturday" and Jonathan Safran Foer's "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close", and they are both very fine works. Still, DeLillo's connection to 9/11 goes way back to 1977, with "Players", giving his new book a fuller retrospective power than either McEwan's or Foer's novels. The prophetic line in "Players" (quoted by some critics in unanimously glowing reviews of "Falling Man") is quite eerie: "The towers didn't seem permanent. They remained concepts, no less transient for all their bulk than some routine distortion of light" (Don DeLillo). DeLillo took on the "dotcom bubble" financial debacle in "Cosmopolis". Here he takes on 9/11, the other defining, landmark event in contemporary American history. A "must-have" title for Don DeLillo collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black pen on the title page by Don DeLillo. It is signed directly on the page, not on a tipped-in page or a bookplate. DeLillo seldom does public signings. Signed copies of his books are usually available from the publisher, pre-signed on a tipped-in page, which just does not have the same collectible value. DeLillo made a rare appearance in New York City during the PEN "World Voices Festival" event. This title remains available in multiple subsequent printings and is now highly collectible. This is one of very few signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition still available online and has no flaws, a pristine beauty. A rare signed copy thus. Regarded by the literary critic Harold Bloom as one of the canonical writers of the 20th century. Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the Jerusalem Prize 1999, the first American writer to be so honored, among numerous other literary prizes. "Underworld" was selected as the second most important work of American fiction of the last 25 years by The New York Times panel of writers, editors, and critics. "Libra" and "White Noise" were included in the Top 20 list. One of the finest living American writers. A flawless collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER DON DELILLO TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1416546022. $250.00 |
