From RightWayUp Books, Woodbridge, SUFFO, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
AbeBooks Seller since 18 August 2021
About this Item
Purdy, James. Cabot Wright begins. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1967. First Penguin edition. Paperback, VG. Reading crease along spine, a few marks, and the white background a little age-discoloured. Small crease to front opening corner. Binding strong. 185pp. + publisher advertisements. Light tanning to edges of page block. Contents clean and bright. James Otis Purdy (July 17, 1914 March 13, 2009) was an American novelist, short-story writer, poet, and playwright who, from his debut in 1956, published over a dozen novels, and many collections of poetry, short stories, and plays. His work has been translated into more than 30 languages. James Purdy's third novel, "Cabot Wright Begins," is more like his first, "Malcolm," than his second, "The Nephew." That is, it's a fantastic and ironic tale, told with great plainness and wit. As in "Malcolm," the theme is both funny and bitter: the travails of innocence. "Malcolm," which is more strictly picaresque in form, relates the encounters, with various worldly and decadent types, of a very young man, innocent to the point of uproarious numbness. In "Cabot Wright Begins," the figure of innocence is more complex. Indeed, it is split in two. One innocent is Cabot Wright, recently released from prison after serving a sentence for raping more than 300 women. He is from a good family and was a model husband and rising young man on the Stock Exchange; now he is hiding out in a disreputable boarding house in Brooklyn Heights. The other innocent is Bernie Gladhart, also young but already a professional schlemiel, most recently a used car salesman from Chicago, who has been dispatched by his middle-aged wife to Brooklyn Heights to find Cabot Wright and write the Great American Novel about him (Susan Sontag). RightWayUp Books aims to provide accurate and detailed descriptions. All images are of the actual book for sale - no stock images are ever used. Thank you for looking at this listing. Seller Inventory # ABE-1689274165114
Bibliographic Details
Title: Cabot Wright begins
Publisher: Harmondsworth: Penguin Books
Publication Date: 1967
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Very Good
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