Refiner's Fire: The Life and Adventures of Marshall Pearl, a Foundling
Language: English
Published by Alfred A. Knopf, 1977
- First Edition
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: Remarks Used Books, Pittsfield, MA, U.S.A.Remarks Used Books
AbeBooks seller since March 30, 2012
Condition: Used - Fine
£ 42.70
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Stated First Edition. 373pp. Helprin's debut novel. Bright, clean & tight copy, unread, in FINE condition. "An immense novel, both serious and comic, filled with character, incident, and the sweep of history, REFINER'S FIRE is the story of Marshall Pearl, born in a sea battle on an illegal immigrant ship off the coast of Palestine in 1947. Sent to America by the ship's captain, he is adopted by the wealthy and childless Livingstons and grows up on their Hudson Valley estate--riding ice floes on the river, jumping freights, climbing cliffs. Yet he is shaped by the imperatives of his origins and destiny, by his peculiar sensitivity to light, and by his astonishing seizures and visions. Always restless and attracted by forces and affinities just beyond his grasp, he begins to move outward: as a child, to an idyllic summer in the Rockies; as an adolescent, to the tropical forests of Jamaica and the Rastafarian rebellion; as a young man, to the taxing traditions of Harvard, to the Great Plains, to Charleston, to the highest ridges of the Alps, and finally to Israel. We see him en route in feast and famine--in trouble, broke, hungry, on the bottom, or surrounded by riches, on top, and in command. And he is often in love: with the sunburnt (always perfect) Lydia, or the lithe, unattainable Dash, or gentle Alexa, or strong-willed Nancy May Baker . . . until one of them becomes central to his life." [jacket copy] "Every once in a while a book appears that engulfs you in its limitless beauty . . . This is such a book. Helprin's use of language and imagery is an ineffable joy."--The Philadelphia Inquirer. "As if The Odyssey had been updated and rewritten by Dylan Thomas."--The Listener, London. "Superb . . . A first-rate odyssey, full of insight and humor and hard-earned wondrous truths . . . That best of all possible novels: read ten pages and you can't put it down; finish it and you'll feel it haunt your days and nights."--San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle. Pristine hardcover w/brilliant corners & crisp deckle edges, a square & tight binding, wrapped in a NF intact jacket, all quite presentable.…
Seller Inventory # RUB2745
- Title
- Refiner's Fire: The Life and Adventures of Marshall Pearl, a Foundling
- Author
- Mark Helprin
- Publisher
- Alfred A. Knopf
- Publication year
- 1977
- Condition
- Fine
- Dust jacket
- Near Fine
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0394412737
- ISBN 13
- 9780394412733
- Edition
- 1st Edition
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
From the Back Cover
Refiner's Fire is the story of Marshall Pearl, orphaned at birth aboard an illegal immigrant ship off the coast of Palestine in 1947 and brought as an infant into the "ardent unlimitedness" of America. Determined to see the world in its beauty, ferocity, and ultimate justice, he does so, in scenes of gorgeous color and great excitement, as a child in the Hudson Valley, fighting Rastifarians in Jamaica, at Harvard, in a slaughterhouse on the Great Plains, in the Mexican desert, on the sea, and in the Alps. Finally he is drawn to Israel to confront the logic of his birth, in a crucible of war, magic, suffering, and grace. At the opening of the book, he is one of the dying wounded being transported to Haifa during the 1973 war. We follow him as he dreams, reconstructing his life, until, by the strength of what he has learned, suffered, and hoped, Marshall Pearl rises.
"Every once in a while a book appears that engulfs you in its limitless beauty. This is such a book. Helprin's use of language and imagery is an ineffable joy." - The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Refiner's Fire is an experience, like being shot out of a cannon - exhilarating, extravagant, vertiginous." - The Boston Globe
Educated at Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford, Mark Helprin served in the Israeli army, Israeli Air Force, and British Merchant Navy. He is the author of, among other titles, Refiner's Fire, Ellis Island and Other Stories, Winter's Tale, A Soldier of the Great War, Memoir from Antproof Case, The Pacific and Other Stories, and Freddy and Fredericka.
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Remarks Used Books
Pittsfield, MA, U.S.A.
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