PLEASING MYSELF: FROM BEOWULF TO PHILIP ROTH - Rare Fine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing: Signed by Frank Kermode - ONLY SIGNED COPY ONLINE

Kermode, Frank (Author); Eliot, T.S.; Roth, Philip; Shakespeare, William & Other Subjects

ISBN 10: 0713995181 / ISBN 13: 9780713995183

Published by London, England: The Penguin Press, 2001, 2001

About this Item

1st Printing. Signed. 278 pages. Published in 2001. Retrospective collection of essays. One of Frank Kermode's finest achievements. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run by The Penguin Press/Allen Lane as a hardcover original only. Despite the inclusion of American subjects and issues by the author, there is NO American Edition. None of the copies was commercially distributed outside the United Kingdom. Presents Frank Kermode's "Pleasing Myself: From Beowulf To Philip Roth". Literary and cultural criticism by a Master Critic. This is practical criticism as aesthetic hedonism, the most misunderstood, most widely attacked - by political correctness, the contemporary version of conformism and censorship - and most valuable philosophical approach to contemporary life. Ranges across a breadth of issues by breaking otherwise insuperable barriers through Frank Kermode's transcendent, prehensile reach. "Kermode has a strong claim to be Britain's most distinguished literary critic. Over the course of a long career, he has written on a enormous variety of literature, most recently William Shakespeare's plays. Should be of keen interest to lovers of literature, and also to those interested in post-war intellectual life. For as much as these essays exemplify the tension, the patience, and the insight of a great critic, in their defense of proportion and clarity, they are also works of ethical importance" (Publisher's blurb). Well, when properly understood and practiced, aesthetics IS ethics. An absolute "must-have" title for Frank Kermode collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Frank Kermode. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a great collection. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: There is NO American Edition. None of the copies was commercially distributed outside the United Kingdom. A rare signed copy thus. One of the greatest critics of the 20th century and our time. A fine copy. ISBN 0713995181.

Seller Inventory # 23654

Bibliographic Details

• Title: PLEASING MYSELF: FROM BEOWULF TO PHILIP ROTH - Rare Fine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing: Signed by Frank Kermode - ONLY SIGNED COPY ONLINE
• Publisher: London, England: The Penguin Press, 2001
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0713995181
• ISBN 13: 9780713995183
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: As New
• Signed: Signed by Author

About this title

Synopsis

Kermode himself has sometimes said that much of his best work has been done at shorter length, in the essays he has written on a very wide range of subjects for literary journals of one kind or another. Pleasing Myself brings together the best of these pieces from the last decade, on topics as diverse as Donne, Yeats, Howard Hodgkin, gnosticism, the sea and money, as well as further thoughts on Shakespeare. Each of them is concise and entertaining, and has something original or pithy to say about its subject. They will bring as much pleasure to their readers as Kermode unashamedly admits the writing of them brought to the author.

About the Author

Sir Frank Kermode is the first literary critic to be knighted since Empson and is widely acknowledged as the head of the profession in this country. His previous book include A SENSE OF AN ENDING, his autobiography, NOT ENTITLED and SHAKESPEARE'S LANGUAGE.