A signed 1st edition of the authors scarce second novel. Jr book by william gaddis half price books marketplace. J r won the national book award for fiction in 1976. The letters of william gaddis was published by dalkey archive press in february 20. A national book awardwinning satire about the unchecked power of american capitalism, written more than three decades before the 2008 financial crisis. His four published novels stand tall and totemic in the field of modernist literature. The main characters of this fiction, classics story are. From this point on, gaddis found it increasingly easy to win the major grants that allowed him to. Gaddiss second book, jr 1975 won the national book award. Book in good dust jacket in fair condition first edition hardcover. Excerpt from william gaddis keynote for the writer and religion conference duration.
It is also one of the two or three funniest american novels i. Initially titled that time of year, after a line in a shakespeare sonnet, the book details the affair between an older man, mccandless. The chaos of the unceasing deluge of talk of jr drove critics to declare the text unreadable. A quick suggestion that you prioritize this book in your tbr queue. In the story, a schoolboy secretly amasses a fortune in penny stocks.
The book that earned gaddis the first of his two national book awards. And in case youre wondering about the title, jr is the name of one of the main characters, a grungy 12year old boy who happens to be a financial genius working his moneymagic from a public telephone booth at school. J r is a satire on corporate america and tells the story of the elevenyearold schoolboy jr vansant who. J r is a novel by william gaddis published by alfred a. The gaddis annotations notes, sources, references for the works of the great 20thcentury novelist william gaddis i feel like part of the vanishing breed that thinks a. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 752 pages and is available in paperback format. William gaddis stands among the greatest american writers of the twentieth century. In jr, written in 1971, william gaddis described corporate management as, all free enterprise until they wreck the whole thing then theyre the first ones up there with a tin cup whining for the government to bail them out with a loan guarantee so they can do it all over again.
Jr by william gaddis, 9781564784339, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. Jr 9780394731421 by gaddis, william and a great selection of similar new, used and collectible books available now at great prices. The first and longest of his five novels, the recognitions, was named one of time magazines 100 best novels from 1923 to 2005 and two others, j r and a frolic of his own, won the annual u. Jr met with critical acclaim and won the 1976 national book award. Book william gaddis jr first edition hardcover 1975 hc. Jr by william gaddis 1975, paperback for sale online ebay. J r is the longawaited novel from william gaddis, author of the recognitions. Jr by william gaddis 1993, paperback, revised for sale. Jr has 5 available editions to buy at half price books marketplace. Earlier this year, dalkey reprinted two massively important and simply massive books by william gaddis. It was gaddis first novel since the 1955 publication of the recognitions. William gaddis was one of the most innovative and demanding of writers. Gaddis is widely considered one of the first and mos. The first edition of the novel was published in 1975, and was written by william gaddis.
A collection of his essays was published posthumously as the rush for second place. The winner of two national book awards for j r 1976 and a frolic of his. To complete the novel, gaddis received a grant from the rockefeller foundation and the national endowment for the arts. This strangely titled novella is the last work of one of the greatest but the least read of influential american novelists, left on the. Gaddis jr has my nomination for the best american novel of the last half of the 20th century.
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