COCKROACH

Toronto, Canada: House Of Anansi Press, 2008. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. Toronto, Canada: House Of Anansi Press, 2008. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 305 pages. The author's second novel. One of the most beautifully written novels of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly the American Softcover Edition. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Rawi Hage's "Cockroach". Kafka in North America: An audaciously and daringly non-commercially titled novel. For the Canadian-immigrant writer who spent his formative years in war-torn Lebanon, "Cockroach" is autobiography-as-allegory (of the human condition). Which inevitably reminds one of Franz Kafka's "Metamorphosis". "In Montreal's restless immigrant community, our unnamed narrator is living in despair. Forced to visit a therapist after a suicide attempt, he brings us back to his childhood in a war-torn country, forward into his current life in the smoky emigre cafes where everyone has a tale, and out into the frozen nighttime streets of Montreal, where he imagines himself to be a cockroach invading the lives of the privileged but willfully blind citizens who surround him. A carnivalesque, philosophical novel that weaves dark humor with an accusatory, satirical voice, spawning from the sub-surface to challenge humanity" (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Rawi Hage collectors. This copy is very prominently, wittily, and beautifully signed and inscribed in black ink-pen on the title page by the author: "For Cyntea, All the best. Hope you enjoy 'Cockroach' without its infestation, Rawi Hage". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. The recipient, who is named, is unmistakably known to the author. This title is a contemporary classic. This is the single best signed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing we have ever seen, is available online, and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: The more a writer leaves of himself (by way of a unique inscription) on a particular copy, the more collectible the latter is, not the other way around. A rare signed copy thus. One of the most brilliant writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER RAWI HAGE TITLE IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0887842097.