AN EXPLANATION OF THE BIRDS

New York City, NY: Grove Weidenfeld, 1991. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Grove Weidenfeld, 1991. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 261 pages. Rare Antonio Lobo Antunes collectible set. A fine copy of "An Explanation of The Birds" with a fine copy of The New Yorker Magazine May 4, 2009 Issue. The latter features the first full-length Profile in English on Lobo Antunes (by one of his greatest admirers, the literary critic/cultural philosopher Peter Conrad) . The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Antonio Lobo Antunes' "Explicao dos passaros" in a felicitous English translation. The Other Great Novelist of Portugal. "What distinguishes 'An Explanation of The Birds' from other novels is the manner of the telling. Past and present intermingle on the page with no markings or divisions acting as cues to the reader. Scenes from the past share space with scenes from the present within the same paragraph. It's a remarkable strategy that demands the reader remain ever-attentive, but the effect is mesmerizing" (Ian Colford) . "Antonio Lobo Antunes chooses to manifest his debts to Freud, Joyce, and Faulkner on the surface, but in the depths, he is a great original. His is a very dark and searing vision of reality at its fiercest, and will leave its mark on sensitive readers everywhere" (Harold Bloom) . It seems amazing at first that the two greatest novelists of late-modern Europe, the late Jose Saramago and Antonio Lobo Antunes, are both Portuguese, until one realizes that the truest and deepest subject of literature is every human pain, which Portugal, former world empire, impoverished European Union member-nation, and despairing yet still-hopeful people, supplies in inexhaustible abundance. Their language, particularly its tonality, may be radically different, and in literature, tone is everything (as Peter Conrad points out, Saramago is "benign" whereas Lobo Antunes is "anguished") . But their subject is the same: A nation not just of contrasts but of extremes, unlike Europe and very much like America. An absolute "must-have" title for Antonio Lobo Antunes collectors. This title is a late-modern classic. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing (American) still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. It comes with a fine copy of The New Yorker Magazine Issue, which features the very first full-length essay on Antonio Lobo Antunes in English by Peter Conrad, himself a great writer. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce set thus. One of the greatest writers of our time. A fine set. . ISBN 0802113397.