LOVE AND OBSTACLES

New York City, NY: Riverhead Books, 2009. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Riverhead Books, 2009. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 210 pages. The author's second collection of short stories. One of the most important literary events of our time. Advance Signed Copy. The First Hardcover Edition. 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 Aleksandar Hemon's "Love And Obstacles". His most autobiographical work in fictional form. "Beautifully twists the English language in this collection of eight powerful and disquieting stories. Arranged chronologically, all but one feature a Hemon-like narrator named Bogdan, first met as a surly teenager during his diplomat father's assignment in Zaire, where he is happily corrupted by a degenerate American espionage agent. In each successive story, Bogdan recalls the surreal and salient experiences of his life: His youth with his ironically depicted family; his early determination to be a poet; his accidental sojourn in America, where he was caught after the commencement of hostilities in Bosnia; and his return to a cesspool of insignificant, drizzly suffering, where he has a transformative night interviewing a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. Hemon arranges words like gems in a necklace: A necktie is stretched across the chair seat like a severed tendon; a car is stickered with someone else's thought; a character's teeth are like organ pipes. Writing with steely control and an antic eye, Hemon has assembled another extraordinary work" (Publishers Weekly). An absolute "must-have" title for Aleksandar Hemon collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black pen-marker on the title page by Aleksandar Hemon. It signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. Hemon signed on top of the page, making his signature even more prominent. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. 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 signed copy thus. Finalist of the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2002 for "Nowhere Man". Winner of the MacArthur Genius Grant in 2004. Finalist of the National Book Award in 2008 for "The Lazarus Project". One of the most brilliant writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ALEKSANDAR HEMON TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1594488649.