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Midnight Cowboy
by HERLIHY, James Leo
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
London, London, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1965. 8vo, pp. 253. Original blue boards, lettered in gilt to spine. Illustrated dustwrapper, author's photographic portrait to rear panel. A near fine copy in a near fine dustwrapper with just a little fading to (white) rear panel and the lightest of edgewear. First edition of Herlihy's second novel. The book was the basis for one of the key films of New Hollywood. Midnight Cowboy the movie starred Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffmann and was directed by John Schlesinger in 1969. The score is by John Barry, the theme song (Everybody's Talking) is sung by Harry Nilsson, and the supporting cast features Brenda Vaccaro, John McGiver, Bob Balaban and half of Andy Warhol's address book. It is still the only X-rated film ever to have won the Best Picture Oscar. A lovely copy.
Synopsis
In some ways, it was unfortunate for author James Leo Herlihy that his novel Midnight Cowboy was adapted into the landmark film of the same name starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight. Although the film, which won several Oscars including Best Picture, certainly brought the rising author a new level of regard and notice, its almost legendary status in the history of American filmmaking has somewhat overshadowed its literary progenitor. This is especially unfortunate since Herlihy's work is considered by many to be one of the best American novels published since World War II. The novel's protagonist is Joe Buck, a naive young Texan who decides to leave his dead-end job and find a grander, more glamorous life in New York City. The city, of course, turns out to be a much harder place to conquer than Joe expected, and he soon finds his dream compromised. Buck's fall from innocence and his relationship with the crippled street hustler Ratso Rizzo form the novel's emotional nucleus, and the unlikely pair is one of the most sensitively-drawn and complex portraits of friendship in recent literature.The focus on male friendship is in fact a longstanding motif in American literature: Twain's Huck and Jim, Melville's Ishmael and Queequeg, Fitzgerald's Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby, and Kerouac's Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarity are some of the notable examples. Herlihy's Joe Buck and Ratso Rizzo continue this venerable tradition in their unique, starkly-drawn fashion. Midnight Cowboy also takes a well-deserved place among a group of distinguished American novels that write-often with unnerving candor-about people living on the "margins" of society: Nathaniel West's Miss Lonleyhearts, John Fante's Ask the Dust, Kerouac's On the Road, and William Burroughs' Junky, to name a few. Midnight Cowboy, written by Herlihy with a unique mixture of severe realism and sensitivity, may well prove to be the best and most durable of these accomplished works of fiction.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Neil Pearson Rare Books
(GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 3713
- Title
- Midnight Cowboy
- Author
- HERLIHY, James Leo
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- New York: Simon & Schuster, 1965
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Keywords
- Gay Literature
Terms of Sale
Neil Pearson Rare Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Neil Pearson Rare Books
Biblio member since 2016
London, London
About Neil Pearson Rare Books
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Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Dustwrapper
- Also known as book jacket, dust cover, or dust wrapper, a dust jacket is a protective and decorative cover for a book that is...
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