WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS: ESSAYS FROM THE CLASSICS TO POP CULTURE by Mendelsohn, Daniel - 2012

New York City, NY: New York Review Of Books, 2012. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: New York Review Of Books, 2012. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 425 pages. Retrospective collection of literary essays. One of Daniel Mendelsohn's finest achievements. 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. "Autographed Copy" sticker pasted in front. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Daniel Mendelsohn's "Waiting For The Barbarians: Essays From The Classics To Pop Culture". His second collection, the follow-up to his ground-breaking "How Beautiful It Is And How Easily It Can Be Broken" (2008). Written in effortless, impeccable prose with a paradoxical mix of wit and ardor. Mendelsohn knows how to come up with great, "summing-up" titles: "Waiting For The Barbarians" is ironic, referring to one of his specialties, Classical literature, and to its barbaric adaptations by modern sensibilities (such as, but not necessarily limited to, their grotesque Hollywood movie-spectacles). "Brings together twenty-four of his essays, each one glinting with verve and sparkle, acumen and passion, on a wide range of subjects, from 'Avatar' to the poems of Arthur Rimbaud, from our inexhaustible fascination with the 'Titanic' to Susan Sontag's 'Journals'. Trained as a Classicist, Mendelsohn moves easily from penetrating considerations of the ways in which the classics continue to make themselves felt in contemporary life and letters (Greek myth in the 'Spider-Man' musical, Anne Carson's translations of Sappho) to trenchant takes on pop spectacles, none more explosively controversial than his dissection of 'Mad Men' " (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Daniel Mendelsohn collectors. <b><i> This Autographed Copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Daniel Mendelsohn. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. 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, a pristine beauty. Please note: Daniel Mendelsohn did NOT tour to promote the book. 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. </b></i> Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2007 for "The Lost". One of the most brilliant writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER DANIEL MENDELSOHN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1590176073.