Matthiessen, Peter (1927 – 2014)

The Year of the Tempest [Originally Published Under the Title: Race Rock]

New York: Bantam, 1957. First Paperback Edition Bantam #A1578.

Peter Matthiessen's first novel, "Race Rock," is written so well that one wishes that its characters were more worth writing about. There is an atmosphere of emotional tension and impending catastrophe in these somewhat florid pages which is highly effective. [NTTimes]

Pictorial wraps; The bindings are tight and square. Text clean, light even toning. Moderate shelf handling wear. Spine Crease. Bookstore stamp on the top edge.

Very Good / No Dust Jacket As Issued. Item #15543

Background Information:

This is a novel about a long weekend in the lives of four peculiarly unattractive young people. The time is October 1952. The place is Shipman's Crossing, a New England fishing village which might be in Maine.

The action is not confined to the present, but twists and turns through the protagonists' pasts in a series of wonderfully intricate flashbacks. The theme is the wasteland of "callow amorality" in which people are doomed to wander if they do not achieve a sense of responsibility toward themselves and others.

Peter Matthiessen was an American novelist, naturalist, wilderness writer, and zen teacher. A co-founder of the literary magazine The Paris Review, he was the only writer to have won the National Book Award in both nonfiction (The Snow Leopard, 1979, category Contemporary Thought) and fiction (Shadow Country, 2008). He was also a prominent environmental activist. [wiki]

Price: $49.95