Bech: A Book
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Condition: Very Good. Jacket: Very Good, no tears, minor wear. Page Condition: Good. Markings: No markings visible. Binding: Intact hardcover. No stickers or labels visible on cover.
A wry and sophisticated work of American literary fiction, Bech: A Book chronicles the misadventures of Henry Bech, a celebrated but creatively blocked Jewish-American novelist navigating the Cold War world of the 1960s. Updike presents Bech as a reluctant cultural ambassador, dispatched by the U.S. State Department on literary tours through the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and beyond, where he encounters foreign landscapes, bemused locals, and his own paralysing self-doubt. Written as a series of linked stories, the novel satirises the American literary establishment with sharp wit and psychological precision, holding up a mirror to the anxieties of artistic identity and cultural expectation. Updike illustrates, with his signature elegance and irony, how fame can be both a gilded cage and a compass without a needle.
Author: John Updike
Format: Hardback
Published: 1970, Andre Deutsch
Genre: Modern fiction
Condition remarks:
Condition: Very Good. Jacket: Very Good, no tears, minor wear. Page Condition: Good. Markings: No markings visible. Binding: Intact hardcover. No stickers or labels visible on cover.
A wry and sophisticated work of American literary fiction, Bech: A Book chronicles the misadventures of Henry Bech, a celebrated but creatively blocked Jewish-American novelist navigating the Cold War world of the 1960s. Updike presents Bech as a reluctant cultural ambassador, dispatched by the U.S. State Department on literary tours through the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and beyond, where he encounters foreign landscapes, bemused locals, and his own paralysing self-doubt. Written as a series of linked stories, the novel satirises the American literary establishment with sharp wit and psychological precision, holding up a mirror to the anxieties of artistic identity and cultural expectation. Updike illustrates, with his signature elegance and irony, how fame can be both a gilded cage and a compass without a needle.