Appointment in Samarra

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Appointment in Samarra
Authors and Contributors      By (author) John O'Hara
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:272
Dimensions(mm): Height 198,Width 129
Category/GenreClassic fiction (pre c 1945)
ISBN/Barcode 9780099518327
ClassificationsDewey:813.52
Audience
General

Publishing Details

Publisher Vintage Publishing
Imprint Vintage Classics
Publication Date 3 April 2008
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

'For all its excellence as a social panorama and a sketch of a marriage, it is as a picture of a man destroyed by drink and pride that Appointment in Samarra lives frighteningly in the mind' John Updike 'For all its excellence as a social panorama and a sketch of a marriage, it is as a picture of a man destroyed by drink and pride that Appointment in Samarra lives frighteningly in the mind' John Updike Julian English prides himself a member of his hometown's social elite, but from the moment he throws a cocktail in the face of a powerful business associate his life spirals out of control, taking his loving but troubled marriage with it. Following English's rapid decline and fall, Appointment in Samarra is a fast-paced and blackly comic portrait of 1930s America. O'Hara's debut novel introduced a prolific new voice to a generation and still stands as one of the great works of American fiction.

Author Biography

John O'Hara was born in Pennsylvania on 31 January 1905. His first novel, Appointment in Samarra (1934), won him instant acclaim, and he quickly came to be regarded as one of the most prominent writers in America. He won the National Book Award for his novel Ten North Frederick and had more stories published in the New Yorker than anyone in the history of the magazine. His fourteen novels include A Rage to Live, Pal Joey, BUtterfield 8 and From the Terrace. John O'Hara died on 11 April 1970.

Reviews

Mr O'Hara's eyes and ears have been spared nothing, but he has kept in his heart a curious and bitter mercy -- Dorothy Parker O'Hara writes with swift realism, wisely avoids sentimentality * Time Magazine * Dramatic...exciting...vivid and written at high speed...accurate and often penetrating * The Nation * Better than anyone else, he told the truth about his time, the first half of the twentieth century. He was a professional. He wrote honestly and well -- John O'Hara on John O'Hara. He had this inscribed on his gravestone.