Add this copy of The Burglar (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) to cart. $10.94, good condition, Sold by GW Spokane Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Spokane, WA, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Vintage Books USA.
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Condition: GOOD-Used with some wear from use. May include stickers on cover, missing or wear to dustcover, inside cover, spine, slight curled corners, stains, and wear to the fore edge. All orders ship via UPS Mail Innovations-can take up to 14 business days from first scan to be delivered.
Add this copy of The Burglar (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) to cart. $11.18, fair condition, Sold by Zoom Books Company rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lynden, WA, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Vintage Books USA.
Add this copy of The Burglar (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) to cart. $18.23, good condition, Sold by BuenaWave rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Oklahoma City, OK, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Vintage Books.
Add this copy of The Burglar to cart. $24.95, very good condition, Sold by King Crab Books LLC rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Saint Paul, MN, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Simon & Schuster Ltd.
Add this copy of The Burglar (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) to cart. $25.00, very good condition, Sold by Studio Books Oregon rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Corvallis, OR, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Vintage Books.
Add this copy of The Burglar (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) to cart. $38.10, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Vintage Books.
Add this copy of The Burglar to cart. $43.61, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Simon & Schuster.
Add this copy of The Burglar to cart. $65.00, fair condition, Sold by King Crab Books LLC rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Saint Paul, MN, UNITED STATES, published 1953 by Lion (124).
Add this copy of The Burglar (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) to cart. $69.24, new condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Vintage Books.
Add this copy of The Burglar to cart. $100.00, good condition, Sold by King Crab Books LLC rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Saint Paul, MN, UNITED STATES, published 1953 by Lion (124).
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G+ 158 p. 1st edition paperback original from Lion (#124), 1953. GOOD PLUS, moderate to heavy wear and a couple stains to back cover that affect last handful of pages also.
The noir novels of David Goodis (1917 -- 1967) should receive widespread attention with the publication of a new Library America volume of five novels Goodis wrote in the 1940's and 50's. David Goodis: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s and 50s (Library of America) As I work through the LOA volume, I have been enjoying reviewing each individual book in more detail than would be possible in a review of the single volume of five novels.
Written in 1953 when Goodis had left Hollywood and moved back to his native Philadelphia, "The Burglar" was published only in an inexpensive paperback edition. It was the sort of book sold in bus stations or at newstands for a short, entertaining read. Like some other art, Goodis' books were not written or sold with the expectation that they would one day be found of long term value. In 1957, a movie version of "The Burglar" was released directed by Paul Wendklos with stars including Dan Duryea and Jane Mansfield and with the screenplay by Goodis himself.
Goodis' novel is set in Philadelphia and Atlantic City in the late 1940's. For a short book, "The Burglar" includes a considerable number of well-developed characters and addresses several important themes in addition to the robberies and murders of a crime story.
The primary character, Nat Harbin, 33, is the leader of a group of four robbers who live together in an old house in a shabby area of Philadelphia. Harbin's confederates are two slightly older men, Baylock and Dohmer, and a young woman in her early 20s, Gladden, whose relationship with Harbin is developed in the course of the book. As the book opens, Goodis' gang of four meticulously pulls off a heist of $100,000 in emeralds from a safe in a wealthy Philadelphia home. Tensions break out among the four members, and the loyalty and cohesiveness of the group is severely tested. A major source of the tension involves Harbin, who falls heavily for a wealthy woman named Della whom he meets, apparently by chance in a cheap restaurant. Della invites Harbin to live with her in an idyllic home in rural Pennsylvania. The group appears to be about to dissolve.
The search for love, and its elusive character, is a major theme of "The Burglars" as Goodis creates a poignant, surprisingly thoughtful love story. The major theme of the book, however, is loyalty. Although I doubt that Goodis was aware of the connection, the emphasis on loyalty in "The Burglars" reminded me of the American philosopher Josiah Royce who put the virtue of loyalty at the heart of ethics. When Harbin's parents died during his adolescence, he was taken in by a thief named Gerald Gladden who treated him kindly and taught him the trade. When Gladden died in a robbery, Harbin took responsibility for the care of his young daughter, then six, whom he called simply "Gladden". Gerald instilled in Harbin the value of loyalty in addition to the tools of theft. Here is how Goodis describes Gerald's teachings to young Harbin:
"This big thing, Gerald would say, this thing of being honorable, was the only thing, and actually, if a human being didn't have it, there wasn't much point in going on living. As matters stood, life offered very little aside from an occasional plunge into luxurious sensation, which never lasted for long and even while it happened was accompanied by the dismal knowledge that it would soon be over. In the winter Gerald had a mania for oyster stew, and always while he ate the stew he would complain the plate would soon be empty and his stomach would be too full for him to enjoy another plate. All these things like oyster stew and clean underwear and fresh cigarettes were temporary things, little passing touches of pleasure, limited things, unimportant things. What mattered, what mattered high up there by itself all alone, Gerald would say, was whether things are honorable."
In Goddis' novel, Harbin has to examine both his personal relationship to Gladden and his relationship to his fellow thieves and assess them in light of his passion for Della. These themes are developed in the context of a noir story which includes as well passages of acute description of run-down Atlantic city hotels, furious storms, and poor Philadelphia bars and restaurants.
"The Burglars" is a thoughtful, difficult novel in the unprepossessing guise of a throwaway paperback. The Library of America did a service in publishing its volume of Goodis novels.
