Blaise Cendrars' last novel is an original and often very funny portrayal of the Parisian criminal underworld of the late 1940s that crackles with the fires of an abundant imagination. Yet To the End of the World is not total invention as, like all Cendrars' works, it has some basis in real life. The narrative races between a Foreign Legion barracks in North Africa and the theaters, cafes, dosshouses, and police headquarters of postwar Paris. The central character in this roman a clef is Therese, a septuagenarian actress ...
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Blaise Cendrars' last novel is an original and often very funny portrayal of the Parisian criminal underworld of the late 1940s that crackles with the fires of an abundant imagination. Yet To the End of the World is not total invention as, like all Cendrars' works, it has some basis in real life. The narrative races between a Foreign Legion barracks in North Africa and the theaters, cafes, dosshouses, and police headquarters of postwar Paris. The central character in this roman a clef is Therese, a septuagenarian actress who was once the rival of Sarah Berhardt herself. Her passionate affair with a young deserter from the Foreign Legion (in which Cendrars himself served) is interrupted by the murder of a barman and the impact this event has on all their lives. With its bold and colorful supporting cast--a subterranean gallery of ex-legionnaires, theater types, black marketeers, dubious aristocrats, sexual adventurers, and freaks--entwined with numerous subplots and minor themes, To the End of the World amounts to a grandly picaresque adventure. When it appeared in France in 1956, it offered a ready antedote to the sense of negativity and existential futility that pervaded many novels of the era.
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Add this copy of To the End of the World to cart. $32.00, Sold by Second Life Books Inc. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lanesborough, MA, UNITED STATES, published 1966 by Grove.
Edition:
1966, Grove
Hardcover
Details:
Edition:
First English edition
Publisher:
Grove
Published:
1966
Alibris ID:
14641901752
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Seller's Description:
8vo, pp. 253. Slight wear at bottom of spine, o/w a nice copy in little chipped and scuffed dj.
Add this copy of To the End of the World to cart. $36.00, very good condition, Sold by Dufour Editions Inc. rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Wyomissing, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by Peter Owen Ltd..
Add this copy of To the End of the World (Peter Owen Modern Classic) to cart. $62.07, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hialeah, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Peter Owen Publishers.
Add this copy of To the End of the World to cart. $75.00, very good condition, Sold by Waverley Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Santa Monica, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1966 by Grove Press..
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Seller's Description:
Very Good+ in Near Fine dust jacket. First American edition. Near fine in near fine dust jacket. (Bound upside down otherwise near fine. Trace of light foxing at edges. Tad musty overall. ) ); 8vo 8"-9" tall; 253 pages.
Add this copy of To the End of the World (Peter Owen Modern Classic) to cart. $75.61, new condition, Sold by GridFreed rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from North Las Vegas, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Peter Owen Publishers.
Add this copy of To the End of the World (Peter Owen Modern Classic) to cart. $96.58, new condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hialeah, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Peter Owen Publishers.
