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Koestenbaum, Wayne : My 1980s And Other Essays

Farrar Straus & Giroux/FSG Originals, New York City, NY, 2013

ISBN 0374533776

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 320 pages. Retrospective collection of essays. Now considered a contemporary classic. The First Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a softcover original only and as an FSG Originals title. "Autographed Copy" round green sticker pasted in front. The First Edition is now scarce. The book is very beautifully produced and features Andy Warhol's iconic Polaroid portrait of Debby Harry on the cover. Presents Wayne Koestenbaum's "My 1980s And Other Essays". A "retro" glance at the formative decade of his writing life - he is that rare animal, a poet and a critic - which also happens to be the most crucial decade of the late-20th century. "Impossible lovechild from a late-night, drunken three-way between Joan Didion, Roland Barthes, and Susan Sontag, Wayne Koestenbaum brings together a hyper-literate collection of manifestos, essays, and disclosures that wrestle with a series of prominent cultural figures - Koestenbaum's lodestars - and blur the boundary between academic and personal" (Publisher's blurb). A "kaleidoscopic intellectual autobiography" of the first rank, we come to know Koestenbaum, as we do every great critic/commentator, through his passions and obsessions. "Interests" doesn't quite do justice in his case, and Koestenbaum has an authoritative voice and presence: We not only hear but see him on every page. His style re-defines "threshold" in that it is reassuringly predictable and "come-from-nowhere", disruptively unpredictable at the same time. His range is staggering: James Schuyler, Roberto Bolano, Cindy Sherman, and Brigitte Bardot, among many others. His homages to his personal gods (who are frequently goddesses: Anna Moffo, with whom he is practically identified, Elizabeth Hardwick, Susan Sontag, ditto) are idiosyncratic, brilliant, and moving. His essays on popular culture shade Camille Paglia. As radical, insightful, and brilliant as Paglia could be, Koestenbaum tops her because his flamboyance is irresistible whereas Paglia's pugnaciousness, a sign of insecurity, can be tiresome and reactionary in the end. "An intellectual high-wire act that rarely falters" (Kirkus). An absolute "must-have" title for Wayne Koestenbaum collectors. This Autographed Copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Wayne Koestenbaum. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy of the First Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. One of the most brilliant culture critics of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER WAYNE KOESTENBAUM TITLE IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0374533776.

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