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Lee, Chang-Rae : Aloft

Riverhead Books, New York City, NY, 2004

ISBN 1573222631

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 343 pages. The author's third novel. Now considered a contemporary classic. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly copies that are signed on a tipped-in page. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Chang-rae Lee's "Aloft". His reflection on the American Dream, which of course, is about rising above the ground to the point, if one is fortunate and presumably deserving by dint of hard work, of being airborne. "Set on affluent Long Island, 'Aloft' follows the life of a suburban, upper-middle-class man during a time of family crisis. Jerry Battle's favorite diversion is to fly his small plane over the neighboring towns and villages. When his daughter and her fiance arrive from Oregon to announce their marriage plans, he looks back on his life and faces his disengagement with it, his urge to fly solo, and the people he loves" (Publisher's blurb). Like many writers of his generation as well as those (like Amy Tan) who came well before him, Chang-rae Lee's subject has been the Asian-American immigrant experience. What has always set his work apart is its quiet, serene, and meditative tone, a style of writing (as well as a world-view) that the demanding literary critic James Wood has praised for its often poetic beauty. Characteristic of all his previous work, Chang-rae Lee is looking back as thoughtfully and reasonably as he possibly can, on the ironies, paradoxes, and anguished dilemmas of the self-uprooted, self-transplanted individual. With "Aloft", he "broadens his range and proves himself a Master Storyteller, able to observe his character's flaws and celebrate his humanity. An unforgettable portrait, filled with vitality and urgency, of a man who has secured his life's dreams, but who must now figure out its meaning. The prose Chang-rae Lee writes is poetic" (The New Yorker Magazine). An absolute "must-have" title for Chang-rae Lee collectors. This copy is very boldly and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Chang-rae Lee. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page, as copies available online are. Laid-in is a pristine copy of the Chicago Humanities Festival 2015 Souvenir Program during which event his signature was obtained. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still 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 scarce signed copy thus. Selected by The New Yorker Magazine as one of the "Twenty Writers for the 21st Century". One of the most brilliant American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER CHANG-RAE LEE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1573222631.

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