NEW DIRECTIONS
WALTER ABISH/ ALPHABETICAL AFRICA
A brilliant linguistic
tour de force
and simultaneously an urbane,
comic novel set in an imaginary Africa peopled by murderous jewel
thieves, their nymphomaniac moll, overrunning ants, and a transvestite
queen who paints the continent orange. "Walter Abish has created
an exciting continent of words. I admire h is sly, brave, mysterious
achievement."-Irving Malin . Cloth, $7.95; NDP375, $3.75
COLEMAN DOWELL/ MRS. OCTOBER WAS HERE
A searing and satirical American fantasy. "I have read
Mrs. October
Was Here
with horror and fascination. Once one tunes in on the
author's intent, the whole mad community, and its characters seem
to be converted from a nightmare into a revelation
riveti~g
one's
attention not only to the futuristic fable, but to the incredibly bril–
liant and acid style of the author."-Victor Weybright. Cloth, $9.25;
NDP368, $3.75
JOHN HAWKES/ DEATH, SLEEP & THE TRAVELER
Hawkes's new novel-"a brilliant achievement, unique and elegant in
form, brilliantly judged, and likely to endure as a small
classic."-The
New Republic.
"I think it is exquisite and strange and rich: above
all I am struck by its purity, its clarity."-William Goyen. Cloth, $6.95
NEW DIRECTIONS 28
Provocative and varied presentations of prose and poetry in the cur-
rent issue of the New Directions anthology series. Prose by Walter
Abish, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Frederick Busch, Coleman Dowell,
Frederick Morgan, James Purdy, Faye Sobkowsky, and Paul West.
Poetry by Ernesto Cardenal, William Everson, Angel Gonzales, Carl
Rakosi, Jerome Rothenberg, and Robert Sanesi. Cloth, $9.95; NDP371,
$2.95
NEW DIRECTIONS
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