High Sierra
by Burnett, W. R
- Used
- Good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Good/Fair
- Seller
-
Seattle, Washington, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1940. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Good/Fair. Stated first edition. Minor wear and handling soil to orange cloth boards. Bottom corners worn through a bit. Head of spine a tiny bit frayed. Browning / discoloring to endpapers. Name inscription on front free endpaper. Dust jacket has been adhered to brown paper backing and laminated; front laminate mostly torn off; moderate soiling and fading; 3cm x 1cm chip off spine panel; edges rubbed, exposing brown paper beneath in places; jacket and backing in brodart protector. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.
Synopsis
The tormented and exhausted man at the center of W.R. Burnett's High Sierra is a notorious criminal whom the newspapers call "Mad Dog" Roy Earle. Earle is every bit the criminal the newspapers depict, but he is a complicated soul who is the tragic hero of the novel -- a horribly flawed man, a violent criminal who still retains a bit of a conscience but never gets a decent break.As in most of Burnett's novels, High Sierra ostensibly describes a carefully plotted crime that is undermined by human nature. More interesting and important, perhaps, is its study of Roy Earle, who hardly seems the "Mad Dog" he is made out to be in the press. Pardoned from prison, he idealizes his childhood as he wearily makes his way across the California desert to meet up with two hoods named Red and Babe. Earle is dismayed to find they have with them a tough and brazen woman named Marie, though he begins to warm to her crude charm. He has been moved by the plight of a physically impaired woman he meets, Velma Goodhue, and he resolves to help her -- imagining, somehow, that she will be his. After a holdup he plans with Red, Babe and Marie (who has now fallen in love with him), Earle takes money to Velma for an operation to repair her clubfoot. But the holdup has disastrous results. Red and Babe are killed, and Roy goes on the lam with Marie. They have nowhere to turn and even Velma deserts him. Earle sends Marie away, to meet him eventually in a mountain pass in the High Sierras -- a rendezvous high in the sky that will not take place as planned.Much happens plotwise in High Sierra but it is Roy Earle who holds our interest. As remorseless as the book is -- the concluding chapter consists a few lacerating paragraphs of post-mortem chitchat from the police -- it makes Earle a rich and deeply compelling man, without sentimentalizing him at all. Reading High Sierra is close to the experience of reading James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, a tough, bleak and unforgiving narrative that works a dark and elusive magic.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Twice Sold Tales, Capitol Hill
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 037375
- Title
- High Sierra
- Author
- Burnett, W. R
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Good
- Jacket Condition
- Fair
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Publisher
- Alfred A. Knopf
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1940
Terms of Sale
Twice Sold Tales, Capitol Hill
You buy it, we ship it. If you're unsatisfied, send it back for a refund.
About the Seller
Twice Sold Tales, Capitol Hill
Biblio member since 2006
Seattle, Washington
About Twice Sold Tales, Capitol Hill
We're a brick & mortar shop in Seattle. We've got six live-in cats.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Brodart
- Generally used to refer to a clear plastic cover that is sometimes added to the dustjacket or outside covering of a book. The...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
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