1984 Archives - The Vintage Contemporaries Bibliography

Jay McInerney – Bright Lights, Big City (1984)

Bibliographic Description

84.09.W007: McInerney – Bright Lights, Big City

A Vintage Original, September 1984

104 leaves, pp. [16] 1-182 [10]

Contents: π1a blank, π1b blurbs, π2a book description and author photo, π2b “ALSO AVAILABLE IN VINTAGE CONTEMPORARIES”, π3a half-title, π3b blank, π4a title, π4b imprint, π5a dediction “FOR MY MOTHER | AND FATHER, AND FOR MERRY”, π5b blank, π6a epigraph, π6b blank, π7a table of contents, π7b blank, π8a fly-title, π8b blank, 1-182 Bright Lights, Big City: 1-10 “IT’S SIX A.M. | DO YOU KNOW | WHERE YOU ARE?”, 11-35 “THE DEPARTMENT | OF FACTUAL | VERIFICATION”, 36-53 “THE UTILITY | OF FICTION”, 54-68 “A WOMB | WITH A VIEW”, 69-79 “LES JEUX | SONT FAITS“, 80-98 “COMA BABY | LIVES!”, 99-118 “PYGMIES, FERRETS | AND DOG CHOW”, 119-127 “O COUTURE!”, 128-144 “LINGUINE | AND | SYMPATHY”, 145-159 “SOMETIMES | A VAGUE | NOTION”, 160-169 “THE NIGHT | SHIFT”, 170-182 “HOW IT’S | GOING”; χ1a blank, χ1b blank, χ2a about the author, χ2b blank, χ3a blank, χ3b blank, χ4a blank, χ4b blank, χ5a blank, χ5b blank.

Cover design by Lorraine Louie; cover illustration by Marc Tauss; interior author photo by Jerry Bauer.

Copies: JDP 1.1 (three copies) (presumed)

Blurbs

(front cover) A rambunctious, deadly funny novel that goes right for the mark—the human heart. – Raymond Carver
Living in Manhattan as if he owned it, a young man tries to outstrip mortality and the recurring approach of dawn with nothing but good will, controlled substances and wit to sustain him in this anti-quest. He can run but he can’t hide. His relentless flight through nightclubs, fashion shows, editorial offices and loft parties finally brings him to the reckoning point, where he is forced to acknowledge loss and, possibly, rediscover his better instincts.
Terrific: remarkable, funny writing, a perfect power-to-weight ratio. – Thomas McGuane
The author is one of those rare writers who catches the moods, nuances and manners of a sub-culture with humor, finesse, skill and accuracy. A born stylist and a remarkable discovery! – George Plimpton
Jay McInerney’s voice is a lot of us, whether young New Yorkers or not—coolly accurate, but sobbing inside a little. Bright Lights, Big City makes eerie beauty out of that old dog truth. – Barry Hannah
In its depiction of youth striving mightily to amuse itself, in the exuberance of its language and the antic shamelessness of its tale, Jay McInerney’s novel calls to mind such classics of knight-errantry as The Ginger Man and The Bushwhacked Piano. It is a dazzling debut, smart, heartfelt, and very, very funny. – Tobias Wolff

Thomas McGuane – The Bushwhacked Piano (1984)

Bibliographic Description

84.09.W006: McGuane – The Bushwhacked Piano

First Vintage Books Edition, September 1984

112 leaves, pp. 1-10 11-220 [4]

Contents: 1 blurbs and author photo, 2 “ALSO AVAILABLE IN VINTAGE CONTEMPORARIES”, 3 half-title, 4 blank, 5 title-page, 6 imprint, 7 dedication “This book is for my mother and father.”, 8 blank, 9 epigraph, 10 blank, 11-220 The Bushwhacked Piano, χ1a blank, χ1b blank, χ2a about the author, χ2b blank.

Cover design by Lorraine Louie; cover illustration by Marc Tauss; interior author photo by Paul Dix.

Copies: JDP 1.1 (presumed)

Blurbs

(front cover) A sumptuous feast of language and wit, The Bushwhacked Piano makes literacy a joy rather than an obligation. – Thomas Berger
Nicholas Payne is a young man who has gotten completely out of hand. His choice of women and associates merely throws fat on the fire of his gruesome conduct. Note how little it avails him to have his heart in the right place. See Nick fail to cope with a fabulous assortment of American archetypes precisely and hilariously delineated, a brilliant gloss on our society itself. American Dubious, at its most heightened.
Gorgeously written, sad and terribly funny. – Partisan Review
The work of a writer of the first magnitude. His sheer writing skill is nothing short of amazing. The preternatural force, grace and self-control of his prose recall Faulkner….McGuane is a virtuoso. – Jonathan Yardley, The New York Times Book Review
McGuane shares with Céline a genius for seeing the profuse, disparate materials of everyday life as a highly organized nightmare. – The New Yorker
A novel of wisecracks and puns and ordinary objects invested with legendary potency. – Geoffrey Wolff, Newsweek
McGuane is a monstrous talent. – National Review (1982)

Peter Matthiessen – Far Tortuga (1984)

Bibliographic Description

84.09.W005: Matthiessen – Far Tortuga

FAR | TORTUGA | Peter Matthiessen | Vintage Contemporaries | VINTAGE BOOKS • A DIVISION OF RANDOM HOUSE • NEW YORK

First Vintage Books Edition, September 1984

208 leaves, pp. [6] 1-2 3-42 43 44-50 51-53 54-88 89 90-95 96 97-102 103 104-116 117 118-127 128-129 130-134 135 136-137 138 139-163 164 165 166 167-180 181-182 183-201 202 203-216 217 218-252 253 254-258 259 260 261 262-268 269 270-281 282 283-324 325-326 327 328 329-360 361 362-365 366-372 373 374 375-378 379 380-387 388 389-390 391 392-395 396 397-403 404-405 406-408 [2]

Contents: π1a blurbs and author photo, π1b “ALSO AVAILABLE IN VINTAGE CONTEMPORARIES”, π2a title-page, π2b imprint and dedication “FOR MARIA”, π3a acknowledgments, π3b epigraph, 1 fly-title, 2 blank, 3-408 Far Tortuga, χ1a blank, χ1b about the author.

Cover design by Lorraine Louie; cover illustration by Marc Tauss; interior author photo by Hans Teensma.

Copies: JDP 1.1 (four copies) (presumed)

Blurbs

(front cover) An adventure story…worth comparing to the best of Conrad or Stevenson. – The New York Review of Books
Beautiful and original…a resonant and symbolical story of nine doomed men who dream of an earthly paradise as the world winds down around them. – Newsweek
An important book, its pleasures are many and good for the soul….Far Tortuga is a singular experience, a series of moments captured whole and rendered with a clarity that quickens the blood. Matthiessen’s evocation of the Caribbean is uncanny. From its opening moment, with daybreak over the Windward Passage, the reader senses that the narrative itself is the recapitulation of a cosmic process, as though the author has sought to link his storytelling with the eye of creation. Peter Matthiessen is a unique and masterful visionary artist. – Robert Stone, front page, The New York Times Book Review
The stuff of which great books are made….Far Tortuga is about the sea and sailors and change; but mostly it is a novel of the human spirit. – James Dickey, The Philadelphia Inquirer
The most beautiful and compelling American novel in decades. – The Chicago Sun-Times

Paule Marshall – The Chosen Place, The Timeless People (1984)

Bibliographic Description

84.09.W004: Marshall – The Chosen Place, The Timeless People

First Vintage Books Edition, September 1984

240 leaves, pp. [6] 1-2 3-92 93-94 95-263 264-266 267-339 340-342 343-472 [2]

Contents: π1a blurbs and author photo, π1b “ALSO AVAILABLE IN VINTAGE CONTEMPORARIES”, π2a title-page, π2b imprint, π3a epigraph, π3b blank, 1-472 The Chosen Place, The Timeless People: 1 section-title “BOOK | I | HEIRS | AND | DESCENDANTS”, 2 blank, 3-92 Book I, 93 section-title “BOOK | II | BOURNEHILLS”, 94 blank, 95-263 Book II, 264 blank, 265 section-title “BOOK | III | CARNIVAL”, 266 blank, 267-339 Book III, 340 blank, 341 section-title “BOOK | IV | WHITSUN”, 342 blank, 343-472 Book IV; χ1a blank, χ1b about the author.

Cover design by Lorraine Louie; cover illustration by Marc Tauss; interior author photo by Rhoda Nathans.

Copyright: ©1969. ISBN: 394-72633-2. Price: $6.95 (first printing); $13 USD / 16.50 CAD (eighth printing). The Chosen Place, The Timeless People was first published by Harcourt, Brace, & World, 1969.

Copies: JDP 1.1 (presumed), JDP 1.8

Blurbs

(front cover) One of our finest American novelists. – The San Francisco Chronicle
The chosen place is Bourneville, a remote, devastated part of a Carribean island; the timeless people are its inhabitants—black, poor, inextricably linked to their past enslavement. The advance team for an ambitious American research project arrives, and the tense ambivalent relationships that evolve—between natives and foreigners, blacks and whites, haves and have-nots—keenly dramatize the vicissitudes of power.
Unforgettable…monumental. – The Washington Post Book World
An important and moving book….Marshall is as wise as she is bold, for in compromising neither her politics nor her understanding of people, she makes better sense of both. – The Village Voice
Impressive…a sustaining vision for contemporary man. – The New York Times
When Marshall writes about those she truly loves, she cannot be resisted. She brings [to her characters] an instinctive understanding, a generosity, and a free humor that combine to form a style remarkable for its courage, color, and its natural control. – The New Yorker

Janet Hobhouse – Dancing in the Dark (1984)

Bibliographic Description

84.09.W003: Hobhouse – Dancing in the Dark

First Vintage Books Edition, September 1984

120 leaves, pp. [8] 1-2 3-229 [3]

Contents: π1a blurbs and author photo, π1b “ALSO AVAILABLE IN VINTAGE CONTEMPORARIES”, π2a half-title, π2b blank, π3a title-page, π3b imprint, π4a dedication “For Cable, Jean-Loup, Michael | Larry, Annie, Judy, Murdoch | and for Tory”, π4b blank, 1 fly-title, 2 blank, 3-229 Dancing in the Dark, χ1b blank, χ2a about the author, χ2b blank.

Cover design by Lorraine Louie; cover illustration by Marc Tauss; interior author photo by John Timbers.

Copies: JDP 1.1 (presumed)

Blurbs

(front cover) Exquisitely written, insightful and poetically concise. – The Village Voice
Set in the lofts, restaurants, discos, and offices—the fast lane—of Manhattan, this deeply telling novel is an original, graceful study of contemporary friendship, love, and marriage. / The decade-old marriage of Morgan and Gabriella Callagher, sophisticated young New York professionals, is in trouble. One sign of this is the constant presence in their lives of Claudio, an endearing and pleasure-seeking waiter. As Gabriella becomes more and more enchanted by the seemingly carefree life of Claudio and his gay friends, Morgan withdraws into his work and their relationship reaches a crisis that brings the novel to its resonant conclusion.
Intelligent, unsentimental and refreshingly exact. – The New York Times
One of the most acute and most serious novels on the theme of modern relationships in the last decade….Hobhouse has leapt into a rare class of novelist-as-social historian that was the métier of Jane Austen, George Eliot and Virginia Woolf. – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Intense, accomplished….In prose at once deft and stately, Hobhouse evokes social setpiece scenes of old-style authoritativeness. – The New Yorker