THE RAT. Translated by Ralph Manheim. San Diego New York London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, [1987]. Octavo, cloth. First edition in English. A speculative history that relates the end of Mankind and the beginning of an age of rats. DER BUTT (1977; translated by Ralph Manheim as THE FLOUNDER 1978) and DIE RATTIN (1986; translated by Ralph Manheim as THE RAT 1987) "scarify history through epic narratives in which humans and animals interchange roles, in a deliberately grotesque hypertrophication of the beast fable. THE FLOUNDER is narrated by a logorrhoeic fish; THE RAT, narrated from space after a dreamlike Apocalypse by a she-rat, is almost incoherently misanthropic. Glass's fury at the human condition, and at the institutions (the Church, the military, the state, etc.) which worsen our lot, is not always controlled; but it is never his intention to construct a fantasy story whose resolution will seem redemptive." - John Clute. A fine copy in fine dust jacket. (#159541).
Price: $45.00
"First edition / A B C D E" on copyright page.