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Packer, ZZ : Drinking Coffee Elsewhere: Stories

Riverhead Books, New York City, NY, 2003

ISBN 1573222348

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 238 pages. The author's breakthrough debut collection of short stories. One of the most important literary debuts of our time. Now considered a contemporary classic. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents ZZ Packer's "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere: Stories". Her stunning debut. ZZ Packer is the fresh, new, and exciting voice of the African-American experience. Consciously or not, she is writing adamantly against rather than within the Toni Morrison "baroque" tradition (for that is what the latter is today) : Her prose is crisp and even blunt yet often rises to a lyricism that is the mark of all great and original prose. "Their combination of tenderness, humor, and apt, unexpected detail set them apart. Packer's prose is wielded like a kitchen knife, so familiar to her hand that she could use it with her eyes shut" (Regina Marler). "Her carefully engineered narratives treat listeners to the richness of highly developed characters and lead them to some intriguing scenarios, like a troop of black Brownies spending their time at summer camp plotting against a troop of what they initially see as haughty white girls, and the deadbeat dad who talks his son into driving him across the country to the Million Man March, not to participate but to sell parrots to African-Americans" (Publishers Weekly). An absolute "must-have" title for ZZ Packer collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed and dated (in the month and year of publication) in green pen on the title page by the author: " ZZ Packer 4/22/03". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed and publication-month dated copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing 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 rare signed copy thus. ZZ Packer was selected as one of the "20 Writers Under 40" of the decade by The New Yorker Magazine. One of the most brilliant writers of our time. A fine copy. . ISBN 1573222348.

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