At Play in the Fields of the Lord. New York: Random House, [1965].
First edition.
Octavo. [x], 1-[374] pp. Publisher’s black cloth backstrip over beige cloth boards, front cover decoratively stamped in gilt, spine lettered in gilt, dust jacket. Jacket spine browned, with some shallow chipping, light edgewear, two tears to the rear jacket panel, one of which is creased. A very good copy.
The story of this novel, about how “civilized†people (in this case American missionaries) interfere with the simple life of native peoples (in this case, a tribe in South America), with disastrous results, is a common theme in Matthiessen’s work. He is known for meticulous research and for his concern for the treatment of native or indigenous peoples. This is one of his most important titles, and was made into a film starring Tom Berenger, John Lithgow and Daryl Hannah in 1991.
Peter Matthiessen (born 1927) is a novelist and non-fiction writer. He co-founded the literary magazine The Paris Review, in 1953 and has won the National Book Award for Contemporary Thought (in 1979 for his novel, The Snow Leopard).
ID:
3166
$
135