John Hawkes (1925-1998) was an important figure in the post-World War II generation of American writers, and was the author of sixteen novels. He was one of the first American writers to champion an iconoclastic "postmodern" or "metafictive" spirit in fiction which demanded formal experimentation, savage comedy, and total imaginative freedom. Hawkes' novels are said to achieve dreamlike (often nightmarish) intensity through the suspension of traditional narrative constraints.The Cannibal (1949) was his first novel. It set the tone for succeeding works. A reviewer remarked that nowhere has the nightmare of human terror and the deracinated sensibility been more concisely analyzed than in The Cannibal.(New York: New Directions, 1962). Softcover, 1st edition., 195 pp., signed. Age related light soiling of covers, minor edge wear; slight page toning; good copy.,
Hawkes signed the book for Louis Rubin (1923-2013). Rubin was an American literary scholar, writing teacher. poet, and author. He taught for many years, first at Hollins College (now University) in Virginia and later at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Nill. Rubin is credited with helping establish Southern literature as a legitimate field in American literature and the founding of Algonquin Press which has become known for publishing Southern writers,