✨ Featured Offer
Used, Very Good
$8.73
List Price: $30.00
🚚
See all 5 offers from $8.73 FREE standard delivery by: 29 Mar 2026
Overview
The first novel from a master of American letters and the author of the acclaimed Rabbit series: "Brilliant...Here is the conflict of real ideas; of real personalities; here is a work of intellectual imagination and great charity. The Poorhouse Fair is a work of art."--The New York Times Book Review
The hero of John Updike's first novel, published when the author was twenty-six, is ninety-four-year-old John Hook, a dying man who yet refuses to be dominated. His world is a poorhouse--a county home for the aged and infirm--overseen by Stephen Conner, a righteous young man who considers it his duty to know what is best for others. The action of the novel unfolds over a single summer's day, the day of the poorhouse's annual fair, a day of escalating tensions between Conner and the rebellious Hook. Its climax is a contest between progress and tradition, benevolence and pride, reason and faith.
Appended with a discussion of the book's inspiration, its aesthetic sources and models in classics of science fiction, and the way in which its future (projected to be about 1977) compares with the present.
The Poorhouse Fair was written in 1957 and published in January of 1959. It was hailed at the time of its publication as "a rare and beautiful achievement" and "a work of intellectual imagination and great charity." Though its future has degenerated into our present, and Updike's later work is better known, such critics as Henry Bech have hailed this little novel as, still, "surely his masterpiece."
The hero of John Updike's first novel, published when the author was twenty-six, is ninety-four-year-old John Hook, a dying man who yet refuses to be dominated. His world is a poorhouse--a county home for the aged and infirm--overseen by Stephen Conner, a righteous young man who considers it his duty to know what is best for others. The action of the novel unfolds over a single summer's day, the day of the poorhouse's annual fair, a day of escalating tensions between Conner and the rebellious Hook. Its climax is a contest between progress and tradition, benevolence and pride, reason and faith.
Appended with a discussion of the book's inspiration, its aesthetic sources and models in classics of science fiction, and the way in which its future (projected to be about 1977) compares with the present.
The Poorhouse Fair was written in 1957 and published in January of 1959. It was hailed at the time of its publication as "a rare and beautiful achievement" and "a work of intellectual imagination and great charity." Though its future has degenerated into our present, and Updike's later work is better known, such critics as Henry Bech have hailed this little novel as, still, "surely his masterpiece."
| ISBN-13 | 9780394410500 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 0394410505 |
| Weight | 0.74 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 5.10 x 1.00 x 8.10 In |
| List Price | $30.00 |
| Format | Hardcover |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Pages | 208 pages |
| Publisher | Knopf |
| Published On | 1977-02-12 |
View All Offers
Sort by:
Price
Condition
Seller
Seller Comments
Price
✨ Used, Very Good
Seller details
HPB-Ruby
Dallas, TX, USA
Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and ...
Free delivery by: 29 Mar 2026
Used, Very Good
Seller details
Half Price Books Inc
Dallas, TX, USA
Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and ...
Free delivery by: 29 Mar 2026
Used, Very Good
Seller details
HPB-Emerald
Dallas, TX, USA
Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and ...
Free delivery by: 29 Mar 2026
Used, Very Good
Seller details
Book Alley
Pasadena, CA, USA
Very Good in dust jacket. Publisher's stamp to to edge of textblock; otherwise appears unread with N...
Free delivery by: 29 Mar 2026
Used, Very Good
Seller details
Chaparral Books
Portland, OR, USA
Size: 8x5x0; Sixth printing. Very light edge wear to boards. The binding is tight, corners sharp. ...
Free delivery by: 29 Mar 2026