The Oasis by Pauline Gedge
A vicious and brilliant satire of human vanity from the author of the classic bestseller The Group Long out of print, Mary McCarthy's second novel is a bitingly funny satire set in the early years of the Cold War about a group of writers, editors, and intellectuals who retreat to rural New England to found a hilltop utopia. With this group loosely divided into two factions--purists, led by the libertarian editor Macdougal Macdermott, and the realists, skeptics led by the smug Will Taub--the situation is ripe not only for disaster but for comedy, as reality clashes with their dreams of a perfect society. Though written as a roman clef, McCarthy barely disguised her characters, including using her former lover Philip Rahv, founder of Partisan Review, as the model for Will Taub. As a result, the novel caused an absolute explosion of outrage among the literary elite of the day, who clearly recognized themselves among her all-too-accurate portraits. Rahv threatened a lawsuit to stop publication. Diana Trilling, Lionel Trilling's wife, called McCarthy a thug. McCarthy's friend Dwight McDonald (Macdougal Macdermott) called it vicious, malicious, and nasty. Never one to shy away from controversy, McCarthy's portrait of her generation had indeed drawn blood. But the brilliance of the novel has outlasted its first detonation and can now be enjoyed for its aphoritic, fearless dissection of the vanities of human endeavor. In an added bonus, the renowned essayist Vivian Gornick details in a moving introduction the importance of McCarthy's intellectual and artistic bravery, and how she influenced a generation of young writers and thinkers.
PAULINE GEDGE is the award-winning and bestselling author of thirteen previous novels, ten of which are inspired by Egyptian history. Her first, Child of the Morning, won the Alberta Search-for-a-New-Novelist Competition. In France, her second novel, The Eagle and the Raven, received the Jean Boujassy award from the Societe des Gens des Lettres, and The Twelfth Transforming, the second of her Egyptian novels, won the Writers Guild of Alberta Best Novel of the Year Award. Her books have sold more than 250,000 copies in Canada alone; worldwide, they have sold more than six million copies and have been translated into eighteen languages. Pauline Gedge lives in Alberta.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781569472385 |
| ISBN 10 | 1569472386 |
| Title | The Oasis |
| Author | Pauline Gedge |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Soho Press |
| Year published | 2003-07-01 |
| Number of pages | 532 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |