Stretching the boundaries of the novel
H. D. [i.e. DOOLITTLE, Hilda]. Palimpsest. Paris: Contact Editions. 1926.
8vo. Publisher's French-folded printed wrappers, spine and upper panel printed in black; outer and lower edges untrimmed; pp. 338; minimal rubbing to extremities; small vertical 7mm tear to lower edge of spine; light toning to spine of wrapper; slight discolouration to endpapers; a little spotting to outer edge; a very good copy.
First edition of this semi-autobiographical, three-layered novel by Modernist American writer Hilda Doolittle.
Palimpsest is structured as a series of interconnected stories, functioning like the layers of a palimpsest: "a parchment from which one writing has been erased to make room for another" (front panel). By exploring overlapping and intersecting lives, memories, and histories, H.D.'s innovative approach to structure is well-situated within the Modernist canon, as it tries and tests the boundaries of what had been accepted as the conventional "novel".
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