Original Typescript for The Man Who Looked Like Himself. [with] Kneel to the Rising Sun: and Other Stories.

CALDWELL, Erskine.

$850.00

Item Number: 147684

New York: The Viking Press, 1935.

Rare original typescript of Erskine Caldwell’s The Man Who Looked Like Himself with a first edition of Kneel to the Rising Sun: and Other Stories. Octavo, original typescript with holograph emendations in eight sheets. In very good condition. Accompanied by a first edition of Kneel to the Rising Sun. Octavo, original cloth. Very good in a very good dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.

Erskine Caldwell’s works The Man Who Looked Like Himself and Kneel to the Rising Sun both delve into themes of identity, power, and the human struggle within oppressive societal frameworks. The Man Who Looked Like Himself examines the alienation of an ordinary man who becomes invisible to society due to his lack of distinguishing traits, reflecting the emotional toll of conformity and neglect in a homogenized world. In contrast, Kneel to the Rising Sun presents a brutal exploration of racial and economic oppression in the rural South, where power dynamics and systemic violence crush individual autonomy. Despite their thematic differences, both works emphasize Caldwell’s concern with the ways societal structures suppress individuality and perpetuate suffering. His incisive prose and unflinching realism reveal the fragility of identity in the face of societal indifference or coercion, making these stories enduring commentaries on human resilience and vulnerability.