McSWEENEY'S Issue No. 4: Trying,Trying,Trying,Trying,Trying.

Brooklyn, NY: McSweeney Family Publishing Concern, 2000. First Edition, First Printing 1st Printing. Original Wraps. As New/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Printed in Iceland by the Oddi Printing Company, Reykjavik. Illustrated cardboard box with fourteen discrete chapbooks, including: "A Chance Meeting," an essay by Rachel Cohen (and starring Willa Cather and Katherine Anne Porter); A true story by Paul Collins called "Symmes Hole," about a man who believed there was a hole at the top of the world, through which we could pass to another, below ; A short piece by Lydia Davis entitled "A Mown Lawn"; A series of fables by Sheila Heti, as a whole known as "The Middle Tales"; "K is for Fake," a version of Kafka's "The Trial,' by Jonathan Lethem; a story involving lighters and cooking oil by Ben Miller called 'Dar(e)apy'; a three-act play by Denis Johnson entitled 'Hellhound on My Trail'; An essay by Paul Maliszewski called "Paperback Nabokov," detailing the many battles Mr. V.N. fought in the name of good (or at least acceptable) cover art; Rick Moody's "The Double Zero"--a version of Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg"; "Dabchick," a short story featuring tunnels and passwords by Harumi Murakami; "Four Institutional Monologues," a new piece by George Saunders; Another in Lawrence Weschler's series of "Convergences," this one involving Titian, Velasquez, Vermeer, Brazilian gold miners, and a poem by Wislawa Symborska. There is also inside a book (48 pages) of shorter pieces, which includes: A short story by John Warner, inclusive of hyenas, called "On the Set"; An interview between Joshuah Bearman and his father, a physicist in Jerusalem; A letter from Sarah Vowell, called "Nationalism Roundup," which includes mention of slavery, ambulances, and Bosnian record collectors; Gabe Hudson's "The Size of My Heart"; J. Robert Lennon's "Idea"; A letter from Arthur Bradford which recounts his time caring for a deaf and blind boy and includes a crucial cameo by a pair of sharp scissors; Amy Fusselman's "Journal"; Dan Pope's "In the Cherry Tree"; "Various Dangers,' by Nicholas Laughlin, who lives in Trinidad; Ralph Worsey's "Bad Luck"; Marcy Dermansky's "Cow Juice"; Steve Featherstone and David Pacheco, who each write stories about Dee Dee Myers; "Three Picture Deal" by Jason Eaton; And a letter from Sean Wilsey re: seaweed, the A-bomb, and Aunt Glendora. There is also a booklet called "Notes and Background and Clarifying Charts and Some Complaining," as welll as a copy of the Subscriber Agreement. Collection is complete, with all booklets in immaculate, in as new condition. Box has a crease to the top edge, but is otherwise intact. L65