Within the Context of No Context, published originally in the New Yorker in 1978, explores the role of television in American life, proffering a bleak vision that seems more and more accurate with the passage of time; a new introduction has been added by the author for this edition. In style the text is unusual—some might say poetic. It concludes with a reminiscence of the author’s days as an aide in the office of protocol at the New York World’s Fair of 1964/65. The author, George W. S. Trow, was for many years a staff writer at the New Yorker. Little, Brown published Context as a trade book in 1981 [including an additional essay about Ahmet Ertegun, which is not reprinted here]. This edition adds four interpretive drawings by artist Howard Coale.

“In our current cultural environment, where the vogue for difference will eventually sink without a trace, Trow’s essay, now 15 years old, tells us more than we are willing to admit: it is an act of profound literary subversion.”
—Hilton Als, Voice Literary Supplement

The book was hand set in Centaur and Arrighi, and printed on Johannot. It was casebound, using Japanese rayon cloth over boards, by Trisha Hammer. 110 pages, 6 x 9 inches.
$340 postpaid.