DEM

(New York): Collier Books, 1969. Fine.. First paperback edition of Kelley's sharp comedy of the anxieties and fantasies of '60s white America. A "merciless satire on the themes of white fear, guilt, and hypocrisy," sending its ineffectual protagonist, a mediocrity who works in advertising, on a "picaresque journey through black New York" (Schulz). A student of John Hawkes and Archibald Macleish at Harvard, lecturer at the University of Paris and Sarah Lawrence College, the recipient of the Anisford-Wolf Book Award for Lifetime Achievement, Kelley earned early success and considerable critical acclaim at the outset of his career, though his fame would drastically diminish by the end of his life: His 1962 essay for the New York Times, "If You're Woke You Dig It" - cited by the OED as the first published usage of "woke" in its modern sense - has attracted as much mention in recent years as his many literary accomplishments. DEM was, Kelley said, based on observation: "I know rich white people. I know poor white people. I know white people." 7'' x 4.25''. Introduction by Willie E. Abraham. Original pictorial wrappers, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. 141, [1] pages. Minimal edgewear; very faint toning to wrappers. Else appears unread.