Eleven people - five of them children - are killed in west Philadelphia when 6221 Osage Avenue is bombed out of existence. One small boy is seen to escape the fire. From his life of self-exile on an island in the Aegean, Cudjoe mourns the child until it becomes an obsession, leading him home, forcing him to face up to his own profound alienation and to the wrenching realities of his native land. He searches for the boy and, as he does so, he searches out his own past. Reconstructing his life plunges him backwards into ...
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Eleven people - five of them children - are killed in west Philadelphia when 6221 Osage Avenue is bombed out of existence. One small boy is seen to escape the fire. From his life of self-exile on an island in the Aegean, Cudjoe mourns the child until it becomes an obsession, leading him home, forcing him to face up to his own profound alienation and to the wrenching realities of his native land. He searches for the boy and, as he does so, he searches out his own past. Reconstructing his life plunges him backwards into memories both personal and communal, forwards inch by inch into a city fast becoming a nightmare. 'Wideman's novel succeeds through raw emotion and a linguistic versatility...Written in a sinewy language which also combines reportage, "Philadelphia Fire" operates as parable and social document' - "Irish Times". '"Philadelphia Fire" is a welter of fine writing, sociological observation, polemical address and messianic prophecy...A literary novel in the grand contemporary, postmodern, literary style' - "New Statesman & Society". 'Unquestionably the foremost chronicler of the urban African-American experience. A master storyteller, Wideman is both a witness and a prophet' - Caryl Phillips.
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Add this copy of Philadelphia Fire to cart. $10.25, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 1995 by Picador USA.
Add this copy of Philadelphia Fire to cart. $10.29, very good condition, Sold by Midtown Scholar Bookstore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Harrisburg, PA, UNITED STATES, published 1995 by Pan MacMillan.
Add this copy of Philadelphia Fire: a Novel to cart. $14.00, like new condition, Sold by Powell's Books Chicago rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Chicago, IL, UNITED STATES, published 1995 by Picador.
Add this copy of Philadelphia Fire to cart. $81.88, new condition, Sold by GridFreed rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from North Las Vegas, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1995 by Pan MacMillan.
