Gray, Spalding — Monster in a Box

Book Near Fine Inscribed by Author(s) 1st Edition Vintage Books New York Vintage Books, New York, 1992. Fine first paperback edition inscribed by Spalding Gray on the half-title page. Binding square and tight. Pages clean and unmarked. Writer-actor-performance artist Spalding Gray had carried around with him a monster: a manuscript of a novel called Impossible Vacation, a book that weighed in at about 1,800 pages. Monster in a Box is a guided tour between the stations of his writing block, which include a field trip to Nicaragua, a disastrous guest appearance at the Moscow film festival, and a stint in Los Angeles hunting down the fabled few who have never written a screenplay. Hilarious and poignant, Monster in a Box is further proof that Gray has not only captured the dangerous spirit of our age but swallowed it whole