{"product_id":"the-catacombs-9798217007332","title":"The Catacombs","description":"\u003cb\u003eA gripping and genre-defying novel by a rediscovered great of twentieth-century Black American writing, about what it means to be a writer at the dawn of a new era\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFirst published in 1965, \u003ci\u003eThe Catacombs\u003c\/i\u003e is a metafictional account set in early 1960s Rome, where the author had returned to study art history after serving on the Italian front during World War II. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAfrican-American expatriate Bill Demby narrates his attempts to write a novel about his friend Doris, who is living in Rome and employed as one of Elizabeth Taylor's handmaidens in the filming of \u003ci\u003eCleopatra\u003c\/i\u003e. Utterly dependent upon Doris for the development of his novel, he is both a participant in and observer of her life as she enters into an affair with an Italian count. Bill Demby's growing emotional and artistic involvement in the tumultuous affair of his character-friend leads him on an existential quest for the meaning of truth and fiction, both lived and created, in a world torn by the social upheaval of the early sixties. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eInterrupted constantly by headlines from television and newspapers, slipping in and out of fiction and metafiction, \u003ci\u003eThe Catacombs\u003c\/i\u003e is a time capsule from an era on the brink and a novel unlike any other.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Vintage\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/13\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798217007332\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.81lbs","brand":"William Demby","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52034429157557,"sku":"9798217007332","price":14.45,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_479a67c9-131a-48f4-920e-3bbdd144fe8b.jpg?v=1763594203","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-catacombs-9798217007332","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}