And the Ass Saw the Angel

And the Ass Saw the Angel
AuthorNick Cave
LanguageEnglish
GenreGothic novel,
Southern Gothic
PublisherBlack Spring Press,
HarperCollins
Publication date
1989
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages320 pp
ISBN1-880985-72-1
OCLC51528255

And the Ass Saw the Angel is the first novel by the Australian musician and singer Nick Cave, originally published in 1989 by Black Spring Press in the United Kingdom and HarperCollins in the United States. It was re-published in 2003 by 2.13.61. A luxury "collector's edition" was released, in the summer of 2007, by Black Spring Press.

The title is a biblical quotation from the Book of Numbers, Chapter 22, Verses 23-31: "And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, ...". With its Southern Gothic setting, critics have compared it favorably with novels by American authors William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor.[1]

Cave's second novel, The Death of Bunny Munro,[2] was published in September 2009.

In 2009, "Nick Cave: The Exhibition" toured nationally in Australia. The exhibition - which displayed original lyrics, notebooks, artwork, photography and books, as well as objects from Cave's own library and office - included Cave's original manuscript of And the Ass Saw the Angel.