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Oh man. RIP William Gass. The worlds of words he's given us...
— Dec 07, 2017 02:57AM
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Geoff
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Dec 07, 2017 02:59AM
http://towardgrace.blogspot.com/2017/...
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Trying to find some American press about this, an obituary or something, and there's nothing yet. If you come across something please post it here. Thanks
Ah, shit.... truly one of America's best prose stylists and essayists. RIP
MJ wrote: "Ah, shit.... truly one of America's best prose stylists and essayists. RIP"Yep. He was 93, so he had a good run, made better art than most, but still, hurts to lose a master.
Hmm... how'd this French blog find out before the rest of the world? I hope there's a posthumous book in the offing...
Sofia wrote: "He's digging tunnels in heaven now"Ahaha
I can't find anything in english yet either.
Oh no! As you say, 93 was a good age but still sad to have lost another genius. Will re-read my favourite thing of his (Emma enters a sentence....) tonight
Ali wrote: "the William Gass Reader to be released in June"iter.
Exactly, this loss strikes deep. Time to read what hasn't been read from him and reread the rest.
Nathan "N.R." wrote: "And the French of Eyes: Novellas and Stories ::https://www.amazon.com/Regards-Willia......"
Yes!
Ali wrote: "As silly as it sounds, I think that on some level, I was sort of expecting that he would live forever"I always assumed he would wake up one day about twelve years from now, smack himself on the forehead, and go "Hang on, I'm a hundred and five! I could've written another novel by now!"
I have Omensetter's Luck packed away in one of many moving boxes somewhere, but just found In the Heart of the Heart of the Country still on the shelves. Will have to start it today.
"At the height of the literary furor over postmodernism, Mr. Gass debated the novelist and critic John Gardner at the University of Cincinnati in 1978 about the role of the novel. Mr. Gardner argued that a novel had to be morally uplifting. Mr. Gass maintained that art and morality do not necessarily mix.Mr. Gardner used aviation imagery to describe their different approaches: “What I think is beautiful, he would think is not yet sufficiently ornate. The difference is that my 707 will fly and his is too encrusted with gold to get off the ground.”
Mr. Gass replied, “What I really want is to have it sit there solid as a rock and have everybody think it is flying.”
W.D. wrote: ""At the height of the literary furor over postmodernism, Mr. Gass debated the novelist and critic John Gardner at the University of Cincinnati in 1978 about the role of the novel. Mr. Gardner argue..."Audio from the talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7nxg...
Introduced by LeClair.
He changed the way I look at a sentence, and that's no lie.
Anthony wrote: "He changed the way I look at a sentence, and that's no lie."Me too
I remember reading The Tunnel and the blissful mindbogglement at sinking into those densely hewn fields of furiously beautiful prose. One lifetime isn't long enough to fully plumb its depths. And the essay collections, Temple of Texts and Finding a Form in particular, simply raised the bar for literary criticism beyond anything achievable by any non-Gassian mortal.
Ah shit and now Sunny Murray died. RIP to one of jazz's most influential revolutionaries. Masters dropping left and right. Eternal sigh.
"Mr. Gass maintained that art and morality do not necessarily mix" - Yeah, man, definitions are too complexly arbitrary, yet I hold The Tunnel as one of the great literary moral victories/accomplishments, haha
MJ wrote: "I remember reading The Tunnel and the blissful mindbogglement at sinking into those densely hewn fields of furiously beautiful prose. One lifetime isn't long enough to fully plumb its depths. And t..."The prose of the Tunnel demands a level of close reading impossible to achieve in one pass through. I read the book alongside the audiobook of Gass reading the text. Those were 48 wonderful and beguiling hours.
Sofia wrote: ""Mr. Gass maintained that art and morality do not necessarily mix" - Yeah, man, definitions are too complexly arbitrary, yet I hold The Tunnel as one of the great literary moral victories/accomplis..."I agree. The pinnacle of moral fiction for the 20th century.
