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A review by levitybooks
The Recognitions by William Gaddis
3.0
Video Review
The video review gives a quick overview of the book for people who haven't read it.
This GoodReads review covers stranger theories I have about the book for those who have.
Controversial hot take but The Recognitions was more enjoyable for me than Gravity's Rainbow but (far) less enjoyable than Infinite Jest.
The Recognitions is hard to understand, but it wants to be, so it's hard to talk about. This is why most reviews are abstract and vague, and this one tries not to be but tries in vain.
*SPOILERS BELOW*
—
I think this book is divisive and can see why it was disliked on first publication. Currently it's in vogue, but I think with due time it'll have a more average rating, many people preferring JR. Part 3 was too incoherent for this to be a book I could love.
This story is basically impossible to follow without following a synopsis:
https://www.williamgaddis.org/recognitions/I1summar.shtml
If reading a synopsis to understand a story isn't appealing, then you're probably not going to enjoy this!
The question nobody seems to be asking about The Recognitions, which I am most interested in, is: 'Why do so many people in this book die for no reason?'
—what was the point of what actually happens in this story?
—
The Recognitions is about Syphillis
I think everything that is not said in The Recognitions is about Syphillis:
The reason Wyatt can't complete his mother's painting (in Part 3 her corpse's face was said to have syphillis by strangers on the train), the reason her husband Reverend Gwyon goes insane, the reason Wyatt goes insane (inherited syphillis), the reason so many of the sexually active characters die while not in the right state of mind, the reason Anselm castrates himself...
It's a hunch, but it comes from the mention of the Columbian theory of Syphillis in Part 3, which would thematically parallel Valentine's returning of Flemish paintings from America. I think what actually happens in The Recognitions beyond the surface level themes of the art and money scandals is a bunch of people dying from venereal disease, a lack of love, and a lack of religious faith.
—
I had a vivid dream where I met the talking skeleton of an army general William Gaddis, who told me:
"
Welcome, my boy, to The Recognitions, an inventory of moral decay.
'This is how humans have dealt with all human disasters — the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, the plague, the cold war, global warming, overpopulation'
"
Simply put, I think this dream communicated to me that Gaddis like many postmodern authors is saying that illusion and faith are important to the world no matter how much we can criticize them. They prevent bad things from happening. Near the end of the book, Wyatt, Anselm and Stanley are the main religious characters remaining in the book, and some of the few surviving. Stanley's death is hard to understand, but it seems things got quickly worse for Stanley when he started having sex without love.
Though that said, I also don't think Gaddis is really strongly for any side in this book, intentionally — the book is on the whole a disorientating experience showing a lack of unity of world values.
The video review gives a quick overview of the book for people who haven't read it.
This GoodReads review covers stranger theories I have about the book for those who have.
Controversial hot take but The Recognitions was more enjoyable for me than Gravity's Rainbow but (far) less enjoyable than Infinite Jest.
The Recognitions is hard to understand, but it wants to be, so it's hard to talk about. This is why most reviews are abstract and vague, and this one tries not to be but tries in vain.
*SPOILERS BELOW*
—
I think this book is divisive and can see why it was disliked on first publication. Currently it's in vogue, but I think with due time it'll have a more average rating, many people preferring JR. Part 3 was too incoherent for this to be a book I could love.
This story is basically impossible to follow without following a synopsis:
https://www.williamgaddis.org/recognitions/I1summar.shtml
If reading a synopsis to understand a story isn't appealing, then you're probably not going to enjoy this!
The question nobody seems to be asking about The Recognitions, which I am most interested in, is: 'Why do so many people in this book die for no reason?'
—what was the point of what actually happens in this story?
—
The Recognitions is about Syphillis
I think everything that is not said in The Recognitions is about Syphillis:
The reason Wyatt can't complete his mother's painting (in Part 3 her corpse's face was said to have syphillis by strangers on the train), the reason her husband Reverend Gwyon goes insane, the reason Wyatt goes insane (inherited syphillis), the reason so many of the sexually active characters die while not in the right state of mind, the reason Anselm castrates himself...
It's a hunch, but it comes from the mention of the Columbian theory of Syphillis in Part 3, which would thematically parallel Valentine's returning of Flemish paintings from America. I think what actually happens in The Recognitions beyond the surface level themes of the art and money scandals is a bunch of people dying from venereal disease, a lack of love, and a lack of religious faith.
—
I had a vivid dream where I met the talking skeleton of an army general William Gaddis, who told me:
"
Welcome, my boy, to The Recognitions, an inventory of moral decay.
'This is how humans have dealt with all human disasters — the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, the plague, the cold war, global warming, overpopulation'
"
Simply put, I think this dream communicated to me that Gaddis like many postmodern authors is saying that illusion and faith are important to the world no matter how much we can criticize them. They prevent bad things from happening. Near the end of the book, Wyatt, Anselm and Stanley are the main religious characters remaining in the book, and some of the few surviving. Stanley's death is hard to understand, but it seems things got quickly worse for Stanley when he started having sex without love.
Though that said, I also don't think Gaddis is really strongly for any side in this book, intentionally — the book is on the whole a disorientating experience showing a lack of unity of world values.