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A review by offboss
The Recognitions by William H. Gass, William Gaddis
5.0
Don't read reviews of this novel, the odds are -increasingly, now - that it is misguided and lazy. 55 reviews greeted its publication, only fifty-three of those notices were stupid. It was wrong of someone so young to be so ambitious [Gaddis published at age 32], the reviewers though; the result was sure to be pretentious, full of the strain of standing on tiptoe. If the author works at his work, the reader may have to also.
I could go on plagiarizing Gass's introduction to the 1993 edition endlessly. It is not avaritia, after all, but love that motivates copying - calumny only comes with the copied signature. His introduction spans much further than its twenty pages, I reached back to it for much of the first century to reassure and re-fuel (or gas, haha) until I finally fell into the rhythm of Gaddis's satire-rant-epic.
I may have sacrificed my May and buried it in the kitchen midden to save my reading, close attention pays long term dividends here, and I would curse my March for slacking off. At the risk of over-valuing time (God cares as much for a minute as for an hour, after all), I spent more of it on this novel than any other piece of art or entertainment and would happily pay it twice again.
I could go on plagiarizing Gass's introduction to the 1993 edition endlessly. It is not avaritia, after all, but love that motivates copying - calumny only comes with the copied signature. His introduction spans much further than its twenty pages, I reached back to it for much of the first century to reassure and re-fuel (or gas, haha) until I finally fell into the rhythm of Gaddis's satire-rant-epic.
I may have sacrificed my May and buried it in the kitchen midden to save my reading, close attention pays long term dividends here, and I would curse my March for slacking off. At the risk of over-valuing time (God cares as much for a minute as for an hour, after all), I spent more of it on this novel than any other piece of art or entertainment and would happily pay it twice again.