William H. Gass (1924–2017)

Author of The Tunnel

44+ Works 5,906 Members 65 Reviews 30 Favorited

About the Author

William Howard Gass was born in Fargo, North Dakota on July 30, 1924. During World War II, he served as an ensign in the Navy. He received an A.B. in philosophy from Kenyon College in 1947 and a PhD in philosophy from Cornell University in 1954. He taught at several universities including The show more College of Wooster, Purdue University, and Washington University in St. Louis. He wrote novels, collections of short stories and novellas, and collections of criticism. His novels included Omensetter's Luck, Middle C, and The Tunnel, which received the American Book Award. His other works of fiction included In the Heart of the Heart of the Country, Willie Master's Lonesome Wife, Cartesian Sonata and Other Novellas, and Eyes: Novellas and Stories. His collections of criticism included Tests of Time; A Temple of Texts, which won the 2007 Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism; and Habitations of the Word and Finding a Form, which both won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism. His essay collections included Fiction and the Figures of Life, The World Within the Word, and Reading Rilke. He died from congestive heart failure on December 6, 2017 at the age of 93. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: WH Gass, Gass Wh, William Gass, WIlliam Gass, Gass William H., William H. Gass, William S. Gass, William H Gass PhD, William Howard Gass, William H. Gass et al., , William H. and more Gass

Image credit: Joyce Ravid

Works by William H. Gass

Popular Recent

The Tunnel (1995) — Author — 913 copies

In the Heart of the Heart of the Country & Other Stories (1968) — Author — 726 copies

Omensetter's Luck (1966) — Author — 718 copies

On being blue: a philosophical inquiry (1976) — Author — 624 copies

Middle C (2013) 338 copies

Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation (1999) 321 copies

Finding a Form: Essays (1996) — Author — 309 copies

Fiction and the Figures of Life (1970) — Author — 299 copies

The World Within the Word: Essays (1978) — Author — 271 copies

A Temple of Texts (2006) 251 copies

Cartesian Sonata: And Other Novellas (1998) — Author — 233 copies

Willie Masters' Lonesome Wife (1968) — Author — 170 copies

Habitations of the Word: Essays (1984) — Author — 163 copies

Life Sentences: Literary Judgments and Accounts (2012) — Author — 150 copies

Tests of Time (2002) 140 copies

Eyes: Novellas and Stories (1705) — Author — 90 copies

The William H. Gass Reader (2018) 75 copies

Literary St. Louis: A Guide (2000) — Editor — 22 copies

New American Review # 1 (1967) 20 copies

Conversations with William H. Gass (Literary Conversations Series) (1980) — Contributor — 16 copies

The Writer and Religion (International Writers Center Series) (2000) 10 copies

3 Essays: Reflections on the American Century (2000) 8 copies

The Writer in Politics (International Writers Center Series) (1996) 6 copies

The First Winter of My Married Life 5 copies

Fifty Literary Pillars : A Temple of Texts: An Exhibition to Inaugurate the International Writers Center 3 copies

"In Defense of the Book" Harpers (November 1999), pp 45-51. 3 copies

The Dual Muse: The Writer as Artist, The Artist as Writer: Catalogue of the Exhibition. Introduction by Cornelia… (1997) 2 copies

Sabina Ott: Everywhere There is Somewhere (1998) 2 copies

Orden der Insekten. Drei Erzählungen (2000) 2 copies

I'Ve Got a Little List (The Bennington Chapbooks in Literature) (1996) 2 copies

I hjärtat av hjärtat av landet (2026) 1 copy

Book as a Container of Consciousness, The 1 copy

"La vie treshorrific: Rabelais Revisited" 1 copy

Family Album (River Styx, Number 21, Special Issue) 1 copy

Salmagundi: A Quarterly of the Humanities & Social Sciences: Fall 1984 1 copy

Other Aliens (Conjunctions) 1 copy

Bed And Breakfast 1 copy

Sobre lo azul: Una pregunta filosófica (Sacacorchos) (Spanish Edition) (2017) 1 copy

Ulkenin Kalbinin Kalbinde (2015) 1 copy

Pedersens Kind (1992) 1 copy

On Evil : the Ragged Core of a Sweet Apple (Harper's, January 2004) 1 copy

The Master of Secret Revenges 1 copy

Emma Enters a Sentence of Elizabeth Bishop's 1 copy

Learning to Talk 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

At Swim-Two-Birds (1939) — Introduction, some editions — 3,286 copies

The Recognitions (1955) — Introduction, some editions — 2,230 copies

The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) — Introduction, some editions — 2,121 copies

The Best American Essays of the Century (2000) — Contributor — 783 copies

For the Love of Books: 115 Celebrated Writers on the Books They Love Most (1999) — Contributor — 452 copies

The Granta Book of the American Short Story (1992) — Contributor — 369 copies

Postmodern American Fiction: A Norton Anthology (1997) — Contributor — 278 copies

Auguste Rodin (1903) — Introduction, some editions — 240 copies

The Best American Essays 2000 (2000) — Contributor — 214 copies

The Best American Essays 1998 (1998) — Contributor — 192 copies

The Franchiser (1976) — Foreword, some editions — 166 copies

The Best American Essays 1995 (1995) — Contributor — 161 copies

Masquerade and Other Stories (1990) — Introduction, some editions — 145 copies

Still Wild: Short Fiction of the American West 1950 to the Present (2000) — Contributor — 141 copies

The Best American Essays 1992 (1992) — Contributor — 138 copies

The Glorious American Essay: One Hundred Essays from Colonial Times to the Present (2020) — Contributor — 83 copies

Who's Writing This? Notations on the Authorial I, with Self-Portraits {not Antæus} (1995) — Contributor — 72 copies

The Best American Essays 1986 (1986) — Contributor — 70 copies

200 Years of Great American Short Stories (1975) — Contributor — 68 copies

Novel Voices (2003) — Contributor — 55 copies

Extreme Fiction: Fabulists and Formalists (2003) — Contributor — 51 copies

Granta 1: New American Writing (1979) — Contributor — 44 copies

Superfiction, or The American Story Transformed: An Anthology (1975) — Contributor — 44 copies

The Writer's Brush: Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture by Writers (2006) — Contributor — 41 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1980 (1980) — Contributor — 34 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1968 (1968) — Contributor — 33 copies

Antaeus No. 75/76, Autumn 1994 - The Final Issue (1994) — Contributor — 32 copies

In the Wake of the Wake (1977) — Contributor — 24 copies

Studies in Fiction (1965) — Contributor — 22 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1959 (1959) — Contributor — 13 copies

Story to Anti-Story (1979) — Contributor — 13 copies

New American Review #6 (1969) — Contributor — 13 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1962 (1962) — Contributor — 11 copies

Conjunctions: 30, Paper Airplane (1998) — Contributor — 11 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1961 (1961) — Contributor — 10 copies

The New Salmagundi Reader (1996) — Contributor — 3 copies

J&L Illustrated No. 3 (2012) — Contributor — 2 copies

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Common Knowledge

Canonical name: Gass, William H.
Legal name: Gass, William Howard
Birthdate: 1924-07-30
Date of death: 2017-12-06
Gender: male
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: Fargo, North Dakota, USA
Place of death: University City, Missouri, USA
Places of residence: Warren, Ohio, USA
Education: Ohio Wesleyan University
Kenyon College (BA|1947 - Philosophy)
Cornell University (PhD|1954 - Philosophy)
Warren G. Harding High School
Occupations: distinguished professor
novelist
short story writer
essayist
critic
Relationships: Gass, Mary (wife)
Organizations: Washington University in St. Louis
Purdue University
College of Wooster
United States Navy (WWII)
Awards and honors: PEN/Nabokov Award (2000)
Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award (1997)
Pushcart Prize (1976, 1983, 1987, 1992)
American Academy of Arts and Letters Academy Award (Literature, 1975)
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1982)
American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (1983) (show all 7)
National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism (1985, 1996, 2002)

Members

Reviews

TEMPLE OF TEXTS, A (American Literature Series)… by William H. Gass

A collection of critical essays authored by the unwavering William Gass. The essays examine the writers and publications that influenced his growth. This reading list would serve as a solid starting point for anyone who enjoys reading.

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jwhenderson | 2 other reviews | Apr 17, 2024 |

The Tunnel by William H. Gass

Abandoned at page 99. Give me [b:Ducks, Newburyport|43412920|Ducks, Newburyport|Lucy Ellmann|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546225252l/43412920._SX50_.jpg|67454703] any day. Give me the stream of consciousness of an ordinary Ohio woman over the stream of consciousness of a morally deficient professor inordinately focused on genitalia any day. It's pretty boring.

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lelandleslie | 10 other reviews | Feb 24, 2024 |

On being blue : a philosophical inquiry by William H. Gass

"ON BEING BLUE has been composed by Michael & Winifred Bixler. The typeface is Monotype Dante, designed by the archtypographer Giovanni Mardersteig, cut in its original version by the skilled punchcutter Charles Malin and first used in 1954. The mechanical recutting by the Monotype Corporation of this strong and elegant Renaissance design preserves the liveliness, personality, and dignity of the original. The third printing has been printed offset by Mercantile Printing Company on Warren's Olde Style and has been bound by New Hampshire Bindery."… (more)

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zadkine | 8 other reviews | Aug 27, 2023 |

Middle C by William H Gass

William H. Gass was an incredibly talented writer. And, "Middle C" presents ample evidence of his skill. His prose is smart and his style is as good as it gets. My beef with "Middle C" has nothing to do with these obvious skills. My disappointment is with the novel's concept. What is the book actually about? One reviewer described it as a portrait of mediocrity. Really? Did we need that? I guess we're presented with a masterful (albeit lengthy) paean to mediocrity! Wonderful!

I think there are a small group of authors who have incredible talent but are at a loss as to what to do with it. Enormous talent unmatched by equivalent inspiration. But thats my uninspired and likely equally untalented opinion.… (more)

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colligan | 5 other reviews | Apr 18, 2023 |

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