Isn't it wonderful?
>Wild eyes were another sign. It is something I have seldom seen — the expression of an ecstatic state — though much is foolishly written of them, as if they grew like Jerusalem artichokes along the road. The eyes are black, right enough, whatever their normal color is; they are black because their perception is condensed to a coal, because the touch and taste and perfume of the lover, the outcry of a dirty word, a welcome river, have been reduced in the heat of passion to a black ash, and this unburnt residue of oxidation, this calyx, replaces the pupil so it no longer receives but sends, and every hair is on end, though perhaps only outspread on a pillow, and the nostrils are flared, mouth agape, cheeks sucked so the whole face seems as squeezed as a juiced fruit; I know, for once Lou went into that wildness while we were absorbing one another, trying to kiss, not merely forcefully, not the skull of our skeleton, but the skull and all the bones on which the essential self is hung, kiss so the shape of the soul is stirred too, that's what is called the ultimate French, the furtherest fuck, when a cock makes a concept cry out and climax; I know, for more than once, though not often, I shuddered into that other region, when a mouth drew me through its generosity into the realm of unravel, and every sensation lay extended as a lake, every tie was loosed, and the glue of things dissolved. I knew I wore the wild look then. The greatest gift you can give another human being is to let them warm you till, in passing beyond pleasure, your defenses fall, your ego surrenders, its structure melts, its towers topple, lies, fancies, vanities, blow away in no wind, and you return, not to the clay you came from — the unfired vessel — but to the original moment of inspiration, when you were the unabbreviated breath of God.
one and a half sentences in and I'm already annoyed by his too-frequent alliteration
also fuck off Gassposter
McCarthy does it better
>>8084379
too try hard
>>8084379
William Gass looks like a human penis
>>8084379
I love The recent gain in gassposting (it wasn't fun being the only person who had good things things to say about him), but I recommend providing a wider variety of excerpts for people to sample.
>>8084387
>>8084404
Awful criticisms. There are a couple questionable things in that passage, none of which are even close to what you said.
>>8084389
Awful taste.
>>8084441
You not foolin anyoooone (avril lavigne voice)
>>8084441
get over yourself, faggot
>>8084379
Bit gay honestly.
>>8084379
>The greatest gift you can give another human being is to let them warm you till, in passing beyond pleasure, your defenses fall, your ego surrenders, its structure melts, its towers topple, lies, fancies, vanities, blow away in no wind, and you return, not to the clay you came from — the unfired vessel — but to the original moment of inspiration, when you were the unabbreviated breath of God
i fuck with this
i fuck with this hard
>>8084441
>Implying there is more than one Gassposter
Do you think the "tour of American lit" thread was an inside job?
>>8084496
ugh you would
assposters please go
>>8084379
I'm going to buy one book tomorrow. Should it be Gaddis's JR or one of Gass's things?
>>8084909
Get Omensetter's Luck and one of Gaddis' cheaper books, like The Recognitions.
>>8084952
I already have The Recognitions. And I was thinking of starting with In the Heart of the Heart of the country with Gass.
>>8084956
That's fine too. Pederson Kid is possibly the greatest short story ever written, and more than makes getting the whole book worth it.
>>8084379
it truly, truly is.
>>8084379
is the rest of the book as good, or is this cherrypicked?
I leave for a couple months and come back to this. Every single reply is retarded. Have we moved on to post-sincerity and I missed the memo? Or is /lit/ the dumb board now?
>>8085218
it's scary of how quickly it degenerated after that reddit post.
>>8085225
Inform me, friend. I've been gone a while.
>>8085225
What reddit post?
>>8084379
It is beautiful but also self-indulgent and 'try-hard', just like McCarthy (except better, I'll give him that). Must be an American thing. He should have tried his hand at poetry, and thus restraint, because I can't see myself reading this kind of mind-juice as it spills over hundreds of pages.
>>8084379
It seems to impossible to find a torrent of The Tunnel.
At first I wanted to give it a shot, then people said it was some pomo nonsense and I couldnt find a copy to check, and then you post this.
Seems pretty good but it will have to be balanced. Also his interviews talking about musical harmony is pretty wack.
>>8085248
Because they liked it?
Is reddit that bad?
>>8085252
>pomo nonsense
Kill you are self to be honest family.
>>8085256
it's obvious that a lot of people got curious and started browsing /lit/, and yes, reddit is that bad.
not all subreddits, admittedly, but i'm pretty sure this one was posted on one of the bad ones.
I'm sure a lot of the comments in these threads are just trolls, though.
>>8085252
his interviews are great, what the fuck?
>>8085260
People on /lit/ said that, I didn't
Also what the fuck is this sentence
>Kill you are self to be honest family.
Die orphan.
>>8085271
simple memes, get with the times, my familiar.
>>8085269
I dislike novels or short stories that try to add ridiculous patterns to their works.
The idea that the 12 chapters would line up with a harmony is just stupid. It reminds me of House of Leaves level of gimmicks.
>>8085271
Newfag alert.
>>8085274
"Kill yourself tbqh senpai" is a meme
You typing too quickly isn't
>>8085276
>>8085275
it was a way to describe the structure, because actually doing it would be impossible.
>>8085279
>he isn't privy to the "kill you are self" meme of yore
>>8085283
In his interview with Silverblatt, host of bookworm, he clearly says that he went into the project consciously trying to make it work towards this structure
It isn't just some helpful analogy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLlYVszUMpM
>>8085294
i have seen it, and i recall him saying that it wasn't perfect at all.
>>8085314
I can understand not getting it down 100%
My problem is what the fuck is the point in the first place
Same thing with House of Leaves. It feels like these guys are role playing in D&D and it isn't enough that their story is mythical but that the actual novel is some mythical artifact.
>>8085294
Can someone please explain the "he thought it was a garden, but he had hurt himself by accident" sentence to me, what's so good about it?
Is it that it just goes left and has a kind of comedic effect, or am i missing something big?
>>8085294
>Oh God, it's like Beethoven!
>>8085471
anyone?
>>8085118
The rest of the book is better. This is a meh-tier passage.
>>8085246
That's what he did in all his early writing.
>>8085275
What about Invisible Cities? That book uses structure to great effect, although it is really simple, and a good way to interleaf the parables.
>>8086030
picked the fuck up then
>>8086052
"Things I regretted doing" -You, 2k17
>>8084379
Fat Fuck
>>8085097
An update. I actually went a bit crazy after finding out JR was out of print and spending all day trying to hunt down a copy for a sane price. I didn't find one, but now I have every other Gaddis novel and a few Hawkes hardcovers that I snagged on the cheap (9 bucks was the most I paid) which is cool because Hawkes is my all time favorite.
>>8086030
That's somewhat true, but it does a great job highlighting Gass's writing, warts and all.
best Stein book to start with?
>>8088756
Pick one at random and start in the middle. It's ok.
