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They also replenish the language.--Eliot Fremont-Smith, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGass' new novel moves from World War I Europe to a small town in postwar Ohio. In a series of variations, Gass gives us a mosaic of a life--futile, comic, anarchic--arranged in an array of vocabularies, altered rhythms, forms and tones, and broken pieces with music as both theme and structure, set in the key of middle C. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt begins in Graz, Austria, 1938. Joseph Skizzen's father, pretending to be Jewish, leaves his country for England with his wife and two children to avoid any connection with the Nazis, who he foresees will soon take over his homeland. In London with his family for the duration of the war, he disappears under mysterious circumstances. The family is relocated to a small town in Ohio, where Joseph Skizzen grows up, becomes a decent amateur piano player, in part to cope with the abandonment of his father, and creates as well a fantasy self--a professor with a fantasy goal: to establish the Inhumanity Museum.as Skizzen alternately feels wrongly accused (of what?) and is transported by his music. Skizzen is able to accept guilt for crimes against humanity and is protected by a secret self that remains sinless. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMiddle C\u003c\/i\u003e tells the story of this journey, an investigation into the nature of human identity and the ways in which each of us is several selves, and whether any one self is more genuine than another. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWilliam Gass set out to write a novel that breaks traditional rules and denies itself easy solutions, cliff-edge suspense, and conventional surprises.\u003ci\u003eMiddle C\u003c\/i\u003e is that book; a masterpiece by a beloved master.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49630710759697,"sku":"GOR009208411","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50407221395729,"sku":"CIN0307701638A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50507048354065,"sku":"GOR013692507","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50995844710673,"sku":"CIN0307701638VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52103278821649,"sku":"CIN0307701638G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0307701638.jpg?v=1750813511"},{"product_id":"life-sentences-book-mr-william-h-gass-9780307595843","title":"Life Sentences","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49947760394513,"sku":"CIN0307595846G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50784172900625,"sku":"CIN0307595846A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51184402268433,"sku":"CIN0307595846VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0307595846.jpg?v=1750813497"},{"product_id":"temple-of-texts-book-mr-william-h-gass-9780307262868","title":"A Temple of Texts","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50045969301777,"sku":"GOR008564934","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50298652590353,"sku":"CIN0307262863G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53333708439825,"sku":"CIN0307262863VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":53678467121425,"sku":"CIN0307262863A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0307262863.jpg?v=1750695508"},{"product_id":"eyes-book-mr-william-h-gass-9781101874721","title":"Eyes","description":"\u003ci\u003eThe point where an underground spring suddenly bursts to the surface is known as an eye. It is a place of mystery, where dry ground becomes soaked with life-giving water, and nature gives us a glimpse of all that happens out of the realm of human vision\u003c\/i\u003e. So begins William Gass's latest collection, with these evocative lines from Jan DeBlieu. What follows are six extraordinary works of fiction: stories and novellas that capture these moments of mystery and explore the hidden philosophical depths of everyday life as only Gass can. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Charity examines the roles of asking, giving, and receiving through the prism of a young lawyer who offers a simple gift. In Camera takes us into a photography shop owner's incomparable collection of images. Don't Even Try, Sam gives us the voice of the prop piano from Casablanca, and Soliloquy for a Chair is narrated by a folding chair in a barbershop that is ultimately fated for destruction. Incisive, darkly funny, formally innovative and linguistically stunning, \u003ci\u003eEyes\u003c\/i\u003e is a tour de force of modern fiction.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50282276487441,"sku":"CIN1101874724A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51333142282513,"sku":"CIN1101874724VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52105725968657,"sku":"CIN1101874724G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52156272017681,"sku":"GOR010257368","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53251765862673,"sku":"GOR014832412","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1101874724.jpg?v=1750888231"},{"product_id":"habitations-of-the-word-book-mr-william-h-gass-9780671527266","title":"Habitations of the Word","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51100178678033,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51100179038481,"sku":"CIN0671527266G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53568074645777,"sku":"CIN0671527266VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0671527266.jpg?v=1751008862"},{"product_id":"world-within-the-word-book-mr-william-h-gass-9780394408095","title":"The World Within the Word","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe World Within the Word, Gass's second published volume of criticism, is a landmark collection discussing Val?ry, Henry Miller, Sartre, Freud, Faulkner, suicide, art and order, and the transformation of language into poetry and fiction. Revelatory and gorgeous, by turns humorous and devastating, it stands among Gass's best and most provocative books. First published by Knopf in 1978.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51423986483473,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51423987761425,"sku":"CIN0394408098G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51670714482961,"sku":"GOR014356917","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0394408098.jpg?v=1750942474"},{"product_id":"willie-masters-lonesome-wife-book-mr-william-h-gass-9781564782120","title":"Willie Masters' Lonesome Wife","description":"In this paean to the pleasures of language, Gass equates his text with the body of Babs Masters, the lonesome wife of the title, to advance the conceit that a parallel should exist between a woman and her lover and a book and its reader.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52099855614225,"sku":"CIN1564782123VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52683902779665,"sku":"NLS9781564782120","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781564782120.jpg?v=1757087501"},{"product_id":"on-being-blue-book-mr-william-h-gass-9780879231835","title":"On Being Blue","description":"\u003ci\u003eOn Being Blue\u003c\/i\u003e is a book about everything blue--sex and sleaze and sadness, among other things--and about everything else. It brings us the world in a word as only William H. Gass, among contemporary American writers, can do. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Gass writes: \u003cbr\u003eOf the colors, blue and green have the greatest emotional range. Sad reds and melancholy yellows are difficult to turn up. Among the ancient elements, blue occurs everywhere: in ice and water, in the flame as purely as in the flower, overhead and inside caves, covering fruit and oozing out of clay. Although green enlivens the earth and mixes in the ocean, and we find it, copperish, in fire; green air, green skies, are rare. Gray and brown are widely distributed, but there are no joyful swatches of either, or any of exuberant black, sullen pink, or acquiescent orange. Blue is therefore most suitable as the color of interior life. Whether slick light sharp high bright thin quick sour new and cool or low deep sweet dark soft slow smooth heavy old and warm: blue moves easily among them all, and all profoundly qualify our states of feeling.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52101271191825,"sku":"CIN0879231831G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780879231835.jpg?v=1757092617"},{"product_id":"willie-masters-lonesome-wife-book-mr-william-h-gass-9780916583460","title":"Willie Masters' Lonesome Wife","description":"In this paean to the pleasures of language, Gass equates his text with the body of Babs Masters, the lonesome wife of the title, to advance the conceit that a parallel should exist between a woman and her lover and a book and its reader. Disappointed by her inattentive husband\/reader, Babs engages in an exuberant display of the physical charms of language to entice an illicit new lover: a man named Gelvin in one sense, but more importantly, the reader of this “essay-novella” which, in the years since its first appearance in 1968 as a supplement to TriQuarterly, has attained the status of a postmodernist classic. Like Laurence Sterne and Lewis Carroll before him, Gass uses a variety of visual devices: photographs, comic-strip balloons, different typefaces, parallel story lines (sometimes three or four to the page), even coffee stains. As Larry McCaffery has pointed out, “the lonesome lady of the book’s title, who is gradually revealed to be lady language herself, creates an elaborate series of devices which she hopes will draw attention to her slighted charms [and] force the reader to confront what she literally is: a physically exciting literary text.”","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52682901225745,"sku":"NLS9780916583460","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780916583460.jpg?v=1762319324"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-mr-william-h-gass.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}