William Gass with Michael Silverblatt

[@davidwhite3598]

I’m 56 and have recently heard about William Gass from a Better Than Food book review on KZbin. How am I just now discovering this amazing writer?

[@Monkeynet01]

gass always looks like my grandma on the verge of tears

[@TheOtherSymeon]

I said the exact same thing to myself

[@NealDurando]

Wild mountain woman.

[@Monkeynet01]

@Bruce Bobtrotter grandma tells me she loves me ; (

[@aaronosrs]

@Bruce Bobtrotter you are not intelligent

[@AnneSofieLovesMozart]

@@aaronosrs I have reflected upon your words for a few weeks now, and have come to the conclusion, that Mr. Bobtrotter IS infact intelligent. Now this, of course, is very reductive to just sum up in a single word, without further explanations, but I assure you I will publish my thesis on the subject in the next issue of the Paris Review. Tally ho and such Yours truly Mozart (W. A.)

[@dirtycelinefrenchman]

Didn’t expect him to be such a jovial and garrulous fellow

[@KL0098]

Thanks for posting this! I'm reading Middle C right now and loving it; Gass has been an amazing new discovery for me.

[@danielmahoney3237]

RIP William Gass

[@coltonc7832]

Jesus christ I can't believe it's already been five years. As far as I'm concerned american literature died with him.

[@Jack-fj7yc]

@@coltonc7832 agreed

[@basserman]

@@coltonc7832 Pynchon? Levin? Theroux? Delillo?

[@deedrake4846]

Wonderful to reconnect with Gass. It's been awhile since the last time. Thank you.

[@aidanmcparland6853]

Funny how Gass comes off as so affable and quaint, very Midwestern. Hard to imagine something as grotqesque as The Tunnel was written by him.

[@NarutoCanKillGoku]

Is it dark?

[@basserman]

@@NarutoCanKillGokuhe called it an “exploration into the fascism of the heart”; a professor not too dissimilar to himself attempting to write an introduction for his book on Germany during WII, and it ends up being a cosmic foray into the mind of an otherwise milquetoast professors memories and life experiences as a teacher, living through Kristallnacht etc etc. while he’s slowing driven insane, digging a tunnel in his basement - it’s quite a vile book, at its core, its tries to excavate a universal ugliness that could supposedly foster in anyone given enough detachment from love or the “real world”, no less amazing given Gass’ almost demure presence here on the show.

[@NarutoCanKillGoku]

@@basserman I know Silverblatt reveres it. Maybe I'll get to it some day.

[@basserman]

@@NarutoCanKillGoku took me a month to read; would highly recommend you check out “Omensetters luck” by him first, it’s a third the length and honestly rivals the tunnel for his best book. Better before you take the plunge I’d say.

[@motherfinestudios]

'My God it's amazing this thing exists...'

[@АндрейПетров-д2э]

What a fantastic masterpiece of a writer interview!

[@LexWick]

One of the best interviews with a writer ever

[@HomeAtLast501]

Yeah, you know why? Because he's one of the few authors who knows what he's doing, who has a clear structure and method. He can explain what his approach is. As opposed to people like David Foster Wallace, who was a fraud and didn't have a clear perspective

[@brokenfingers98]

@@HomeAtLast501 yeah what a floopy fraud that phony pencil pusher Mr. Imposter Wallace was. lets gang up together, just you and me, and let's maybe say it louder? Apologies, my family is visiting from cross-state, not sure who that was - But Walter Walkman sorry, Wallice,, structurally, at least had the skeletal mold of the sierapinski gasket in mind when crafting IJ, so its a little less than charitable to imply he didn't know what he was doing in this way/ But I'd agree thematically he might have shot off all at once in near all ways, but some people seem to enjoy it most for this reason/

[@PiroKUSS]

@@HomeAtLast501 How does a writer with no specific method become a fraud?

[@HomeAtLast501]

@@brokenfingers98 He essentially admitted it in a bunch of his interviews. What he thought were major insights as an adult, were pretty basic insights for me as a teen.

[@kintrap5376]

Just wow.

[@Jurry253]

Anyone know which Stein book(s) Gass and Silverblatt are quoting?

[@Jack-fj7yc]

Gass’ is from a book called How To Write He is also referencing it in the context of Lectures in America, a book of Stein lectures on art. During one of the lectures Stein discusses sentences (how they work, what she feels about them, &c), including the “It looked like a garden” one Idk where Silverblatt’s is from

[@jameslatin2939]

You've uploaded lots of great material. Is there any possibility that you would share some of the files directly? Thanks

[@sterlingweston]

such a great mind

[@tboss8157]

TUNNEL

[@ShorkGamer]

very very good!

[@molloyxx1]

'On Being Blue"...…..

[@ryanand154]

David Lynch has become my grandmother.

[@davidkelsall6164]

About time.

[@AloBal-n1g]

New in channel.sence of atomic 🦹

[@ryanand154]

You write after the sentence and Agassi admits he’s slow.

[@ambrogiajancometi4031]

I like

[@ryanand154]

These lit dudes are all about Platonism.

[@ryanand154]

Gertrude Stein was talking to NPR but grandpa went down to the strip club.

[@ryanand154]

Michael Silverblatt asks about the Order of Insects.

[@aldenjenks]

Not sure there is such a thing as "Cartesian sonata form", but whatever

[@ryanand154]

Gen x can learn from these cornpones.

[@ryanand154]

Bill Gass’ haircut looks like Billy needs a barber.

[@ryanand154]

RIP Michael Silverblatt. Murdered in the next Halloween film.

[@eastwoofer]

So stupidly pretentious. Thank god for me and gen x.

[@ryanand154]

You are the future.

[@AM-is1jh]

what are you writing?

[@ryanand154]

@@AM-is1jh I’m currently working on a piece about Robert Musil’s The Blackbird for Guns and Ammo Magazine. What are you writing?

[@AM-is1jh]

@@ryanand154 my first novel about the myth of the self and sexual aberration e.g. homosexuality

[@deep_fried_midget]

​@@ryanand154Guns and Ammo readers are more Thomas Mann people.