William Gass on William Gaddis (from "A Temple of Texts: Fifty Literary Pillars")
It sometimes happens in a writing life that you get lucky, and I have been lucky often. I think that perhaps "JR" is the greater book, but it hardly matters. "The Recognitions" was a thunderclap. It was a dull decade, the fifties, but here was a real sound. And the sixties would be the novel's ten best years. But here was Mr. Cranky to accompany Sir Style. Here was a man even madder about things than I was. Here was a man whose business was seeing through--seeing through bodies, minds, dreams, ideals--Superman was Mr. Magoo in comparison. And here was a man who immediately reminded me of another hero, the Viennese culture critic, Karl Kraus, because this man collected mankind's shit, too, and knew where to throw it, and knew where to point the fan. Then, as affairs would fall out, I had the good fortune to be on the jury which awarded "JR" the National Book Award, and got a little recognition for an author who, till then, had been the idol of a clique. In time, as it also turned out, I met William Gaddis and became his friend. Thus my third rule was realized: in this business to have the respect of those whom you respect is the only reward. And that reward is quite enough.
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