Instead, he worked as a canal machinist and later as a crane operator. He used this material in
The Recognitions when describing the character of Otto, who travels to Latin America with the hope of garnering the kind of experience that might be transformed into literature.
From Latin America, Gaddis returned to New York, where he remained for a brief stay in 1948. At this time he met Sheri Martinelli, the woman who became the inspiration for Esme in The Recognitions, a character described by Moore as "One of the strangest yet memorable heroines in contemporary literature." Martinelli was an engaging beauty who, her own artistic ambitions notwithstanding, will probably be remembered more for the inspirational role that she played in the creative life not only of Gaddis, but also of the poet Ezra Pound and the memoirists Anaïs Nin and Anatole Broyard.
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