[Few] outside of a coterie of devoted followers have read or even heard of The Recognitions…. We have now had, however, access to some of Gaddis' manuscripts, which may help The Recognitions find its rightful above-ground reputation. (p. 61)

To understand Gaddis' relationship to his characters, and thus his philosophical motive in writing the novel, we are helped by knowing how Gaddis conceived of it originally. The Recognitions began as a much smaller and less complicated work, passing through a major evolutionary stage during the seven years Gaddis spent writing it. Gaddis says in his notes: "When I started this thing … it was to be a good deal shorter, and quite explicitly a parody on the FAUST story…. (p. 64)

[When] Gaddis read James Frazer's The Golden Bough,… the novel entered its second major stage. Frazer's pioneering anthropological work demonstrates how religions spring from earlier myths, fitting perfectly with Gaddis'...