World Literature Today, September 22nd, 1994
William Gaddis writes as if he is using an Uzi instead of a typewriter. He writes, in fact, as no one has ever exactly written before. His characters and events are delineated not by narration but by dialogue, in staccato bursts of language--words, words, words, If the reader can persevere, Gaddis's novels reveal an articulately satiric view of a world Gaddis says he found "wanting to be explored."
His previous books, The Recognitions (1955), the National Book Award winner JR (1975), and Carpenter's Gothic (1985), have repelled as many readers as they have attracted. In the last two he uses...
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