Like William Faulkner and John Barth, Gaddis refers unabashedly to his previous works or characters in Carpen-ter's Gothic. The story line, and even some of the names (Ude and Teakell, for example) come from J R (one reviewer has said that the main plot of Carpenter's Gothic comes from seven pages of J R). Liz refers to The Recognitions twice. In its focus on writers writing, Carpenter's Gothic echoes the depiction of Jack Gibb's composition of Agape Agape in J R, and Otto's struggles to concoct his play and Esme's to write her poetry in The Recognitions.