In the Heart of the Heart of the Country [William Gass]

[GOAT] [Gass] [America]

In the Heart of the Heart of the Country

William Gass

NYRB, NY. 2015. First NYRB paperback edition. Like new.

From the publisher:

"First published in 1968, In the Heart of the Heart of the Country established William Gass as one of America’s finest and boldest writers of fiction, and nearly fifty years later, the book still stands as a landmark of contemporary fiction. The two novellas and three short stories it contains are all set in the Midwest, and together they offer a mythical reimagining of America’s heartland, with its punishing extremes of heat and cold, its endless spaces and claustrophobic households, its hidden and baffled desires, its lurking threat of violence. Exploring and expanding the limits of the short story, Gass works magic with words, words that are as squirming, regal, and unexpected as the roaches, boys, icicles, neighbors, and neuroses that fill these pages, words that shock, dazzle, illumine, and delight."

A majestic swath of midwestern perfection shall unfurl before ye. Gass is one of the greatest American writers, and this work holds rank with his finest hours. Lovely stuff, frighteningly beautiful. It works me up thinking that our brains are being so desiccated that even enjoying a work of beauty such as this grows difficult.

Put it all aside, turn off your phone, delete your apps - you took the course here, you can reverse it. 

Highest recommendation.