Jul 27, 2016Abstractions Arrive: Having Been There All the TimeText By William H. Gass | Photographs by Michael Eastman — Editor’s Note: This project originated as a collaboration between longtime friends William Gass and Michael Eastman. With their permission, I published the material as an iPad-only e-book in 2012, garnering a small bit of attention from head-scratching literary folks who knew Gass as a print man through and through. In…Literature62 min readLiterature62 min read
Published inThe Ear’s Mouth Must Move — Essential Interviews of William H. Gass·Jun 8, 2014William H. Gass: Interviewed by John Madera, 2010Published as “Sentenced to Depth” in Rain Taxi, 2013 — In Fiction and the Figures of Life, William H. Gass offers the fledgling writer—or any writer, period—numerous insights toward the construction of meaningful, emotionally resonant, and culturally significant fiction, or, as Gass writes, “objects which are especially worthy of love.” Throughout the book, Gass elucidates the disparities between fiction and…94 min read94 min read
Published inThe Ear’s Mouth Must Move — Essential Interviews of William H. Gass·May 4, 2014The Ear’s Mouth Must Move: Introduction— Stephen Schenkenberg, May 2014 — Photograph by Michael Eastman I have published this project for two kinds of readers: those who have been reading William H. Gass over his long and decorated career; and those now rightly catching up. For both, the next 90,000-plus words provide a uniquely rich exploration of Gass’ oeuvre and synthesis…4 min read4 min read
Published inThe Ear’s Mouth Must Move — Essential Interviews of William H. Gass·May 4, 2014The Ear’s Mouth Must Move: AcknowledgmentsMay 2014 — I extend my thanks to the interviewers and editors who worked with me to secure permissions and other material for this project: Jessie Ahn of The New Republic Fred van der Zee, representing the defunct Dutch Quarterly Review John O’Brien of Dalkey Archive Press and its Review of Contemporary Fiction …1 min read1 min read
Published inThe Ear’s Mouth Must Move — Essential Interviews of William H. Gass·May 4, 2014William H. Gass: Interviewed by G. A. M. Janssens, 1978Published in the Dutch Quarterly Review, 1979 — Skanee, Michigan, 1971. Photo by Mary Gass, courtesy of Catherine Gass William Gass was appointed to a distinguished professorship at Washington University, St. Louis, on 1 June 1979, the day this interview was conducted. He had just returned to St. Louis from New York City where he had received the…28 min read28 min read
Published inThe Ear’s Mouth Must Move — Essential Interviews of William H. Gass·May 4, 2014William H. Gass: Interviewed by Thomas LeClair — with John Gardner, 1979Published in The New Republic, 1979, as “William Gass and John Gardner: A Debate on Fiction” — This discussion between William Gass and John Gardner took place on October 24, 1978, during a Fiction Festival sponsored by the University of Cincinnati and the National Endowment for the Arts. The discussion was moderated by Thomas LeClair, who teaches at Cincinnati. John Gardner is the author of On Moral…19 min read19 min read
Published inThe Ear’s Mouth Must Move — Essential Interviews of William H. Gass·May 4, 2014William H. Gass: Interviewed by Arthur M. Saltzman, 1991Published as “Language and Conscience” in the Review of Contemporary Fiction, Fall 1991 — Photographed in his home library for “Habitations of the Word” release, 1985. Courtesy of Catherine Gass. Arthur M. Saltzman: I want to begin by asking you about Salman Rushdie. I am specifically interested in how his plight may correlate to some of the things you say in essays like “The…29 min read29 min read
Published inThe Ear’s Mouth Must Move — Essential Interviews of William H. Gass·May 4, 2014William H. Gass: Interviewed by Michael Silverblatt, 1995Conducted by Michael Silverblatt, 1995; Broadcast on “Bookworm,” 1995 — Drawing by William H. Gass The following interview was recorded in March 1995 in the studios of KCRW, in Santa Monica, California. The program’s description of the show was as follows: “Author William H. Gass discusses the evolution and style of his thirty-years-in-the-making new novel, finally published this month.” …13 min read13 min read
Published inThe Ear’s Mouth Must Move — Essential Interviews of William H. Gass·May 4, 2014William H. Gass: Interview with Michael Silverbatt, 1998Broadcast as the “Lannan Readings & Conversations: William Gass” — Screenshot of Lannan Foundation Video The following interview was recorded in front of a live audience in November 1998 at the Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe, New Mexico as part of its Readings & Conversations series. In the first part of the program, Gass read from what he calls the…21 min read21 min read
Published inThe Ear’s Mouth Must Move — Essential Interviews of William H. Gass·May 4, 2014William H. Gass: Interviewed by Jim Neighbors, 2002Published in Contemporary Literature, 2002 — William H. Gass and I met at the Society for the Study of Narrative Literature’s annual conference, in East Lansing, on the campus of Michigan State University, in April 2002. We made arrangements to meet in the morning for breakfast, at a cafe next to a bar. The owner was…40 min read40 min read
