William Gaddis: Expanded Edition

Steven Moore (PhD Rutgers, 1988) is the author of several books and essays on modern literature, including A Reader's Guide to William Gaddis's The Recognitions (1982), as well as the author of The Novel, An Alternative History (2 vols, 2010, 2013). From 1988 to 1996 he was Managing Editor of the Review of Contemporary Fiction/Dalkey Archive Press, and for decades has reviewed books for a variety of periodicals, primarily the Washington Post. He is the co-editor of In Recognition of William Gaddis (1984) and the editor of The Letters of William Gaddis (2013).

In 1982, Steven Moore invented Gaddis Studies when he published his comprehensive Reader's Guide to The Recognitions. Thirty years, and three books later, he's returned to his landmark 1989 monograph on Gaddis's work, bringing it up-to-date with new chapters on Gaddis's late work. This is the definitive study of both how Gaddis's novels work and why they matter. In each authoritative chapter Moore maps their large intellectual investments and intricate architecture, in lucid and well-informed readings that underline the fact that Moore has a deeper insight into this important body of fiction than anyone else.

• Preface to the Expanded EditionPreface to the 1989 Edition1. A Vision of Order2. The Recognitions: Magic, Myth, and Metaphor3. The Recognitions: The Self Who Can Do More4. J R: What America Is All About5. J R: Empedocles on Valhalla6. Carpenter's Gothic; or, The Ambiguities7. A Frolic of His Own: Ideas of Order8. Agape Agape: The Self Who Cannot Do MoreBibliographyIndex