Middle C

Middle C takes its place in that great line of modern novels about inauthenticity. . . . However, there is nothing sham to Gass s art: It s not just dazzling, it s the real thing. The Washington Post

A world-devouring novel. . . . Of all living literary figures, William Gass may count as the most daringly scathing and most assertively fecund: in language, in ideas, in intricacy of form; above all in relentless fury. . . . This unquiet bildungsroman is designed to detonate its mild, middling title. . . . Exhilaratingly ingenious . . . unexpected and dizzying. Cynthia Ozick, The New York Times Book Review

Rhythmic and sonic. . . . A final statement of Gass s belief in the sound of literary language. The Times Literary Supplement (London)

Gass is a magician of the word, the writer of a prose so rich that it makes Vladimir Nabokov s seem impoverished. . . . Metaphors leap through hoops, similes elicit oohs and ahs, and daredevil paragraphs bring down the house. There s never any fat or slack to his sentences, though sometimes they unfold quietly, almost slyly, until blossoming into little stories all their own. The Washington Post

Middle C is driven by plot, by a largely comic chain of cause and consequence. . . . Skizzen proves as befuddled an academic wanderer as anyone this country has seen since Nabokov s Timofey Pnin. The New York Review of Books

A mischievous variation on the moral dilemmas raised in Gass s The Tunnel . . . In this exuberantly learned bildungsroman this torrent of curious facts and arch commentary, puns and allusions internationally lauded virtuoso Gass reflects on humanity s crimes and marvels, creating his funniest and most life-embracing book yet. Booklist (starred)

Extraordinary. . . . A religious allegory and a philosophical meditation on language and consciousness as the source of evil. The Boston Globe

Gass orchestrates his fiction with thematic elements as a composer might a symphony. Timeout New York

Exhilarating . . . dazzling. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Epic . . . crazily rich with thought . . . remarkably detailed. . . . Gass beautifully coaxes the unheard music from a seemingly muted life. . . . The unprecedented work of a master. Publishers Weekly

A masterly work of language and imagery from one of America s most celebrated authors. Library Journal (starred)

Engaging, melancholy. . . . Gass remains a master of apt metaphors, graceful sentences and a flinty, unforgiving brand of humor; it may be the most entertaining novel you ll read that half wishes humanity was wiped off the map. . . . Gass, now 88, clearly has endings on his mind, which he addresses with fearsome brio and wit. Kirkus