These 25 essays by noted essayist and novelist William Gass speak to the nature and value of writing and to the books that result from a deep commitment to the word. In addition to discussions of authors from Rabelais to Canetti, Gass offers an annotated list of the 50 books that have most influenced his thinking. In the concluding essay on evil, Gass enlarges upon the themes of artistic quality and cultural values that are central to the books he has considered, many of which seek to reveal the worst in people, while admiring what they do best. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Gass loves words. His prose is extravagant, lush, sometimes overly florid (as when he talks of Flann O'Brien's death on "the first Fools' Day of April, 1966"), and in this new collection, his words have a tendency to get in the way of his subject matter. Which is a shame, because Gass, a novelist and award-winning critic, writes about books and authors often ignored by mainstream readers: Rabelais, Robert Burton, Elias Canetti. Then again, Gass doesn't write for the mainstream. He is the strangest of academic amalgams: a self-professed lover of the avant-garde as represented by Gertrude Stein, Flann O'Brien and Robert Coover, while at the same time he extols the virtues of what he calls "the classics." His definition of classic is, to be sure, expansive, but he applies an old-fashioned standard to all literature, declaring the need for those classics as the basis for a varied literary diet. Despite the occasional gem, such as a touching, if rambling, tribute to William Gaddis, the essays often devolve into little more than a brief synopsis of plot. This volume is appropriately titled, because Gass approaches his subjects reverently, but as in a temple, the service depends as much on the ritual of devotion as on innovation in thought. (Feb. 20) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

In 25 essays, esteemed critic Gass ranges from Rabelais to Rilke to the concept of evil-a good follow-up to his 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award winner, Tests of Time. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

A prize-winning novelist, literary critic, and teacher of humanities (Washington Univ., St. Louis), Gass combines scholarly and creative writing in a manner that qualifies him as unique in American letters. He is a major campaigner on behalf of "fresh intensities of inspection" devoted to careful reading by ear as well as by eye. Most items in this book--the eighth collection of Gass's essays, lectures, and reviews--pay tribute to other writers' work, from classics (e.g., Erasmus, Robert Burton) to current contenders for classic status (Robert Coover, Stanley Elkin, William Gaddis, Gabriel Garcia Marquez). The title suggests an edifice for the public worship of writings, which is appropriate from an author who rhapsodizes the very phonemes and morphemes of good prose. One cannot read Gass's comments (his style darts between the formal and colloquial) without discovering verbal surprises--old words scrubbed clean. Skeptics may resist Gass's claim that all writing "comes from reading," understanding that great wordsmiths have unique sensibilities in unique historical periods. Still, Gass is a master of revitalizing texts, though his bleak evaluations of the "present state of mediocrity" invite one to ask if the time is auspicious for bards or only for deft rhetoricians. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. General readers; faculty; professionals. D. H. Stewart emeritus, Texas A&M University From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

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Acknowledgments	p. ix
To a Young Friend Charged with Possession of the Classics	p. 3
Influence	p. 12
A Temple of Texts: Fifty Literary Pillars	p. 29
The Book of Prefaces	p. 61
The Praise of Folly	p. 72
A Thousand and One Nights	p. 87
Gargantua and Pantagruel	p. 96
The Anatomy of Melancholy	p. 114
Three Lives	p. 124
At Swim-Two-Birds	p. 141
On Heroes and Tombs	p. 152
A Defense of the Book	p. 162
And His Goddamn Books	p. 178
The Tongue Set Free	p. 206
Humors of Blood & Skin	p. 220
The Public Burning	p. 231
Chronicle of a Death Foretold	p. 242
Open on the Sabbath	p. 246
The Sentence Seeks Its Form	p. 272
Auguste Rodin	p. 288
Rilke and the Requiem	p. 316
Sacred Texts	p. 358
Spectacles	p. 375
Evil	p. 397

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