4.0
The Recognitions
By William Gaddis & William H. Gass &Publisher Description
A postmodern masterpiece about fraud and forgery by one of the most distinctive, accomplished novelists of the last century.
The Recognitions is a sweeping depiction of a world in which everything that anyone recognizes as beautiful or true or good emerges as anything but: our world. The book is a masquerade, moving from New England to New York to Madrid, from the art world to the underworld, but it centers on the story of Wyatt Gwyon, the son of a New England minister, who forsakes religion to devote himself to painting, only to despair of his inspiration. In expiation, he will paint nothing but flawless copies of his revered old masters—copies, however, that find their way into the hands of a sinister financial wizard by the name of Recktall Brown, who of course sells them as the real thing.
Dismissed uncomprehendingly by reviewers on publication in 1955 and ignored by the literary world for decades after, The Recognitions is now established as one of the great American novels, immensely ambitious and entirely unique, a book of wild, Boschian inspiration and outrageous comedy that is also profoundly serious and sad.
The Recognitions is a sweeping depiction of a world in which everything that anyone recognizes as beautiful or true or good emerges as anything but: our world. The book is a masquerade, moving from New England to New York to Madrid, from the art world to the underworld, but it centers on the story of Wyatt Gwyon, the son of a New England minister, who forsakes religion to devote himself to painting, only to despair of his inspiration. In expiation, he will paint nothing but flawless copies of his revered old masters—copies, however, that find their way into the hands of a sinister financial wizard by the name of Recktall Brown, who of course sells them as the real thing.
Dismissed uncomprehendingly by reviewers on publication in 1955 and ignored by the literary world for decades after, The Recognitions is now established as one of the great American novels, immensely ambitious and entirely unique, a book of wild, Boschian inspiration and outrageous comedy that is also profoundly serious and sad.
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4.0
Thomas Goddard
Created 4 months agoShare
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“A whirlwind of a novel. A narrative peppered with the chatter of nearby voices. I've never read a novel more evocative of the public space than this. Where at any moment we might meet someone new, but only for an instant as their voice is heard and lost in the crowd. Even television adverts invade the attention in this same haphazard but purposeful way. Sublime writing.
The romantic disease 'originality'. A whole monologue early on is about how new art is foolish for focusing on originality over technical skill. So desperate to be original that the form is lost to artistic theory. To the imagining of art rather than its actual creation. The splash of modern art; over the precision of light controlled by old masters.
I have to say that I agree. I think our world is corrupted by the desire for newness. An appreciation of the old, the vintage, the crafted form... that depends on an education, effort of research and attention. One might love vintage clothing and not apply the same discretion to one's choice of furniture. There's a sense of inconsistency. I'm more of a passionate advocate for true skill and craft over abstractions and posturing. Authenticity is vital to my life.
Whereas a new splash of paint... a new NFT... all has the same potential for arbitrary value placed on it. No foundation. No history to recommend it past its own existence. A shadow of value. A sneeze of value. The moment tastes change, the value is lost. Keep minting them, but you'll just be riding a wave that will drown someone... Even if it isn't you. Which I think is a little shameful. Stock market morality. Pyramid scheming. That's just how I feel about it. My perspective.
But great art... That lingers. It lingers because it is a demonstration of how far we have come. All that has led up to that moment. As much as a precise and soulful creative effort. I think that's bedrock for me. That most people ignore history, family, philosophy... They care only for the new and the now. But to each their own.
'People passed in the wet recommending each other to God, instead of God to each other.'
Always there is this sense of misalignment in the novel. Between what is said and what is carried out. What is promised and what is done. The same as in life.
Characters cling to their idea of authenticity in a world that betrays them. The forgery of self. An anchor caught on a gravestone.
There's religion here. One cult following another and rediscovered again.
The whole thing is just like this handkerchief and this bowling ball falling in this vacuum. The idea of what is heavy completely upended by environment.
I'll read this over and over.”
Pgriffy
Created 5 months agoShare
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Joseph McIlduff
Created 7 months agoShare
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Brent Hayward
Created 7 months agoShare
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“I'm putting this one one because I was starting to feel bad about the no 5-star thing. For me, this is the epitome of a novel. There's not much I can say. Just amazing.”
Kristina Cato
Created 8 months agoShare
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About William Gaddis
A 1982 MacArthur Fellow and two-time winner of the National Book Award, William Gaddis (1922-1998) was the author of five novels: The Recognitions, J R, Carpenter's Gothic, A Frolic of His Own, and, published posthumously, Agapē Agape.
Tom McCarthy is the author of four novels—Remainder, Men in Space, C, and Satin Island—and several works of criticism, including Typewriters, Bombs, Jellyfish (2017), a collection of essays published by New York Review Books. In 2013 he was awarded the inaugural Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction by Yale University. He lives in Berlin.
William H. Gass (1924-2017) was a novelist, short-story writer, essayist, critic, and professor of philosophy. NYRB Classics reissued his book-length essay On Being Blue: A Philosophical Inquiry and his short-story collection In the Heart of the Heart of the Country in 2014.
Tom McCarthy is the author of four novels—Remainder, Men in Space, C, and Satin Island—and several works of criticism, including Typewriters, Bombs, Jellyfish (2017), a collection of essays published by New York Review Books. In 2013 he was awarded the inaugural Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction by Yale University. He lives in Berlin.
William H. Gass (1924-2017) was a novelist, short-story writer, essayist, critic, and professor of philosophy. NYRB Classics reissued his book-length essay On Being Blue: A Philosophical Inquiry and his short-story collection In the Heart of the Heart of the Country in 2014.
Other books by William Gaddis
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