This week we lament the death of William Gass, though his writings will surely bubble and boil through the thickening karst of American literary culture for many years to come. To our ears (for he is at his most vivid when read aloud), Gass ranks as one of our truly great essayists, even when writing fiction. Fearless, vexing, elusive, partisan and polyphonous; an artist giving voice to the multitudes that swim – and sometimes drown – within the self. Below, two of these voices, the first from On Being Blue (1975) :
And second, from his richly mined essay on the challenges of autobiography, dating from 1994:
WILLIAM GASS: HONEST EXCAVATOR OF THE SELF
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Finally, a blue salute from book artist Morgan Lennox Whitehead:
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Desperado Philosophy 