The Rush for Second Place

Title: The Rush for Second Place
Author: William Gaddis
Essays: 1686443
ISBN: 9780142002384
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2002
Binding: Paperback
Language: English
Edition: First Edition
Section: Literary Collections | Essays
Condition Note: New from the publisher
Publisher Description: An essential collection of nonfiction essays by the National Book Award winning author of J R and A Frolic of His Own

William Gaddis published only four novels during his lifetime, but with those works he earned himself a reputation as one of America's greatest novelists. Less well known is Gaddis's body of excellent critical writings. Here is a wide range of his original essays, some published for the first time. From "'Stop Player. Joke No. 4, '" Gaddis's first national publication and the basis for his projected history of the player piano, to the title essay about missed opportunities in America during the past fifty years, to "Old Foes with New Faces," an examination of the relationship between the writer and the problem of religion-this diverse collection displays the power of an autonomous literary intelligence in an age increasingly dominated by political and religious conservatism.