Why we read
“We must always listen to the language ; it is our first sign of the presence of a master’s hand ; and when we do that, when we listen, it is because we have first pronounced the words and performed the text, so when we listen, we hear, hear ourselves, singing the saying, and now we are real readers, for we are participating in the making, are moving the tune along the line, because no one who loves literature can follow these motions, these sentences, half sentences, of William Gaddis, very far without halting and holding up their arms and crying out, Hallelujah, there is something good in this gosh-awful, god-empty world.
Which is almost the whole point of what we do.”
William H. Gass, “Mr Gaddis and his goddamn books” in
