In the Heart of the Heart of the Country & Other Stories (Nonpareil Books, #21) [Paperback]

William H. Gass (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 2005 | Series: Nonpareil Books, #21 (Book 21)

IN THIS SUITE of five short pieces -- one of the unqualified literary masterpieces of the American 1960s -- William Gass finds five beautiful forms in which to explore the signature theme of his fiction: the solitary soul’s poignant, conflicted, and doomed pursuit of love and community. In their obsessions, Gass’s Midwestern dreamers are like the "grotesques" of Sherwood Anderson, but in their hyper-linguistic streams of consciousness, they are the match for Joyce’s Dubliners.

First published in 1968, this book begins with a beguiling thirty-three page essay and has five fictions: the celebrated novella "The Pedersen Kid," "Mrs. Mean," "Icicles," "Order of Insects," and the title story.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

'These stories scrape the nerve and pierce the heart. They also replenish the language. The are told sparely, hauntingly, with compassion and a remarkable exploratory courage.' -- Eliot Fremont-Smith, The New York Times

'. . . makes clear the rewards of an imagination which clings to the concrete world like a lover and makes of it, through near-perfect language, a renewed mystery.' --Jack Richardson, The New York Review of Books

'Gass has written a short story as dense as a novel, lyrical as a poem. . . . If he had not written before or since, In the Heart of the Heart of the Country would be enough -- all that readers and writers could ask of him. Being Gass he has done much more.' -- Frederick Busch, Modern Fiction Studies

About the Author

WILLIAM H. GASS, professor emeritus of philosophy at Washington University, is the author, most recently, of the essay collections Tests of Time (winner, National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism) and A Temple of Texts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 206 pages
• Publisher: David R Godine; With a Revised and Expanded Preface edition (June 3, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879233745
• ISBN-13: 978-0879233747
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #343,425 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars why has this gone out of print November 9, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

It seems impossible that a collection of stories as ground breaking as these could disappear from the bookshelves, but here it is. I came on to find out about ordering a copy but found the publisher was out! Then let me say, having read it a few times already that while In the Heart of the Heart of the Country gets and deserves much praise in this collection, The Pederson Kid is MASTERFul in its language, pacing and style. Order of Insects also is rumination as short story. I am in love with this book and like your true love, it will always be there.

29 of 36 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Please Keep Early Gass in Print, Vote 2 January 18, 2000

By Carra R Lane

Format:Paperback

Early William H. Gass is essential. This fairly straightforward book is early Gass. Gass after Omensetter is a very personal taste. Fame, even the tiny minor academic variety, infects human beings oddly. Gass only had a few stories to tell. This book matters. Please keep the great early Gass alive/available & do not worry much about the later still quite interesting but arrogant blatting.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Mass of Gass March 4, 2008

By Dick Johnson TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This collection of long short stories will not let you relax while you read. As with the other Gass I've read, he wants to make you think deeply. There are no clear cut endings, but these aren't clear cut stories.

The best thing about this edition (ISBN 0879233745) is the preface by Gass himself. I usually save such for reading as an afterword (too many prefaces and introductions have too many spoilers). This can be read first or last, but lets you a little more into his thoughts.

His use of language lets you enjoy stories that wouldn't normally hold your interest.