The Rush for Second Place

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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.Introduction

1. “Stop Player. Joke No. 4” (1951)

2. Agape Agape: The Secret History of the Player Piano (early 1960s)

3. Treatment for a Motion Picture on “Software” (early 1960s)

4. Cover Illustrations from the Corporate Writings (A Selection)
The Growth of American Industry (For the National Association of Manufacturers)
Educational Technology Shapes the Future… Are You Ready? (For the Eastman Kodak Company)
Answers to Cancer (For General Motors/Western Electric)

5. In the Zone (1978)

6. The Rush for Second Place (1981)

7. J R Up to Date (1987)

8. An Instinct for the Dangerous Wife
(Review of More Die of Heartbreak by Saul Bellow, 1987)

9. Erewhon and the Contract with America (1995)

10. Old Foes with New Faces (1995)

11. Occasional Writings
This Above All (1990)
J. Danforth Quayle (1992)
On Creative Writing and the National Endowment for the Arts (1994)

12. Speeches
On Receiving the National Book Award for J R (1975)
How Does the State Imagine? The Willing Suspension of Disbelief (1986)
On Receiving the National Book Award for A Frolic of His Own

13. Tributes
Dostoevski (1996)
Mothers (1996)
Julian Schnabel (1998)

Appendix:
Summary Notes on the Work in Progress (early 1960s)
Player Piano Chronology to 1929
Index

“Sometimes dense, but always discerning: essential for Gaddis fans and those seeking an offbeat critique of American civilization.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Gaddis (1922–1998) was a fact-checker at the New Yorker and a corporate speech-writer before coming to prominence, but published very little essay-based work. Editor Joseph Tabbi here collects 29 short and occasional pieces, some left in manuscript at the time of Gaddis’s death, others admiring encomiums to Saul Bellow or Julian Schnabel, all of which, as he notes, “create a sense of the environment in which Gaddis worked.” –– Publishers Weekly William Gaddis (1922-1998) was a master of the American novel who was frequently compared with Joyce, Nabokov, and Pynchon. Two of his novels, J R and A Frolic of His Own, won the National Book Award. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the recipient of a MacArthur Prize.

Joseph Tabbi was the first scholar to be given access to the Gaddis archives. He conducts research in American literature and new media writing at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Joseph Tabbi was the first scholar to be given access to the Gaddis archives. He conducts research in American literature and new media writing at the University of Illinois at Chicago.US

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