#the recognitions

[itswilliamleonard]

self-portrait × 'the recognitions'

[sivavakkiyar]

used as an epigraph to Gaddis’ The Recognitions

[litsnaps]

[quotespile]

We've had the goddam Ages of Faith, we've had the goddam Age of Reason. This is the Age of Publicity.

William Gaddis, The Recognitions

[weaselandfriends]

After two months, reading slowly (I was focused on editing WIW during this period), I finally finished William Gaddis' The Recognitions. My initial thoughts are that this is one of the best novels I've ever read; possibly in some nebulously-defined top 10. (I don't rate novels the way I do movies.)

I wish I read this before writing Cockatiel x Chameleon. So much of what it has to say about art and the function of art in the modern and postmodern world has bearing on similar themes in CxC. Van Der Gramme could have been one of the (innumerable) characters that dot The Recognition's pages.

If you enjoy 1,000 page dense postmodern epics, I can't recommend this enough.

[sentimentalbot]

William Gaddis, from The Recognitions, originally published in 1955

[wallacepolsom]

Wallace Polsom, The Recognitions (2023), paper collage, 23.9 x 29.2 cm.