This story of raging comedy and despair centers on the tempestuous marriage of an heiress and a Vietnam veteran. From their "carpenter gothic" rented house, Paul sets himself up as a media consultant for Reverend Ude, an evangelist mounting a grand crusade that conveniently suits a mining combine bidding to take over an ore strike on the site of Ude's African mission. At the still center of the breakneck action--revealed in Gaddis's inimitable virtuoso dialoge--is Paul's wife, Liz, and over it all looms the shadowy figure of McCandless, a geologist from whom Paul and Liz rent their house. As...

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...

With dazzling wit, William Gaddis brings his unmatched powers of observation and satirical sensibilities to bear on the American legal system. A Frolic of His Own is a tour de force. It is a profound entertainment. It is scalding and Swiftian . . . darkly hilarious.--The New Republic. 1994 National Book Award winner.