THE TUNNEL
by Gass, William H
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- A fine copy in a near fine dust jacket
- Seller
-
Bainbridge Island, Washington, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Knopf, 1995. First edition. hardcover. A fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. A profound meditation on history, on evil, on the living and the dead. A monumental and monumentally original
work of fiction.The narrator of the book is a distinguished man in his fifties, William Frederick Kohler, a professor at a Midwestern university. His principle subject, the Third Reich. He has just completed his massive magnum opus,
Guilt and Innocence in Hitler's Germany. All that remains to write is an introduction. Kohler sits down to write a self-congratulatory text and finds himself unaccountably blocked. He begins instead to write an entirely other book, another history, that of the historian himself. What he writes is the complete opposite of his clearly argued, causally determined history of the Reich. It is as subjective and private as history is objective and public, as apparently shapeless and stagnant as history is ordered and directrive. It is chaotic, obscure, full of lies and disguises, gaps and repetitions. Indeed, his Introduction is so personal that he fears his wife will find it, and he slides the manuscript between pages of his book, where he knows it will not be found. At the same time, Kohler begins digging a tunnel out from the basement of his house. The tunnel comes to mirror Kohler's digging into his life, his feelings, his past, his few loves and many hatreds. The writing, the digging, the reader's reading, continue together, creating a hole driven into both language and the past, getting closer to and fleeing from the secrets of the novel's fundamental theme, the fascism of the heart.
work of fiction.The narrator of the book is a distinguished man in his fifties, William Frederick Kohler, a professor at a Midwestern university. His principle subject, the Third Reich. He has just completed his massive magnum opus,
Guilt and Innocence in Hitler's Germany. All that remains to write is an introduction. Kohler sits down to write a self-congratulatory text and finds himself unaccountably blocked. He begins instead to write an entirely other book, another history, that of the historian himself. What he writes is the complete opposite of his clearly argued, causally determined history of the Reich. It is as subjective and private as history is objective and public, as apparently shapeless and stagnant as history is ordered and directrive. It is chaotic, obscure, full of lies and disguises, gaps and repetitions. Indeed, his Introduction is so personal that he fears his wife will find it, and he slides the manuscript between pages of his book, where he knows it will not be found. At the same time, Kohler begins digging a tunnel out from the basement of his house. The tunnel comes to mirror Kohler's digging into his life, his feelings, his past, his few loves and many hatreds. The writing, the digging, the reader's reading, continue together, creating a hole driven into both language and the past, getting closer to and fleeing from the secrets of the novel's fundamental theme, the fascism of the heart.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Ed Smith Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 14962
- Title
- THE TUNNEL
- Author
- Gass, William H
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - A fine copy in a near fine dust jacket
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First edition
- Publisher
- Knopf
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1995
- Keywords
- modern literature, Middle West, fiction, Historian, The Third Reich, Hitler, Germany
Terms of Sale
Ed Smith Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Ed Smith Books
Biblio member since 2009
Bainbridge Island, Washington
About Ed Smith Books
Ed Smith Books specializes in better condition modern literary first editions, signed books, photographic monographs, screen and theater related material and pop culture. We offer appraisals for books and photographs. We are located a short ferry ride from downtown Seattle, WA on Bainbridge Island. Since 1985 (ABAA since 1995). Two authors we specialize in are Charles Bukowski and Hunter S Thompson. Open by appointment.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...