William Gaddis - The Letters of William Gaddis

There were other Gaddis uncles of his involved in NY state politics especially in the Dewey years & all of their fortunes might have changed mightily had he won that presidential election [in 1948] when who knows, all sorts of revelations might have surfaced & we might even have met. Meanwhile my best wishes for your & your sister’s good health (since that’s what it all seems to be coming down to at last),

with warm regards

William Gaddis

To Arthur A. Hilgart

[ A businessman, radio host, and patron of the arts (1936–2010) who occasionally corresponded with WG. After an unidentified reference to “Alcott,” WG clarifies some points in FHO.]

Wainscott, New York 11975

14 March 1994

dear Hilgart,

the healing power of Pepsi is splendid but the Alcott frolic is quite beyond anything — years of reviews of my work have shown me how rare is the careful reader, ergo:

No, Trish didn’t marry both men, it’s simply another turn on ‘getting it wrong’ which preoccupies me (see Carpenter’s Gothic ): Lily has simply blurted out that Trish said she’d got married & Christina takes for granted it’s Madhai Pai (she’d married Bunker). No, Basie had nothing to do with Judge Crease getting hold of the opinion, he’s simply got it through channels & of course on the lookout for it. And no, Harry wasn’t in the accident caused by Lily (p.523); his death (515) is meant to be left in the realm of predictable, with Lily (491), unexplained fact lost & overwhelmed in the clutter of trivia (his Turnbull & Asser shirts) surrounding it.

Speaking of ‘careful reading’ here’s an item that was on my mind from the book’s start: the careful threading of the ‘hairy Ainu’ Harry & Christina in bed through her embarrassment with Basie’s cheerful ignorance to the blow that finally strikes her down (582) with the young lawyer’s —. . no. No that’s not the Harry I knew. Perhaps some doctoral candidate will find it.

Kind regards,

W. Gaddis

‘hairy Ainu’: a reference to Japan’s Ainu tribe: see FHO 119–20.

To Sarah Gaddis

[ At this time, Sarah was working in the press office of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which was mounting an exhibition of William S. Burroughs’s “shotgun paintings.” ]

Wainscott

30 March 94

dear Sarah,

I know what you mean about meaning to sit down & write a long letter but the weekends end up with errands & & & except that I’ve got no real excuse, think I’ll call & the time difference interferes then make the weekend try but the line’s busy which frustrates but really pleases me because it means that you are busy & leading a real life after the time you’ve put in on one so poorly furnished; but I forget, we (esp east coast here) forget about earthquakes till another 5.6 is all over the evening news diverted, today, by people staring vacantly at homes & the sad small lives laid to waste in Georgia tornados — I mean here I am still dining out on my earthquake anecdote until you remind me that for you & those around you it is a constant presence, your remark about a subliminal lack of concentration in people & things they forgot to do or did wrong & knowing your earlier distress over them admire you going right on, but at this cost, it is like some overwhelming fiction (the terms I think in) esp the Hollywood set image inserting epoxy in the walls like I felt that one night of it in the “Ritz Carlton”.

But thank you for the packet you sent reviews & all, I hadn’t known of St Moore’s for the Nation & have certainly done well but trying to get S&S to spend another 50¢ on an ad is hopeless, they say they’ll make a big splash when they bring it out as the lead book in their new fancy Scribner’s (which they took over) trade paperback series end of the year. . another year! Lord how they go by. The woman on book jackets is quite intriguing I only wish she’d seen ours but Sarah the ART world I confess is simply beyond me aware that I am a minority of 1 & how oddly a leading postmodernist in fiction but Bill Burroughs with his ‘lost images’ in the catalogue. . & to think I’ve got a copy of his first paperback Junkie inscribed (in soft pencil) ‘To Bill Gaddis who knew me before I knew myself’. . at any rate I am so pleased (& proud) that you are out in front with what’s going on in the world & handling it so well stress & all, stress of course being a vital part of it or what is the art itself all about? And not to add to it though I know it must be something you & the women you work with must discuss frequently but I do (like most parents I’m sure) worry about you & all the wildness loose in the world, things like carjackings (do you lock your car doors when you get in? take a careful look at the shopping mall parking lots?) the list is endless & could drive one crazy & there’s finally no hiding place.

I mainly wander about literally & figuratively (in the head) vaguely considering what to do, I mean work on, next, going through old notes & papers, does anyone need A Secret History of the Player Piano ? & getting something together to speak about in Albany the 14th & the college at Stonybrook later, part of the price of my NYState Authorhood & the money already gone to pay taxes on the Lannan prize. . Your brother incidentally is right now presumably in New Orleans, sketch for a film project on his pal Jack’s legal tussles & I’m simply glad of his getting out of town finally for a few days’ change.

much love always

Papa

my earthquake anecdote: WG was in Los Angeles for a Lannan event when a strong earthquake struck on the early morning of 17 January 1994.

St Moore’s for the Nation : “Reading the Riot Act,” 25 April [ sic ] 1994, pp. 569–71.

To James M. Morris

[ Author and editor-at-large for the Wilson Quarterly . At the urging of feminist Betty Friedan (a Hamptons friend of WG and Mrs. Murphy), he invited WG to give a lecture at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC. WG gave a casual talk there on 7 December 1994. ]

Wainscott, New York 11975

10 April 1994

Dear Mr Morris.

Thank you for your letter & your invitation to talk. I am sorry to be so long responding but take refuge in the welcome provision that it may be later this year or even early next.

Most welcome however is the proposal that it be for a talk rather than a ‘reading’. On occasions when I’ve been asked to do the latter I’ve answered if at all with an offer to speak on why I do not give readings &—shades of Dylan Thomas ‘traveling 200 miles just to recite, in my fruity voice, poems that would not be appreciated & could, anyway, be read in books’—don’t see why anyone else does except for the toxin of this ‘in performance’ culture. My only concern would be that since what I put on the page is more structured & disciplined than the informal somewhat rambling nature of a talk, transcribing such a talk for publication as you mention puts me off a bit but I’m sure could be resolved.

Further, from the material you enclosed, the aims & atmosphere of the Wilson Center sound most congenial to my ways of thinking & I hope we can work something out along the lines you suggest; & finally, thanks for your warm estimate of my books especially this last.