The first comprehensive study of the works of William Gass addresses the extensive correlation between the theoretical and fictional works and places Gass at the forefront of contemporary post-realism.
Saltzman argues that contrary to charges of moral, artistic, or even political turpitude, the innovative fiction of William Gass represents a conscientious effort to contend with indeterminacy through art. In the fiction of Gass and other contemporary writers, the world of the text is a distinct and competitive addition to reality, not a mere description of reality.
Saltzman examines Gass's major fictional works, Omensetter's Luck and Willie Masters' Lonesome Wife, the collected stories of In the Heart of the Heart of the Country, the extensive novel-in-progress The Tunnel, as well as the essay collections, Fiction and the Figures of Life and The World Within the Word.
