Items

• Omensetter's Luck - Sketched Map of Gilean

  Sketch of Gilean, Ohio, the fictional town that is the setting of Omensetter's Luck, drawn on the back of a typescript draft page.
• Omensetter's Luck - Letter to David Segal, March 12, 1966

  Humorous letter from Gass to his editor, David Segal, regarding reviews of Omensetter's Luck.
• Letter from M.B. Ogle, Jr. Regarding Missing Omensetter's Luck Manuscript

  Letter from M.B. Ogle, Jr. to the members of the Purdue University philosophy department teaching staff, regarding Gass's lost Omensetter's Luck draft. Gass later learned the draft had been stolen (along with an essay) by a colleague, who attempted to adapt and produce it as a play script.
• Omensetter's Luck - Chapter Outline

  Autograph chapter outline notes on Omensetter's Luck, in a blue examination booklet.
• "The Bard"

  First ten pages of typescript of Gass's first short story; with explanatory autograph note by Gass.
• "The Artist and Society" - Draft Fragments

  Selected draft fragments of the essay, "The Artist and Society," first published in The New Republic, July 17, 1968, reprinted in The Purdue Alumnus and The Penguin Book of Essay, and collected in Fiction and the Figures of Life.
• Illustrations for The Tunnel

  Illustrations by Gass for the design and layout of The Tunnel: diagram of the tunnel; corresponding outline of the chapters; sketches of "The Pennants of Passive Attitudes and Emotions," Party of the Disappointed People "PdP" banners and "the jaundiced eye"; and mock-up "PdP" armband.
• Middle C - Uncorrected Proof

  Cover of uncorrected proof of Middle C.
• On Being Blue - Typescript Draft and Fragments

  First 14 pages of a typescript draft of On Being Blue--in blue type, with occasional autograph corrections.
• "Krystalnacht" - Drafts

  Pages from four printout draft versions of "Krystalnacht," a section of The Tunnel, with autograph corrections and annotations by Gass.
• "Metaphysical Making"

  The first ten pages of the first chapter of Gass's dissertation, "A Philosophical Investigation of Metaphor," for his PhD in philosophy from Cornell University. The dissertation is sixteen chapters total, with each chapter bound and titled separately.
• "Memories of Master Gaddis"

  Printout of an address given by Gass to the Academy and Institute of Arts & Letters, published in Conjunctions: 33 (1999). This address was adapted from the essay, "William Gaddis and His Goddamn Books," published in A Temple of Texts and published in parts as an introduction to the 1993 Penguin Classics publication of The Recognitions, by William Gaddis, and in shorter form as a book review of The Recognitions for The Los Angeles Times in 1993. Inscribed and dated by Gass on last page.
• "Icicles" - Corrected Typescript Draft

  First ten pages of a corrected typescript of "Icicles," first published in Perspective, Vol. 13 No. 1 (Autumn 1962), and included in In the Heart of the Heart of the Country. The entire draft is 39 pages.
• "Cost of Everything" by The Highline Readers

  Invitation to "The Cost of Everything," an adaptation of a section of The Tunnel, by the Highline Readers, at Highline Community College in Des Moines, WA. Inscribed by the director, C.M. Sandifer.
• "Groping For Trouts" - Olive White Lecture

  Announcement of a Gass lecture in Peoria, Illinois, as part of the Olive White Lecture Series at Bradley University. Includes brief description of Gass's books and the lecture.
• Fiction and the Figures of Life - Uncorrected Proof Cover

  Front cover of an uncorrected page proof by Harper & Row of Fiction and the Figures of Life. Never published by Harper & Row, the book was moved to and published by Knopf in 1970.
• Centre Culturel Americain Reading

  An announcement for readings by John Hawkes, William Gass and John Barth at the Centre Culturel Americain in Paris, France. Autograph notes by Gass on the verso.
• "The Artist and Society" - Typescript Draft

  First 12 pages of a corrected typescript draft of an essay first published in The New Republic, July 17, 1968, reprinted in The Purdue Alumnus and The Penguin Book of Essay, and collected in Fiction and the Figures of Life.
• "The Anatomy of the Mind" - Proof

  First ten pages of a corrected proof of an essay on Sigmund Freud published as "Freud's Fierce Science" in The New York Review of Books on April 17, 1975, and collected as "The Anatomy of the Mind" in The World Within the Word.
• "Sermon On Substance"

  The first 10 pages (including cover page) of Gass's philosophy essay from college, "Sermon on Substance." Entire essay is 50 pages.