Lannan Readings & Conversations

William Gass

with Michael Silverblatt
Wednesday November 5 1998

Reading – 5 November 1998
Conversation with Michael Silverblatt – 5 November 1998

William Gass is a novelist, essayist, philosopher, and teacher. Mr. Gass, whose books include Cartesian Sonata, The Tunnel, and Omensetter's Luck, received the Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. William Gass states in his essay Culture, Self, and Society , "A culture morally and functionally fails which does not let its crazies, its artists and its saints, its scientists and politicians, claim, on occasion, a higher law than its own congresses can pass, traditions permit, or conscience conceive."

William Gass Bio and Cross Links


Michael Silverblatt, dubbed "the best reader in America" by Norman Mailer and "a national treasure" by Susan Sontag, is host and producer of public radio's premier literary talk-show Bookworm. Silverblatt, a Lannan audience favorite, has participated in more than 30 Readings & Conversations programs.

Michael Silverblatt Bio and Cross Links