Agapē Agape by William Gaddis
**Agapē Agape by William Gaddis: Concept Overview**
Agapē Agape is a novella by American author William Gaddis that explores themes of love, art, and the struggle for meaning in the face of mortality. The narrative is delivered through the voice of a dying man who is intent on conveying the essence of his life's work, particularly his reflections on the player piano and its historical significance. The title itself plays on the Greek term "agapē," which signifies unconditional love, suggesting a deeper connection between the personal and the communal that may be fraught with challenges.
The novella is characterized by its dense and complex writing style, marked by a lack of paragraph breaks and frequent use of multiple languages, making it a challenging read. Gaddis weaves together historical references and philosophical musings, notably invoking Jeremy Bentham's comparison of pleasure derived from games and poetry, underscoring the subjective nature of artistic value. The narrator's struggles with recognition and appreciation of his work serve as a poignant commentary on the often unacknowledged contributions of artists to society.
Ultimately, Agapē Agape culminates in a unique interaction with the reader, marking a departure from Gaddis's previous works. This direct address acts as both a grasp for hope and a reflection on the significance of communication in confronting life's ultimate finality. The novella invites readers to contemplate the interplay between personal legacy and collective understanding, making it a significant exploration of human experience.
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Agapē Agape by William Gaddis
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 2002
Type of work: Novel
The Work
Surrounded by the documents and papers accumulated over the course of his life, the dying man who narrates Agapē Agape is desperate to convey what he can of his work. The title is a pun: agapē is a Greek word referring to unconditional brotherly love and community, now most commonly used by Christians. For such love to be agape may mean that it has been torn apart, or caught off-guard and surprised. Indeed, in tracing the history of the player piano to other developments in the modern world—including the rising use of binary (which in turn led to the computer age), as well as changing attitudes about the individual’s relationship to art—the narrator is filled with frustration at how the significance of his work is not appreciated by the world at large.
There is a strong autobiographical element to the narrator, as Gaddis was also aware of his impending death and had decades of notes regarding his own history of the player piano. The writing is dense and intimidating. The syntax is more complex than any previous Gaddis harangue, with no paragraph breaks in the novella to help guide one’s reading. There are frequent lapses into other languages, as well as a constant stream of historical and artistic allusions. As an example, the narrator returns again and again to the philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s famous observation that pushpin (a pub game) is as good as poetry if the amount of pleasure is equal, and from there tends to link the word “pushpin” to Pushkin, referring to the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.
The narrator compares himself to his own documents, his skin parchment thin from medicine and held together by staples. His only refuge is the work that he is trying to complete: “hallucinations took place in the head, in the mind, now everything out there is the hallucination and the mind where the work is done is the only reality.” The novella ends much as it began, but the very act of communicating—the direct address to the reader, something Gaddis never attempted in his earlier novels—becomes its own message, its own grasp at hope and continuity in the face of bitter finality.
Bibliography
Bloom, Harold, ed. William Gaddis: Bloom’s Modern Critical Views. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2003.
Comnes, Gregory. The Ethics of Indeterminacy in the Novels of William Gaddis. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1994.
Johnston, John. Carnival of Repetition: Gaddis’s “The Recognitions” and Postmodern Theory. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990.
Knight, Christopher J. Hints and Guesses: William Gaddis’s Fiction of Longing. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1997.
Kuehl, John, and Steven Moore, eds. In Recognition of William Gaddis. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1984.
Moore, Steven. A Reader’s Guide to William Gaddis’s “The Recognitions.” Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982.
Moore, Steven. William Gaddis. Boston: Twayne, 1989.
Wolfe, Peter. A Vision of His Own: The Mind and Art of William Gaddis. Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1997.