Mark Madigan shares a photograph of William Gaddis, captured by John Puleio, during one of his largely improvised lectures.
On November 5, 1979, William Gaddis delivered a lecture entitled “On the Theme of Failure in Contemporary Literature” at St. Michael’s College in Winooski, Vermont. There, he offered a preview of his best-known work of nonfiction, “The Rush for Second Place,” an examination of the multifarious ways in which failure pervades American life and letters. He discussed a wide range of topics at St. Michael’s, including critical responses to The Recognitions and J R, the pernicious influence of corporatism on American culture, the Protestant work ethic, the philosophy of pragmatism, the promise and degradation of the American Dream, as well as the legacy of Watergate, the win-at-all-costs ethos of football coach Vince Lombardi, J. Paul Getty’s How to be Rich, James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, and Bob Rafelson’s film Five Easy Pieces. On December 9th, the lecture was broadcast on Vermont Public Radio. The recording is collected in the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-211-30prrff0), which is accessible online.
Gaddis scholar Steven Moore has pointed out that the author was largely improvising in his lectures in 1979, as he referred to index cards on which he had written talking points, quotations, and jokes. What Gaddis had to report about American culture, society and politics was rather grim. As in his fiction, though, his unsparing analysis was leavened with wry wit. Consider, for instance, his advice to students in the audience, especially those who aspired to be writers. Stop smoking and take care of your teeth, he told them. Otherwise, he warned, both would become problems. And with that, he could be heard drawing off a cigarette.
In addition to the recording of Gaddis’s lecture, there is another artifact memorializing his visit to St. Michael’s College: this photograph (Figure 1) taken by undergraduate photojournalist John Puleio, who has generously granted permission for it to be published here.
