Conjunctions: 59, Colloquy

Colloquy offers a major portfolio of never-before-published correspondence by William Gaddis (1922–1998), a towering figure in twentieth-century literature and author of such novels as The Recognitions and JR. Readers will encounter Gaddis as a Harvard undergraduate making his first forays into fiction; struggling with his first book while scraping by in rented rooms in Panama, Spain and Paris; and grappling with his evolving status as an American writer and public figure. The selection includes his fan mail to other authors, passionate missives to his wives and lovers, tender and intimate notes to his children, frank and funny messages to friends such as David Markson and Saul Steinberg, and revelatory exchanges with scholars of his work. This issue of Conjunctions also includes fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction from Edie Meidav, Cole Swensen, Robert Olen Butler, Samuel R. Delany, Eliot Weinberger and others.