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虽然美国贡献了不少巨人、棒球手、布鲁斯歌手，但不幸的是，没能培养出多少年青的知识分子。因而“圣路易斯出了一位名列全世界最原创文人的william gass”这事是令人称奇的。
五十年来，gass 搜寻出不少挑战性的、令人印象至深的小说作品，通常还越出这一领域以揭示它们。他是valery， stein and rilke的拥虿，一位毫不遮掩的高雅艺术的爱好者。他最新的论文集“时间的检验”入围本年度国家图书评论奖。评奖结果将于下周揭晓。national book critics circle award。文集收有刚写的14篇文学、政治和讲故事的评论 storytelling。今年不大会有比它更具思想性的论文集了。
第一部分的主题是文学，作者以关于故事和小说区别的权威性文章来开始她越来越起劲的评论。这一段看上去很深奥，但也抵达了艺术和娱乐的本质故事是消遣性的，令人放松，而小说是复杂的，像生活本身一样长。
说起艺术，gass就油然势利眼起来，他嬉戏而又正经地展现了自己的这一态度。如本书标题所示，他谴责人们放纵于声色犬马。看足球、喝啤酒、享用冰淇淋，不看乔伊斯，有什么大不了的吗？gass认为这确实非同小可，那些活动不能让我们沉浸于想像之中，高尚艺术颂扬人类心灵之错综，低级艺术则贬损它。
小说的美学目标是以语词创造出一个世界，gass在“小说和生活的形象”他的第一部论文集中说。在时间的检验中他全面地对小说作品进行了检验。按照他的尺度，umberto eco and peter handke通过了时间的检验，安逸的现实主义则没有通过。 domestic realists
作为评论家，gass把标准也应用到了自己头上。一些评论者描述一本书，他则像是剥开一只桔子，并吮吸它的汁液。他的文章汪洋恣肆，体格饱满，主题上经常出人意料地四处旁逸。还有哪个评论家会说“让我们与艺术共谋，会哀叹读者不管不顾地拉下脸皮找乐，还有哪位评论家能如此机敏地在文章中冷箭迭出？
该书的第二部分，gass以特有的热情、偏门的话题迈向政治领域。其中的若干篇涉及到原教旨主义的威胁 －伊斯兰教的，基督教的或其他名目的－波及入艺术领域。他写道，伊斯兰法学家判处ayatollah khamenei所下的死刑判决是施向我们每个人的，它谋杀一张嘴，然而谋杀令是从谋杀者的嘴里发出的。
该书一些片断和最后部分稍有重复，这一缺陷是可以原谅的。不能像读报纸一样地读这本书，而应该沉浸于其中，看一颗伟大的心灵是如何工作、如何深入思考的。悲哀的是，虽然出版业生产的书越来越多，如此令人愉悦的好书却是异常罕见的。
although the united states has birthed its share of titans， ballplayers and bluesmen， we do not， unfortunately， raise our young to be intellectuals。 what a surprise， then， to learn that one of the most original literary minds in the world belongs to an essayist and novelist living in st。 louis: william gass。
for five decades， gass has searched out challenging and unforgiving works of fiction， often reaching beyond these shores to uncover them。 he is a proponent of valery， stein and rilke， an unabashed lover of high art。 his latest collection of essays， "tests of time，" is a finalist for this year"s national book critics circle award。 winners will be announced next week。 it contains fourteen new pieces on literature， politics and storytelling。 it"s unlikely a more thoughtful volume of critical prose will appear this year。
the theme of the first section is literary matters， and gass warms to the subject with an authoritative essay on the differences between story and fiction。 while the exercise sounds a little abstruse， it gets to the heart of what is art and what is entertainment。 stories are a palliative， gass says， while fictions are "complicated， often they are nearly as long as life itself。"
gass is an unapologetic snob when it comes to the arts， and wields this attitude in ways both playful and serious。 in the book"s title manifesto， he decries our appetite for easy amusement and gluttonous pleasures。 what does it matter， he jests， if we watch football， drink beer and wolf down ice cream instead of reading joyce？ it matters， he replies， because none of these activities immerses us in the imagination。 high art， he argues， celebrates the intricacies of the mind。 low art abases them。
"the esthetic aim of any fiction is the creation of a verbal world，" gass argued in "fiction and the figures of life" (1970)， his first collection of essays。 th肉ghout "tests of time，" he applies this test to works of fiction。 by his yardstick， umberto eco and peter handke pass the test of time; cozy domestic realists do not。
as a critic， gass holds himself up to this standard as well。 while some critics describe a book， he peels it like an orange and sucks its juice。 his prose is lavish and fatty， rich with digressions and propelled by whimsical turns of phrase。 how many critics would tell us "[w]e are in cahoots with art，" bemoan the rise of a "mute inglorious scanhappy reader，" or possess the dexterity to wrap a memory of making bombs into an essay on reading？
in the book"s second section， gass delves into politics with characteristic zeal and uncharacteristic topicality。 several of these essays touch on the threat that fundamentalism -- islamic， christian， or of any kind-- presents to artists。 'the fatwa，' he writes， referring to ayatollah khamenei"s death threat against salman rushdie， 'was pronounced against us all，' gass asserts。 'it commanded the murder of a mouth， yet issued from the mouth of a murderer。'
although some pieces in this and the book"s final section repeat themselves， that flaw is forgivable here。 one does not read these essays the way one does a newspaper; rather， one immerses in them to see a mind at work， thinking deeply。 sadly， although the publishing industry is putting out more books than ever， this is a rare pleasure， indeed。