{"product_id":"in-the-heart-of-the-heart-of-the-country-and-other-stories-9781590177648","title":"In the Heart of the Heart of the Country: And Other Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst published in 1968, \u003ci\u003eIn the Heart of the Heart of the Country\u003c\/i\u003e established William Gass as one of America's finest and boldest writers of fiction, and nearly fifty years later, the book still stands as a landmark of contemporary fiction. The two novellas and three short stories it contains are all set in the Midwest, and together they offer a mythical reimagining of America's heartland, with its punishing extremes of heat and cold, its endless spaces and claustrophobic households, its hidden and baffled desires, its lurking threat of violence. Exploring and expanding the limits of the short story, Gass works magic with words, words that are as squirming, regal, and unexpected as the roaches, boys, icicles, neighbors, and neuroses that fill these pages, words that shock, dazzle, illumine, and delight.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam H. Gass\u003c\/b\u003e (b. 1924) is an essayist, novelist, and literary critic. He grew up in Ohio and is a former professor of philosophy at Washington University. Among his books are six works of fiction and nine books of nonfiction, including \u003ci\u003eOn Being Blue\u003c\/i\u003e (1976; published as an NYRB Classic), \u003ci\u003eTests of Time\u003c\/i\u003e (2002), \u003ci\u003eA Temple of Texts\u003c\/i\u003e (2006), and \u003ci\u003eLife Sentences\u003c\/i\u003e (2012). Gass lives with his wife, the architect Mary Gass, in St. Louis. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e Joanna Scott\u003c\/b\u003e's most recent novel is \u003ci\u003eDe Potter's Grand Tour\u003c\/i\u003e. Her other books include the novels \u003ci\u003eArrogance\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Manikin\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eFollow Me \u003c\/i\u003eand the story collections \u003ci\u003eVarious Antidotes\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eEverybody Loves Somebody\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"New York Review of Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50647625728274,"sku":"9781590177648","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_6c41029c-3deb-4adc-a48c-05dff774a2e9.jpg?v=1734803211","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/in-the-heart-of-the-heart-of-the-country-and-other-stories-9781590177648","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}