William Gay Archive — PAUL NITSCHE

Contents:

• THE LOST COUNTRY BY WILLIAM GAY
• WILLIAM GAY ARCHIVE
• THE LOST COUNTRY, A POSTHUMO NOVEL BY WILLIAM GAY, REVIEWED BY MICHAEL A. FERRO
• THE LOST COUNTRY BY WILLIAM GAY

THE LOST COUNTRY BY WILLIAM GAY

The Lost Country was published posthumoly, ten years after thor William Gay’s ath. Fans of Gay’s work speculate when the text was posed, batg whether fell toward the begng or end of his reer. Regardls of Gay’s origal tentns, the novel’s lack of a plete arc ftly explor the actured nature of the Amerin dream the south.

Gay suggts that there is no space for nnectn wh this ght landspe – that survival and livg are distct om one another, and the latter nnot be accsed by lower-class southerners like Edgewater. Midway through the novel, Gay wr that “realy only touched Edgewater plac of transiency, jails and b statns, the highway.

While we nnot be certa what Gay’s tentns were for the novel when he first drafted , the rult is a hntg and visceral renrg of the Amerin south.

WILLIAM GAY ARCHIVE

Hound at every turn by sms, vigilant, grievo loss, and unspeakable vlence, Edgewater navigat the long road home, searchg for a place that may be nothg but as “a seemgly effortls storyteller” by the New York Tim Book Review and “a wrer of strikg talent” by the Chigo Tribune, William Gay, wh this long-awaed novel, secur his place alongsi Flkner, O’Connor, and McCarthy as one of the greatt novelists the Southern Gothic tradn. ”—The Tim“Gay’s style was fully formed: sister and lovely, dark and atmospheric, blood-soaked and word-dnk. ”—Wall Street Journal“The pleasure that Gay, a self-ted Vietnam veteran, tak om language is equently a thg of bety...

THE LOST COUNTRY, A POSTHUMO NOVEL BY WILLIAM GAY, REVIEWED BY MICHAEL A. FERRO

”—The Lerary Review“Gay’s great abili character buildg, richns of language and storytellg are on full display this posthumo novel. ”—Charl Frazier, thor of Vara “Gay's midcentury Tennsee is a realm of bad weather and small-town lowlif, vagrancy laws, and bootleg liquor; every man is a dnk, alternately listls and ltful and vlent; every woman is fed by the e she mak (or once ma, or will make) of her body. Infili, prison breaks, murro revenge, biblil language, and a ep kship between the land and s habants—Gay's novel is full-on Southern gothic.

”—Kirk Reviews“There is so much to be awed by Gay’s new novel and only mak miss him all the more, though is a ls-than-subtle remr of how lucky we are to have had him share his talent wh while he was here. William Gay uld wre a grocery list and make sg and burn off the pag equal measure, and The Lost Country is yet another ttament to his unniable virtuosy wh the wrten word.

”—Heavy Feather Review “William Gay is a flat-out monster.

THE LOST COUNTRY BY WILLIAM GAY

”—Parnass Books Remend Reads“Like so many fans of Gay's, I've been wag to read this seemgly mythil work, The Lost Country, for que some 's elegiac prose sgs once aga as he breath life to his characters and m his patch of soil wh the skill of the old masters. For those of who cherish and honor Gay's tremendo talent, his bold method of seeg the waste and wonr we are, this posthumo novel is a remr of what we miss: the language pched toward the sublime, his men and women grapplg for remptn a world that has damned them, his unrstandg of grace the prence of human badns. When Gay died too soon, we lost much, but The Lost Country giv a piece of him back to .

”—The Next Bt Book Club ABOUT THE AUTHORBorn Tennsee 1939, William Gay began wrg at fifteen and wrote his first novel at twenty-five, but didn't beg publishg well to his fifti. The Lost Country cements Gay as one of the strongt voic Southern lerature, alongsi Cormac McCarthy, Flannery O'Connor, and William Flkner. William Gay.

Fragmented posthumo novel displays Gay’s talent at most raw.

There are passag where Gay’s sight to the human spir overwhelms you wh power. Roosterfish and Bradshaw are amazg characters; among the most distct and memorable Gay has ever created. You are nstantly remd of Gay’s gift and nstantly remd of our loss at his passg.

Gays iends and piled om his draft mancript and several notebooks.