Influences
You need only to leaf through the exhibit catalog, A Temple of Texts: Fifty Literary Pillars, or look at the titles of his many essays to discern whom some of Gass's deepest literary influences are: Rilke, Proust, James, Stein, Borges, Kafka, Walser, Joyce, O'Brien, Porter... But for someone so steeped for so long in the best literature of the world (not to mention the philosophy and other types of books at his disposal), that list is only the beginning. The influences of William H. Gass are (and have been) topics for books and PhD dissertations to explore. And as Gass himself joins the luminaries of his library as an influence on the writers that are following him, his own literary pillar will surely be standing for as long as innovative prose is being written.
![Typescript drafts and notes of “The Religion of Consciousness” Typescript drafts and notes of “The Religion of Consciousness”](http://omeka.wustl.edu/omeka/files/square_thumbnails/e6b05ec23fdc6d048b9817e2939d5d69.jpg)
Drafts and notes for “The Religion of Consciousness” - an essay on Katerine Anne Porter written while Gass was at Purdue
!["Four Theories of Love" Lecture "Four Theories of Love" Lecture](http://omeka.wustl.edu/omeka/application/views/scripts/images/fallback-audio.png)
Audio of the first hour of the "Four Theories of Love" Lecture, in which Gass discusses Plato, Stendhal, Rilke and Freud
![Dust jacket for <em>"Masquerade” and Other Stories</em> Robert Walser. Translated by Susan Bernofsky and foreward by William H. Gass. Dust jacket for <em>"Masquerade” and Other Stories</em> Robert Walser. Translated by Susan Bernofsky and foreward by William H. Gass.](http://omeka.wustl.edu/omeka/files/square_thumbnails/ed0ffb22abf59ee6025e872c37c32437.jpg)
Dust jacket for "Masquerade” and Other Stories Robert Walser. Translated by Susan Bernofsky and foreward by William H. Gass