The avant garde fiction of philosophy Professor William Gass (b. 1924) is given a concise, close reading in this study. Holloway probes the author's philosophical theories and their use in his novels. He also gives a structural analysis by presenting Gass as both a realist and experimentalist whose appeal has been limited to an academic audience. This study reveals how Gass's interest in epistemology, motif and allegory dominate his major works, including the novel Omensetter's Luck. One chapter profiles the novelist just now emerging from obscurity; another dicusses his upcoming novel, The Runnel, which is expected to find a wide popular audience.