William Howard Gass was born in Fargo, North Dakota, on 30 July 1924 but his family almost immediately moved to Warren, Ohio, where he grew up. As a child he found it difficult to deal with an alcoholic mother and a father crippled with arthritis. His response was to reject his background as entirely as he could and to develop instead an emotional attitude that would later be reflected in his aesthetics: he detached himself, became a formalist, and in the process began to submit himself to a type of rigorous, philosophical training. He began college at Kenyon and briefly attended Ohio Wesleyan before serving as an ensign in the navy in World War II. After the war, he returned to Kenyon where he majored in philosophy (B.A., 1947). He also audited a few courses taught by New Critic John Crowe Ransom and unsuccessfully tried to publish some early work...