On Being Blue is quite extraordinary. Very short, it is an inquiry by a philosopher into the wonders that can be worked with words. But although its terms of reference are, as might be expected, genuinely conceptual, it had not crossed my mind that anyone whose intentions were analytic could be so comprehensively at ease in the use of language….

[Gass's] territory is that of the professional writer—he is also a novelist—and his assumption is that the author's skill lies in fashioning sentences that will serve as "containers of consciousness"—especially, he wants to suggest, erotic consciousness. And he exploits his own virtuosity as a means of stealing up on truths about such uses of language; ones that lie beyond the reach of jargon or of any formal scheme.

The care with which he writes reflects Professor Gass's eagerness that there should be no neat stories...