The Tunnel

by William H. Gass · 1995

William H. Gass’s monumental second novel, *The Tunnel*, first appeared in 1995 after three decades of labor. The narrative follows middle‑aged history professor William Kohler, who, on the brink of completing his massive study *Guilt and Innocence in Hitler’s Germany*, turns inward and begins to write a novel about his own life. As he digs a literal tunnel beneath his home to hide—or escape—from the past he has catalogued, the work becomes a sprawling meditation on history, fascism, hatred, unhappiness, language, and the “fascism of the heart.” The novel is celebrated for its experimental, labyrinthine prose and its relentless interrogation of personal and collective darkness.