Thirty years in the making, William Gass's second novel first appeared
on the literary scene in 1995, at which time it was promptly hailed as
an indisputable masterpiece. The story of a middle aged professor who,
upon completion of his massive historical study, "Guilt and Innocence in
Hitler's Germany," finds himself writing a novel about his own life
instead of the introduction to his magnum opus. The Tunnel meditates
on history, hatred, unhappiness, and, above all, language.