Publication date: April 7th, 2026
Twenty-six years in the making, William H. Gass’s The Tunnel appeared in 1995 and was immediately hailed as a masterpiece. It is the story of William Kohler, a middle-aged professor who, upon completion of his massive historical study Guilt and Innocence in Nazi Germany, finds himself writing about his own life instead of the introduction to his magnum opus. A colossal, labyrinthine investigation into the wreckage of the 20th century and the “fascism of the heart”—the American heart as much as the Nazi heart—The Tunnel has only grown more relevant in the three decades since its initial publication.
To celebrate and contextualize The Tunnel’s 30th anniversary reissue, Dalkey Archive Press has compiled a companion volume. Featuring original critical essays, archival material, recommendations for further reading, and two pieces by the author himself elaborating upon the book’s structure and themes, The Tunnel Reader opens up a new entrance into American literature’s darkest and most compelling labyrinth.
The Tunnel Reader is a special issue of The Review of Contemporary Fiction. The Review was founded in 1988 as a tri-quarterly journal featuring critical essays on fiction writers whose work resists convention and easy categorization. Above all, the Review attempts to expand readers’ notions of what fiction is and what it can do.
The Tunnel, The Tunnel Reader, and The Tunnel Audiobook are available to be purchased in a bundle here.