Jack Green

Who is Jack Green?

jack green is the pseudonym for Christopher Carlisle Reid, a literary critic who was a great defender of the work of William Gaddis. Reid—who took the name from a racing form after he quit his job to become a freelance critic—particularly admired Gaddis' 1955 novel The Recognitions, which flopped upon being published. Reid/green believed that the commercial failure of the hardcover edition of Gaddis novel was the result of it having been panned by literary critics. Reid/green's faith in Gaddis was borne out when The Recognitions was chosen as one of TIME magazine's 100 best novels from 1923 to 2005.

As jack green, Reid started a self-published fanzine called newspaper dedicated to the work of Gaddis. In the first edition of the 'zine, green claimed that The Recognitions was the greatest book of all time. After meeting Gaddis, green wrote an article called Fire the bastards! for newspaper #12 that fiercely denounced the literary critics whom he believes doomed the novel with their bad reviews. In 1962, he also took out a full-page ad in The Village Voice heralding the paperback edition of The Recognitions.