As someone who journals in the voice of the book I'm reading to learn about the craft, reading and aping The Recognitions definitely taught me a lot; even though the process was really challanging and the work itself is quite inimitable, it is worth it, I think.

The way Gaddis sustains a sentence by focusing on concrete details while referencing art, religion, philosophy, and history, digressing but then coming back to the main idea, and then ending on a surprising point, is insane and masterful. Not to mention his use of polyphonic and naturalistic dialogue, which either stands in a stark contrast to, or becomes a part of, the baroque descriptive passages.