William Goyen
Encyclopedia
Charles William Goyen was an American
novelist, short story
writer
, playwright
, poet
, editor
, and teacher
. Born in a small town in East Texas, these roots would influence his work for his entire life.
In World War II
he served as an officer aboard an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific, where he began work on one of his most important and critically acclaimed books, The House of Breath
. After the war and through the 1950s he published short stories, collections of stories, other novels, and plays. He never achieved commercial success in America, but his translated work was highly regarded in Europe. During his life he could not completely support himself through his writing, so at various times he took work as an editor and teacher at several prominent universities. At one point he did not write fiction for several years, calling it a “relief” to not have to worry about his writing.
Major themes in his work include home and family, place, time, sexuality, isolation, and memory. His style of writing is not easily categorized, and he eschewed labels of genre placed on his works.
In 1963, he married Doris Roberts
, the actress perhaps best known for her work in Everybody Loves Raymond
; they remained together until his death in 1983.
on April 24, 1915 to Charles Provine and Mary Inez (Trow) Goyen. His father worked at the local sawmill, and his mother's family ran the post office.
He was the oldest of three children and thought to be epileptic; he “was subject to sudden and prolonged spells of crying.” At the age of eight he moved with his family to Houston
, where he spent his adolescence. In 1932 he graduated from Sam Houston High School. He attended Rice Institute (now University
), where he earned a B.A. in literature (1937) and an M.A. in comparative literature (1939). He briefly pursued a Ph.D. at the University of Iowa.
in 1939, then enlisted in the U.S. Navy that same year. During World War II
he served as an officer on the aircraft carrier USS Casablanca
in the South Pacific. After the war he and Navy friend Walter Berns
moved to Taos, New Mexico, where they lived near benefactor Frieda Lawrence (widow of D.H. Lawrence) to pursue writing. He traveled and lived at various times in New Mexico, Europe, New York, and California, living principally in New York.
From 1955 to 1960, he taught creative writing at the New School of Social Research, which provided opportunities for European travel and literary productivity. During the 1960s he taught at various universities, including Columbia
, Princeton
, and the University of Houston
. From 1966 to 1971 he was a senior trade editor for McGraw-Hill
, but resigned to return to his writing. In 1973 he was visiting Professor of English at Brown University
. He moved to Los Angeles in 1975 and lived there most of the rest of his life.
In 1951 he had an affair with writer Katherine Anne Porter
, but their restored letters to each other during this time reveal “the convoluted nature” of their relationship, “one of the most hopeless of her life”.
His interest in the theatre and stage productions (original plays and adaptations of his own work) brought him into contact with the actress Doris Roberts
, who starred in one of his plays. They married on November 10, 1963. Ms. Roberts is perhaps best known for her role as Marie Barone in the popular television sit-com Everybody Loves Raymond
. In an interview after his death, Ms. Roberts said the greatest influence on her life was Goyen, referring to him as her “mentor.”
In 1971, Goyen had a conversion experience
, which he described in some detail:
This experience produced the nonfiction work, A Book of Jesus. Of this work Goyen said: “A very real man began to live with me, of flesh and blood. He did the same work on me that He did on the people of the New Testament that He walked among….”
In 1976 he joined Alcoholics Anonymous
and stopped drinking altogether. His later years were among the most productive in his life.
Goyen died in Los Angeles
of leukemia
on August 29, 1983, aged 68, two months before his novel Arcadio was published.
, when he served on an aircraft carrier during World War II
. After the war he continued work on the novel and began writing short stories. His first published short story, “The White Rooster,” appeared in Mademoiselle
in April 1947. Other stories included “The Fallen Splendid House” in Southwest Review
, in Spring 1949, and “A Bridge of Breath” in Partisan Review
, in June 1949. In 1948 he received a Literary Fellowship from Southwest Review
. During this time he was also working on a translation from French of Albert Cossery’s
Les fainéants dans la vallée fertile (The Lazy Ones), which would be published in 1952.
In 1950, his first book, The House of Breath
, was received with critical acclaim and led to support through fellowships and awards. In 1950-51, he lived in New York, Chicago, Houston, Texas, and New Mexico while completing stories for what would be his first collection, Ghost and Flesh: Stories and Tales. About this time his work was being translated into German and French by Ernst Robert Curtius
and Maurice Coindreau in Europe, where it remains in print in several languages and where he is highly regarded.
In the early 1950s he began to write plays and adaptations of his own works for the stage, and he eventually had several of his plays produced over many years: The Diamond Rattler (1960), Christy (1964), House of Breath Black/White (1971), and Aimee (1973).
In 1954 the stage version of his first novel was produced off Broadway, and 1955 saw publication of his second novel, In a Farther Country, which had a hostile reception. During this time he was becoming more involved in the theatre world and traveled back and forth between New York and New Mexico. In 1958 he revised the screenplay and wrote song lyrics for the Paul Newman
movie The Left-Handed Gun. A comic novel, The Fair Sister, about two African American families, was published in 1963, but it was pulled by the publisher after a reviewer in The New York Times Book Review
called Goyen “insensitive.”
He continued to have difficulty finding publishers and audiences for his work in America. Perhaps because of this he gave up his own writing when he was an editor with McGraw-Hill, from 1966 to 1971. Goyen said later about this time in his life: “There was no question of my own writing. I was relieved not to have to worry about my own writing.”
Following a conversion experience in 1971, he published the non-fiction work, A Book of Jesus, in 1973. A biographer later noted: “Jesus cost Goyen his editorial job.”
His fourth novel, Come the Restorer, was published in 1974. This tale about a community’s search for a savior Goyen called his “biggest accomplishment.”
Still, his limited readership made commercial publishers wary, and even for Arcadio, his final and perhaps best-known novel, he had to search widely for an interested firm. By this time “no one would touch his writing.” Arcadio was published two months after his death in 1983. The book concerns a hermaphrodite who, in general terms, is seeking a way to reconcile the warring halves of his/her self.
A posthumous publication included Half a Look of Cain: A Fantastical Narrative, which was written in the 1950s and early 1960s and was published in 1998.
, and a sense of story and place.
His style has been compared to Virginia Woolf
, William Faulkner
, and Gabriel García Márquez
. Biographer Peede notes that his works are known “for their incantatory passages, their fragmented brilliance, but not their seamless design.”
Critics have tried to define his style with labels such as Southern
, Southern Gothic
, modernist
, postmodernist, contemporary
, and magical realist. But Goyen insisted that his work should be considered outside any genre: “I’m really not very interested in contemporary fiction, anyway. I consider my fiction absolutely separate and apart from and unrelated to “contemporary American fiction.”
In 2001, Goyen's widow established The Doris Roberts-William Goyen Fellowship in Fiction through The Christopher Isherwood
Foundation. The monetary award is given annually and intended to support writers who have published at least one book of fiction, either a novel or a collection of stories.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
novelist, short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, editor
Editor
The term editor may refer to:As a person who does editing:* Editor in chief, having final responsibility for a publication's operations and policies* Copy editing, making formatting changes and other improvements to text...
, and teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
. Born in a small town in East Texas, these roots would influence his work for his entire life.
In World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he served as an officer aboard an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific, where he began work on one of his most important and critically acclaimed books, The House of Breath
The House of Breath
The House of Breath is a novel written by the American author William Goyen. It was his first book, published in 1950. It is not a novel in the usual sense in that it lacks traditional plot and character development. Upon its publication, reviewers noted the book for its unusual literary technique...
. After the war and through the 1950s he published short stories, collections of stories, other novels, and plays. He never achieved commercial success in America, but his translated work was highly regarded in Europe. During his life he could not completely support himself through his writing, so at various times he took work as an editor and teacher at several prominent universities. At one point he did not write fiction for several years, calling it a “relief” to not have to worry about his writing.
Major themes in his work include home and family, place, time, sexuality, isolation, and memory. His style of writing is not easily categorized, and he eschewed labels of genre placed on his works.
In 1963, he married Doris Roberts
Doris Roberts
Doris Roberts is an American character actress of film, stage and television. She has received five Emmy Awards. She began her career in 1952, and may be best-known as Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond from 1996–2005....
, the actress perhaps best known for her work in Everybody Loves Raymond
Everybody Loves Raymond
Everybody Loves Raymond is an American television sitcom that originally ran on CBS from September 13, 1996, to May 16, 2005. Many of the situations from the show are based on the real-life experiences of lead actor Ray Romano, creator/producer Phil Rosenthal and the show's writing staff...
; they remained together until his death in 1983.
Early years
Goyen was born in the small town of Trinity, TexasTrinity, Texas
Trinity is a city in Trinity County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,721 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Trinity is located at ....
on April 24, 1915 to Charles Provine and Mary Inez (Trow) Goyen. His father worked at the local sawmill, and his mother's family ran the post office.
He was the oldest of three children and thought to be epileptic; he “was subject to sudden and prolonged spells of crying.” At the age of eight he moved with his family to Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, where he spent his adolescence. In 1932 he graduated from Sam Houston High School. He attended Rice Institute (now University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
), where he earned a B.A. in literature (1937) and an M.A. in comparative literature (1939). He briefly pursued a Ph.D. at the University of Iowa.
Career
Goyen taught for one year at the University of HoustonUniversity of Houston
The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...
in 1939, then enlisted in the U.S. Navy that same year. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he served as an officer on the aircraft carrier USS Casablanca
USS Casablanca (CVE-55)
The USS Casablanca was a United States Navy escort aircraft carrier, lead ship of her class, named after the city of Casablanca, Morocco.Casablanca has borne three names and three type designators...
in the South Pacific. After the war he and Navy friend Walter Berns
Walter Berns
Walter Berns is an American constitutional law and political philosophy professor. He is currently a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a professor emeritus at Georgetown University.- Early life and career :...
moved to Taos, New Mexico, where they lived near benefactor Frieda Lawrence (widow of D.H. Lawrence) to pursue writing. He traveled and lived at various times in New Mexico, Europe, New York, and California, living principally in New York.
From 1955 to 1960, he taught creative writing at the New School of Social Research, which provided opportunities for European travel and literary productivity. During the 1960s he taught at various universities, including Columbia
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, and the University of Houston
University of Houston
The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...
. From 1966 to 1971 he was a senior trade editor for McGraw-Hill
McGraw-Hill
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., is a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Its primary areas of business are financial, education, publishing, broadcasting, and business services...
, but resigned to return to his writing. In 1973 he was visiting Professor of English at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
. He moved to Los Angeles in 1975 and lived there most of the rest of his life.
Personal life
Biographers have noted his sometimes excessive drinking, sometimes fragile mental state, and ambiguous sexual orientation. Although frequently thought of as homosexual or bisexual, he married late but happily. His drinking at times became debilitating. Of his mental state when he would work, Goyen stated: “Ghost and Flesh . . . you can see in those stories . . . wow . . . quite surreal and I loved those, and when that was finished and published, I kind of went off the beam. I think the book made me quite mad; writing it, the obsession of that book;…”In 1951 he had an affair with writer Katherine Anne Porter
Katherine Anne Porter
Katherine Anne Porter was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist. Her 1962 novel Ship of Fools was the best-selling novel in America that year, but her short stories received much more critical acclaim...
, but their restored letters to each other during this time reveal “the convoluted nature” of their relationship, “one of the most hopeless of her life”.
His interest in the theatre and stage productions (original plays and adaptations of his own work) brought him into contact with the actress Doris Roberts
Doris Roberts
Doris Roberts is an American character actress of film, stage and television. She has received five Emmy Awards. She began her career in 1952, and may be best-known as Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond from 1996–2005....
, who starred in one of his plays. They married on November 10, 1963. Ms. Roberts is perhaps best known for her role as Marie Barone in the popular television sit-com Everybody Loves Raymond
Everybody Loves Raymond
Everybody Loves Raymond is an American television sitcom that originally ran on CBS from September 13, 1996, to May 16, 2005. Many of the situations from the show are based on the real-life experiences of lead actor Ray Romano, creator/producer Phil Rosenthal and the show's writing staff...
. In an interview after his death, Ms. Roberts said the greatest influence on her life was Goyen, referring to him as her “mentor.”
In 1971, Goyen had a conversion experience
Religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...
, which he described in some detail:
This experience produced the nonfiction work, A Book of Jesus. Of this work Goyen said: “A very real man began to live with me, of flesh and blood. He did the same work on me that He did on the people of the New Testament that He walked among….”
In 1976 he joined Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
and stopped drinking altogether. His later years were among the most productive in his life.
Goyen died in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
of leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
on August 29, 1983, aged 68, two months before his novel Arcadio was published.
Writing
Goyen began writing what would become his first book, The House of BreathThe House of Breath
The House of Breath is a novel written by the American author William Goyen. It was his first book, published in 1950. It is not a novel in the usual sense in that it lacks traditional plot and character development. Upon its publication, reviewers noted the book for its unusual literary technique...
, when he served on an aircraft carrier during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After the war he continued work on the novel and began writing short stories. His first published short story, “The White Rooster,” appeared in Mademoiselle
Mademoiselle (magazine)
Mademoiselle was an influential women's magazine first published in 1935 by Street and Smith and later acquired by Condé Nast Publications....
in April 1947. Other stories included “The Fallen Splendid House” in Southwest Review
Southwest Review
The Southwest Review is a literary journal published quarterly, based on the Southern Methodist University campus in Dallas, Texas. It is the third oldest literary quarterly in the United States of America . The current editor-in-chief is Willard Spiegelman.The journal was formerly known as the...
, in Spring 1949, and “A Bridge of Breath” in Partisan Review
Partisan Review
Partisan Review was an American political and literary quarterly published from 1934 to 2003, though it suspended publication between October 1936 and December 1937.-Overview:...
, in June 1949. In 1948 he received a Literary Fellowship from Southwest Review
Southwest Review
The Southwest Review is a literary journal published quarterly, based on the Southern Methodist University campus in Dallas, Texas. It is the third oldest literary quarterly in the United States of America . The current editor-in-chief is Willard Spiegelman.The journal was formerly known as the...
. During this time he was also working on a translation from French of Albert Cossery’s
Albert Cossery
Albert Cossery was an Egyptian-born French writer of Greek Orthodox Syrian and Lebanese descent, born in Cairo.- Life :...
Les fainéants dans la vallée fertile (The Lazy Ones), which would be published in 1952.
In 1950, his first book, The House of Breath
The House of Breath
The House of Breath is a novel written by the American author William Goyen. It was his first book, published in 1950. It is not a novel in the usual sense in that it lacks traditional plot and character development. Upon its publication, reviewers noted the book for its unusual literary technique...
, was received with critical acclaim and led to support through fellowships and awards. In 1950-51, he lived in New York, Chicago, Houston, Texas, and New Mexico while completing stories for what would be his first collection, Ghost and Flesh: Stories and Tales. About this time his work was being translated into German and French by Ernst Robert Curtius
Ernst Robert Curtius
Ernst Robert Curtius was a German literary scholar, a philologist and Romance language literary critic....
and Maurice Coindreau in Europe, where it remains in print in several languages and where he is highly regarded.
In the early 1950s he began to write plays and adaptations of his own works for the stage, and he eventually had several of his plays produced over many years: The Diamond Rattler (1960), Christy (1964), House of Breath Black/White (1971), and Aimee (1973).
In 1954 the stage version of his first novel was produced off Broadway, and 1955 saw publication of his second novel, In a Farther Country, which had a hostile reception. During this time he was becoming more involved in the theatre world and traveled back and forth between New York and New Mexico. In 1958 he revised the screenplay and wrote song lyrics for the Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
movie The Left-Handed Gun. A comic novel, The Fair Sister, about two African American families, was published in 1963, but it was pulled by the publisher after a reviewer in The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to The New York Times in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read book review publications in the industry. The offices are located near Times Square in New York...
called Goyen “insensitive.”
He continued to have difficulty finding publishers and audiences for his work in America. Perhaps because of this he gave up his own writing when he was an editor with McGraw-Hill, from 1966 to 1971. Goyen said later about this time in his life: “There was no question of my own writing. I was relieved not to have to worry about my own writing.”
Following a conversion experience in 1971, he published the non-fiction work, A Book of Jesus, in 1973. A biographer later noted: “Jesus cost Goyen his editorial job.”
His fourth novel, Come the Restorer, was published in 1974. This tale about a community’s search for a savior Goyen called his “biggest accomplishment.”
Still, his limited readership made commercial publishers wary, and even for Arcadio, his final and perhaps best-known novel, he had to search widely for an interested firm. By this time “no one would touch his writing.” Arcadio was published two months after his death in 1983. The book concerns a hermaphrodite who, in general terms, is seeking a way to reconcile the warring halves of his/her self.
A posthumous publication included Half a Look of Cain: A Fantastical Narrative, which was written in the 1950s and early 1960s and was published in 1998.
Writing Style
Goyen is considered "a writer's writer." His East Texas origins and early childhood had an enduring influence on the speech patterns and cultural characteristics reflected in his writings, which are marked by the rhythms of rural speech, the BibleBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, and a sense of story and place.
His style has been compared to Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
, William Faulkner
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
, and Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
. Biographer Peede notes that his works are known “for their incantatory passages, their fragmented brilliance, but not their seamless design.”
Critics have tried to define his style with labels such as Southern
Southern literature
Southern literature is defined as American literature about the Southern United States or by writers from this region...
, Southern Gothic
Southern Gothic
Southern Gothic is a subgenre of Gothic fiction unique to American literature that takes place exclusively in the American South. It resembles its parent genre in that it relies on supernatural, ironic, or unusual events to guide the plot...
, modernist
Modernist literature
Modernist literature is sub-genre of Modernism, a predominantly European movement beginning in the early 20th century that was characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional aesthetic forms...
, postmodernist, contemporary
Contemporary literature
Contemporary literature is literature with its setting generally after World War II. Subgenres of contemporary literature include contemporary romance.-History:This table lists literary movements by decade. It should not be assumed to be comprehensive....
, and magical realist. But Goyen insisted that his work should be considered outside any genre: “I’m really not very interested in contemporary fiction, anyway. I consider my fiction absolutely separate and apart from and unrelated to “contemporary American fiction.”
Themes
Recurring themes in Goyen’s work include alienation (from self and from the world), isolation, loneliness, home and family, time, memory, spirituality, sexuality, and place.Awards and honors
Goyen was the recipient of several awards and fellowships. These included:- Southwest Review Literary Fellowship, 1949
- MacMurray Award for best first novel by a Texan, 1950
- Guggenheim Fellowship, 1952 and 1954
- Ford Foundation grantee, 1963–64
- Music awards for words and music, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (A.S.C.A.P.), 1964, 1965, 1968, 1970, and 1971
- Distinguished Alumnus Award, Rice University, 1977
Importance and legacy
The importance of Goyen’s contribution to literature is not settled. Some critics have argued that he may yet prove to be one of the most distinctive literary voices of the 20th century. His books continued to remain in print in Europe long after they were unavailable in America.In 2001, Goyen's widow established The Doris Roberts-William Goyen Fellowship in Fiction through The Christopher Isherwood
Christopher Isherwood
Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was an English-American novelist.-Early life and work:Born at Wyberslegh Hall, High Lane, Cheshire in North West England, Isherwood spent his childhood in various towns where his father, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was stationed...
Foundation. The monetary award is given annually and intended to support writers who have published at least one book of fiction, either a novel or a collection of stories.
Novels
- The House of BreathThe House of BreathThe House of Breath is a novel written by the American author William Goyen. It was his first book, published in 1950. It is not a novel in the usual sense in that it lacks traditional plot and character development. Upon its publication, reviewers noted the book for its unusual literary technique...
(1950) - In a Farther Country (1952)
- The Fair Sister (1963)
- Come the Restorer (1974)
- Arcadio (1983)
Short story collections
- Ghost and Flesh: Stories and Tales (1952)
- The Faces of Blood Kindred (1960)
- The Collected Stories (1975)
- Had I a Hundred Mouths (1988)
Plays
- The House of Breath (1956)
- The Diamond Rattler (1960)
- Christy (1964)
- House of Breath Black/White (1971)
- Aimee (1973)