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A review by freewaygods
Giles Goat-Boy by John Barth
adventurous
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
I think that at this point in time, this novel unfortunately suffers from the fact that so many others have copied what Barth pioneered with it. He was at the bleeding edge of what’s now often referred to as American Postmodernism (never mind whether that’s accurate or not), and he described how literature at that point in time had exhausted itself of the contemporary modes and devices, and thus needed to reinvigorate and reinvent itself through parody, irony, pastiche, and metatextualism.
The problem is that this very reaction to the state of affairs during Barth’s time has pretty much come full circle here in 2023; what seemed fresh, groundbreaking, and exciting when Giles Goat-Boy was published now feels dated, overdone, and tired because so many have emulated and moved through and past it already.
The whole parody that Giles Goat-Boy is made of probably was hilarious and insightful when it was published, but it just doesn’t feel like that today. The book, unfortunately unlike The Sot-Weed Factor, can feel like a slog. Real Barthheads know that LETTERS necessitates reading it— so if that’s something you want to do, buckle up and hunker down and trudge through Giles Goat-Boy anyways.
The problem is that this very reaction to the state of affairs during Barth’s time has pretty much come full circle here in 2023; what seemed fresh, groundbreaking, and exciting when Giles Goat-Boy was published now feels dated, overdone, and tired because so many have emulated and moved through and past it already.
The whole parody that Giles Goat-Boy is made of probably was hilarious and insightful when it was published, but it just doesn’t feel like that today. The book, unfortunately unlike The Sot-Weed Factor, can feel like a slog. Real Barthheads know that LETTERS necessitates reading it— so if that’s something you want to do, buckle up and hunker down and trudge through Giles Goat-Boy anyways.