Giles Goat-Boy

Giles Goat-Boy (or The Revised New Syllabus of George Giles our Grand Tutor) is a 1966 novel by the American writer John Barth. It is a satire and allegory of the American campus culture of the time. In 2001, Barth told Michael Silverblatt on KCRW's Bookworm that while he wrote the novel thinking the name 'Giles' was pronounced with "a hard 'G'... I liked the alliteration with 'Goat'", his editor naturally reminded him of the correct pronunciatio... More

Giles Goat-Boy (or The Revised New Syllabus of George Giles our Grand Tutor) is a 1966 novel by the American writer John Barth. It is a satire and allegory of the American campus culture of the time. In 2001, Barth told Michael Silverblatt on KCRW's Bookworm that while he wrote the novel thinking the name 'Giles' was pronounced with "a hard 'G'... I liked the alliteration with 'Goat'", his editor naturally reminded him of the correct pronunciation: the title is to be pronounced with a soft 'G', "whether we like it or not." George Giles is a boy raised as a farm animal who rises in life to Grand Tutor (spiritual leader) of the New Tammany College (the United States). He strives for herohood. The novel abounds in mythological and Christian allegories, as well as in allusions to the Cold War, 1960s academia, and religion. The role of the Grand Tutor (in German Grosslehrer) is that of a spiritual leader, and the novel mentions them with altered names than their actual mythological...

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