 First edition | |
| Author | John Barth |
|---|---|
| Original title | Giles Goat-Boy or The Revised New Syllabus of George Giles our Grand Tutor |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
Publication date | 1966 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 710 pp |
| OCLC | 15489838 |
| 813/.54 19 | |
| LC Class | PS3552.A75 G5 1987 |
Giles Goat-Boy (1966) is the fourth novel by American writer John Barth. It is a metafictional comic novel in which the universe is portrayed as a university campus in an elaborate allegory of both the hero's journey and the Cold War. Its title character is a human boy raised as a goat, who comes to believe he is the Grand Tutor, the predicted Messiah. The book was a surprise bestseller for the previously obscure Barth, and in the 1960s had a cult status. It marks Barth's leap into American postmodern fabulism.