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Herbert Gold

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Herbert Gold
Born(1924-03-09)March 9, 1924
Lakewood, Ohio,U.S.
DiedNovember 19, 2023(2023-11-19)(aged 99)
San Francisco, California,U.S.
EducationSorbonne
Alma materColumbia University(AB,AM)
Spouses
Edith Zubrin
​
​
(m.1948;div.1956)​
Melissa Dilworth
​
​
(m.1968;div.1975)​
Children5, includingAri Gold

Herbert Gold(March 9, 1924 – November 19, 2023) was an American novelist.

Early life

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Herbert Gold was born on March 9, 1924, in theClevelandsuburb ofLakewood, Ohio,to aRussian Jewishfamily.[1][2][3]His parents were Samuel S. and Frieda (Frankel) Gold. His father ran a fruit store and later a grocery store.[4]Gold memorialized his hometown in his first book,Birth of a Hero(1951). He attended Taft Elementary andLakewood High School.[5][6]

Gold moved to New York City at age 17 after several of his poems had been accepted by New York literary magazines. While there, he studied philosophy atColumbia Universityand became affiliated with the burgeoningBeat Generation,which resulted in a lifelong friendship with writerAllen Ginsberg.His studies were interrupted when he served in theUnited States Armyfrom 1943 until 1946, during World War II.[6]

In 1946, Gold graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. degree,[6]and M.A. degree in 1948.

Despite being intertwined with the literary history of San Francisco which greatly defined the Beat Generation, Gold did not consider himself to have ever been a member of this group of writers.[7][8]In a 2017 interview with Washington Post journalist Jeff Weiss, Gold was referred to as a "Beat-adjacent novelist."[7][8]

Career

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Gold won aFulbright Scholarship(1948–1951) and moved to Paris with his new wife Edith Zubrin, and while in Paris he finished his first novel.[2]He attended classes at theSorbonnein Paris during his Fulbright Scholarship.[1]

After that, he moved around as he wrote, traveling toHaitiand Detroit, and hitchhiking all over the United States. He finally settled in San Francisco, where he became a fixture in the literary scene. In 1958 Gold taught English literature atCornell University,asVladimir Nabokov's successor.

Genesis West(Vol. 6), was published in the Winter of 1964 with an interview of Herbert Gold byGordon Lish.

Gold's final publication, the poetry collectionFathers Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems,co-written with Ari Gold, is forthcoming from Rare Bird Books in March 2024.[9]

Personal life

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Gold was married to writer and professorEdith Zubrinfrom 1948 until 1956, ending in divorce.[10][11]From this marriage Gold is father of daughtersAnn GoldandJudith Gold.[11][10]Edith Zubrin died in 2000.[11]

Gold was married to the daughter ofJ. Richardson Dilworth,Melissa Dilworth, from 1968 until 1975, with whom he had three children: daughterNina Goldand twin boysAri Goldand Ethan Gold.[10][12]After they divorced, Melissa married again, and she later became involved with concert promoterBill Graham.[12]She died with Graham in ahelicoptercrash in 1991.[12]

In contrast to many in the Beat Generation, Gold was a resident of San Francisco's more conservative, tourist-friendlyRussian Hillneighborhood, where he lived in the same apartment for over 60 years.[7][8]He died there on November 19, 2023, at the age of 99.[1]

Publications

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Books

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  • Gold, Herbert (1951).Birth of a Hero.Viking Press.ISBN978-0670169252.
  • Gold, Herbert (1955).Room Clerk, Original Title: The Prospect Before Us.Signet Skid-Row.
  • Gold, Herbert (1956).The Man Who Was Not With It.Little, Brown.ISBN0-912697-69-5.
  • Gold, Herbert (1959).The Optimist: A Novel.An Atlantic Monthly Press Book. Little, Brown.
  • Gold, Herbert (1960).Therefore Be Bold, A Novel.Dial Press.
  • Gold, Herbert (1963).Salt: A Novel.Dial Press.
  • Gold, Herbert (1966).Fathers: A Novel in the Form of a Memoir.ISBN0-87795-550-6.
  • Gold, Herbert (1969).The Great American Jackpot.Random House.
  • Gold, Herbert (1972).My Last Two Thousand Years(autobiography). Random House.ISBN978-0394470986.
  • Gold, Herbert (1973).The Young Prince and the Magic Cone.Doubleday.ISBN0-385-01519-4.
  • Gold, Herbert (1974).Swiftie the Magician.McGraw Hill.ISBN9780070236455.
  • Gold, Herbert (1977).Waiting for Cordelia.New York City, New York:Arbor House.ISBN9780877951544.[13]
  • Gold, Herbert (1979).Slave Trade.New York City, New York: Arbor House.ISBN978-0877952176.
  • Gold, Herbert (1980).He/She.New York City, New York: Arbor House.ISBN9780877952640.
  • Gold, Herbert (1981).Family: A Novel in the Form of a Memoir.Primus library of contemporary Americana. New York City, New York: Arbor House.ISBN9780877953326.
  • Gold, Herbert (1982).True Love.New York City, New York: Arbor House.ISBN9780877954255.
  • Gold, Herbert (1984).Mister White Eyes: A Novel.New York City, New York: Arbor House.ISBN9780877956365.
  • Gold, Herbert (1986).A Girl of Forty.New York City, New York: D.I. Fine.ISBN9780917657634.
  • Gold, Herbert (1991).Best Nightmare on Earth: A Life in Haiti.Jan Morris (introduction). Prentice Hall Press.ISBN9780133723274.
  • Gold, Herbert (1994).Bohemia: Digging the Roots of Cool.Touchstone.ISBN9780671886080.
  • Gold, Herbert (2014).She Took My Arm As If She Loved Me: A Novel.St. Martin's Publishing Group.ISBN9781466883307.
  • Gold, Herbert (2008).Still Alive!: A Temporary Condition(memoir). Arcade Pub.ISBN9781559708708.
  • Gold, Herbert (2015).When a Psychopath Falls in Love.Portland, Oregon: Jorvik Press.ISBN978-0988412279.
  • Father Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems,co-written with Ari Gold (2024), Red Bird Press.[14]

Essays and short stories

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  • Gold, Herbert (1960).Love and Like(short stories).[15]
  • Gold, Herbert (1962).The Age of Happy Problems(essays).
  • Gold, Herbert (1971).The Magic Will: Stories & Essays.Transaction Publishers.ISBN9781412837699.
  • A Walk on the West Side: California on the Brink,Arbor House, 1981. Stories and essays.

References

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  1. ^abcGrimes, William (November 20, 2023)."Herbert Gold, Novelist Who Dissected Love and Marriage, Dies at 99".The New York Times.RetrievedNovember 20,2023.
  2. ^ab"Herbert Gold Biography".Ohio Reading Road Trip.RetrievedApril 19,2021.
  3. ^Teicholz, Tom (August 17, 2008)."THE IMMORTAL MR. GOLD".Jewish Journal.RetrievedApril 19,2021.
  4. ^Robert Kaiser:Carnival and Chaos: An Interview with Herbert Gold.In:The Paris Review,May 31, 2018.
  5. ^McFerrin, Linda Watanabe (November 17, 2015)."Literary Salon: Herbert Gold, Author of When a Psychopath Falls in Love".Left Coast Writers.RetrievedApril 19,2021.
  6. ^abc"Herbert Gold papers, 1951-1984".Columbia University Libraries Archive Collection,Columbia University.RetrievedApril 19,2021.
  7. ^abcWeiss, Jeff (June 30, 2017)."The Beat Generation".Washington Post.RetrievedDecember 5,2021.
  8. ^abc"Catching Up With Five Surviving Members Of the Beat Generation In Northern California".SFist. July 5, 2021. Archived fromthe originalon December 5, 2021.RetrievedDecember 5,2021.
  9. ^https://www.amazon.com/Father-Verses-Sons-Correspondence-Poems/dp/164428426XRetrieved 20 March 2024.
  10. ^abcHerbert Gold.In: Joel Shatzky, Michael Taub:Contemporary Jewish-American Novelists: A Bio-critical Sourcebook.Greenwood Press, 1997,ISBN978-0-31329-462-4,p. 116 ff.
  11. ^abc"UIC Professor Edith Zubrin Harnett".Chicago Tribune.February 12, 2000.RetrievedApril 19,2021.
  12. ^abc"Melissa Gold, 47, Aide For California Causes".The New York Times.October 28, 1991.ISSN0362-4331.RetrievedApril 19,2021.
  13. ^Gold, Herbert (May 22, 1977)."Waiting For Cordelia".Washington Post.ISSN0190-8286.RetrievedApril 19,2021.
  14. ^https://www.amazon.com/Father-Verses-Sons-Correspondence-Poems/dp/164428426XRetrieved March 20, 2024.
  15. ^Adams, Robert Martin (Summer 1960)."Book Review: The Short Stories of Herbert Gold".The Hudson Review.RetrievedApril 19,2021.
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